CalendarTool

A good way to stay on top of your studies is to use a calendar as a study tool. A calendar is available in Blackboard, but some professors will put their due dates into a calendar for you and have it available on Blackboard. If they do, please take advantage of it.

I printed out the professor's calendar and placed it in the front of my class notebook. That way I should always know what is due when. Of course, you need to remember to look at it every week. I checked on Sunday to see what I needed to do for the week. I used a highlighter to highlight the assignment once I was finished with it. Plus, I would put an X over the calendar day once the day was over. This helped me to see that I was making progress and another day closer to my diploma.

I then took the professor's calendar and copied and pasted it into a word document. For every class I was taking I would put in the due dates for homework, projects, and tests on that individual calendar. I then placed that calendar at the front of the corresponding course notebook. If it was an on campus class, I would mark off the day at the end of class.

Once all of my individual calendars were made. (It really doesn't take long to do and is so worth it.) I made one main calendar for home use. I placed all of my class assignments for every class on the main calendar. When it was finished, I spent a couple of minutes planning my semester. If I knew there was a class I would not be able to attend due to other constraints then I would email my professor for that course and inform them. I also looked for days that multiple assignments were due or for extremely heavy weeks. I made sure I planned my time accordingly so that I would not feel overwhelmed when that week came around.

The calendar gives you a sense of accomplishment, keeps you organized and helps you plan your work. And at the end of a semester it is a wonderful feeling to look back over that main calendar and see all that you did.

-- MollyIngram - 03 Jul 2005