Tips for University Faculty Members on How to Manage Their Time
Compiled by Prof. Alan Marscher, Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching, Boston University, for a faculty development workshop on February 13, 2006; some items were contributed by attendees at the workshop. One of the attendees strongly recommended David Allen's “Getting Things Done” book, available at http://www.davidco.com/store/catalog/Getting-Things-Done-Paperback-p-16175.php.
I. General
A. Keeping track of what you need to do
1. Write things you need to remember to do in your date book, calendar, PDA, etc.
2. Prioritize your list:
a. Important items with deadlines
b. Less critical items with deadlines
c. Important items without deadlines: give yourself target deadlines
d. Less critical items without deadline
3. Also categorize each task according to the time you think it will require
B. Planning your day, week, & semester or summer
1. Block out parcels of time for which you have obligations
2. Block out parcels of time for yourself: personal e-mails, relaxation, reflection, coffee break with friends, etc.
3. When you have a block of free time, consult your list of tasks & do those that fit into the time slot, starting with the highest priority
4. Minimize travel to essential (includes vacation!) trips
5. Organize your out-of-class time with students
a. Office hours, meeting times
b. Meet in groups if possible: can be beneficial to students to interact with peers, saves you time
c. Letters of recommendation:
i. Have students supply addressed, stamped envelopes well ahead of deadline
ii. Have students fill out an information form to give you material for letters
C. Cut corners whenever possible
1. Consider trade-off of quality vs. time
2. If you are not naturally great at a lower-priority duty, don't compensate with higher priority
D. Back up all your work!
1. Hardcopies
2. CD-ROM, large back-up disk, whatever – it takes too much time to re-create!
E. Make others aware of your deadlines: chair, colleagues, staff, students, family
F. Maintain a good (for you) filing system
G. E-mail
1. You do not need to respond immediately to messages!
2. If a student asks a question of general relevance, send reply to entire class
3. If reply would need to be lengthy, use phone call or office visit instead
4. If you will be away from e-mail for extended period, set up a “vacation” message
-- Write that you will reply to messages after your return as time permits – don't promise!
5. If faced with a pile of e-mails, go through them from latest to earliest (some issues will have already been resolved)
H. Maintain a list of accomplished tasks
-- For your annual report and to gain some satisfaction when many tasks are not yet done
I. Off-load tasks that you can delegate to staff and/or students
-- Choose tasks carefully so that time for instructions & amending their work is limited
J. Maintain a log for a week, 2 weeks, or month of how you actually spend your time
-- If actual time spent does not match priorities, make adjustments
K. For every new responsibility, research area, student working with you, etc.:
-- You MUST drop something else that takes your time
II. Classes
A. Preparation
1. Aim for less than 2:1 prep to class time ratio for familiar topics
a. Longer prep time for less familiar topics, but give yourself a cut-off
b. Don't aim for perfection the first time you teach a course
2. Plan to cover only about half of your initial estimate of material
a. Applies to composing syllabus as well
b. Plan time to interact with students to determine how well they are absorbing material
3. Use technology only when it really adds value
a. Consider using PowerPoint only for images + captions, animations/videos, etc.
b. At most, include outline in presentation (perhaps more in notes posted on website)
4. Unless extensive research is needed, start preparing only within a few days of class
a. Reduces prep time
b. Reduces need to refresh memory
5. Give yourself (& students!) an occasional prep break: class discussion, review session, group activity, discussion of assignment(s), guest lecturer, video, etc.
6. Write down list of items you will need to take to class
B. Before Class
1. Give yourself 15-30 minutes to collect your thoughts (& yourself!)
2. Check list you wrote beforehand of items you need to take to class
C. Immediately After Class
1. Write down issues that you need to consider for the next class & questions for exam
2. Give yourself some personal wind-down time
III. Service Duties
A. Volunteer for one or two departmental/college service duties that you think you would be worthwhile and not take too much time
B. Requests for service by your chair, dean, etc.
1. Learn (with help of mentor) what requests you can safely refuse
2. Say “no” if you really don't think that you have time or want to perform the duty
3. If a straight “no” is infeasible, ask your boss what other service duties you can drop to make time for the new duty
IV. Research
A. Finding the time
1. Create blocks of time for research during the semester
a. No non-research-related e-mail, no phone calls, etc.
b. Find the best place with minimal distractions but with necessary resources
2. Stop working on academics within a few days of the end of classes
3. Don't start working diligently on your classes again until late in the summer
B. Summers
1. Think of summer research time as almost over on June 1: get cracking!
2. Confine work on academics to relatively small blocks of time
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