Time Management Assignment F2025

SCI 180 Time-Management Assignment

ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY AND PURPOSE

In this exercise you will do three things:

1. 2. 3. Create a weekly schedule of literally all your activities, including eating, sleeping, commuting,

working for pay, household chores, hanging out with friends, and even free time.

Summarise your time by creating a table, using the categories I lay out in the instructions below.

Write a reflective paragraph on how you spend your time.

Why? Because the fast pace of university will require you to be very efficient with your time, and this

exercise will give you a visual representation of your week and help you to manage your time.

Before you start

Refer to the 3 points above:

Part 1 is done first. Your schedule must have no "white space" and must be properly colour-coded,

as described below.

Part 2 is informed by part 1; i.e., your table cannot be completed without first completing your

weekly schedule correctly.

Part 3 is done last because it is informed by parts 1 & 2.

All three parts will be submitted as a single PDF document. Why? Other formats do not render well

in D2L, and I do not want to flip back and forth between 2 or 3 different files.

The minimum passing grade is 80%, so take your time and follow the instructions carefully.

Begin by reading this entire document all the way to the end.

INSTRUCTIONS

The following instructions have been written with sufficient detail to allow you to complete the

assignment in one attempt.

General Conditions

1. Use your TMU Google Calendar. The calendar is provided for you by the university and is linked to

your course schedule, so your courses already appear there.

You must use your TMU Google calendar because I want you to learn how to use it. It's the

standard TMU calendar, the one that your profs use to schedule appointments and such.

From my.torontomu.ca, click the Apps menu item and then click Google Calendar.

2. Select a typical week, in which you are taking classes. Do not choose, for example, Study Week.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Filling in Your Calendar

1. Select your next full week of classes. You can choose a later week if you believe you'll need more

time to complete the task (just not Study Week).

2. How to create a new "event" in the calendar (see video for a visual). Click on the rectangle

representing the date/time when you want your event to start. A pop-up menu will appear.

1SCI 180 ORIENTATION Time Management Assignment F2025

3. 4. Editing an event. Click 'More Options' in the pop-up menu, and the edit menu will appear.

Add a descriptive title into the title box (it will read 'Untitled event' by default)

For study times, include the subject that you anticipate studying; e.g. 'Study Physics,' rather

than just 'Study time'. Every study time must have subject.

You may feel that adding a subject is unnecessary because you never know what you will be

studying, but remember that this is an exercise, and you will need to make time to study

each subject. Try to be strategic: If you attended a Physics lecture in the morning, why not

study your Physics notes in the afternoon, while the concepts are fresh in your mind? If you

need less time to study Physics and more for Biology, you can distribute your study times

unevenly among your subjects. (But don't enter the same subject for every study time.)

Adjust the time for the event using the 'from' and 'to' boxes. (NOTE: If you change the 'from'

box by, say, 10 minutes, then the 'to' box will change by 10 minutes in the same direction to

keep the appointment at one hour. If you want a 40-minute event, you will also have to change

the 'to' box as well.)

Give the event a colour. Click the coloured circle to see the choices. Keep your colour consistent

with your colour code. Read the 'Colour Code' section carefully first (see below).

Optional (these items are for people who think they might actually use their calendars):

Enter a location if appropriate.

If you want the event you have created to repeat, just click the check box marked 'Repeat'

and then choose from the options in the pop-up menu.

Create a colour code using the available colours in the edit menu, assign a distinct colour to each of

the following event types, and colour each new event accordingly:

Scheduled Courses. Including lectures, labs and tutorials, that you attend; e.g. "CHY103

Lecture"; "BLG143 Lab"; etc. These probably already appear on your schedule. If so, you can

choose to leave them alone with their default colour. Do not give each subject a different

colour. I want to see easily when you are in a class or tutorial or lab and that is best done by

coding all classes with a single colour.

Study time. Include time you set aside for reading or working on your homework problems or

labs, study sessions with friends, Supported Learning Groups (offered by Student Learning

Support), visits to Math Support, etc. I recommend that you schedule a minimum of two hours

homework and study time per hour of lecture time; e.g. if you are taking all 5 academic courses

+ SCI 180, that's 17 hours of lecture, so you should schedule at least 34 hours of study &

homework time. Again, don't give each subject a different colour. There should be one colour

denoting "study time" for all subjects.

Sleep. I recommend about 7-9 hours per day. If you take a nap in the afternoon, use the same

colour as you would for 'sleep.'

Commuting (if applicable). If you don't commute, you don't have to worry about this category.

The same is true for other categories that don't apply to you (e.g. some students do not work or

have family responsibilities).

2SCI 180 ORIENTATION Time Management Assignment F2025

Work (if applicable). This is work-for-pay, not unpaid work you do at home.

Family Responsibilities (if applicable). For example, taking care of siblings, etc.

Personal care time. Include eating, cooking, bathing, washing clothes, shopping for necessities

(not luxury items), and other, similar activities.

Recreation and Physical activity. For the purposes of this exercise, include recurring (or

typically recurring) recreation activities, e.g. a morning jog, gym days, etc. Perhaps you belong

to a non-athletic club or you guard some quiet time in your day for non-academic reading, or

you have some regular family/friends time. If you spend a few hours per week on some regular

recreational activity every week but you don't have a strictly scheduled time, just put it into

your calendar at an arbitrary time, as if you do have set times (this is an exercise, not a legally

binding contract).

Free time. This is unscheduled time, whatever is left over after you've booked your fixed

commitments. It is in addition to the time you have earmarked for recreation and physical

activity, or any other scheduled or regular activity. Free time must be denoted as such in your

calendar and colour coded. There should be no "white space" in your calendar.

Your Final Product (Calendar)

1. What it should look like. Once you have completed your weekly calendar, it should show

a. Your name in the left-hand menu bar under "My Calendars." If it doesn't show, click "My

Calendars."

b. c. All seven days (Sunday to Saturday) along the top

All your waking hoursplus a margin of your sleeping hoursalong the left-hand side. If

you're having trouble showing all your waking hours (for example, if you go to sleep at 2 a.m.),

you can show all 24 hours in two screenshots (or 3, if necessary).

d. e. f. Colour-coded by time category. Use my time categories (see descriptions above).

No blank spaces. If there are any, fill them in as 'Free Time.'

A subject for every study time.

2. Take a screen shot. When you are satisfied that your schedule meets the criteria for

completeness, check that your name is showing on the left, make sure that your browser is

maximised, and then press either Shift+PrtScn (print screen) if you are a PC user, or

Cmd+Ctrl+Shift+3 (all four keys at once) if you are a Mac user. This will copy whatever is

showing on the screen to the 'clip board.'

NOTE: DO NOT use the 'print as pdf' function or 'convert webpage to pdf.' I know about

those functions, but they are not what I want. I want a screen shot because it is a better

visual form for my purposes.

If you cannot fit all waking hours on the vertical, you can take two screen shots, but don't

edit out your name or the header (days of the week). I want to see all 7 days of the week

across the top and your name on both screenshots.

3. Paste your screen shot. Open MS Word or a similar word processor, and create a new

document. Type your name and student number at the top, hit return and then paste the

contents of the clipboard onto the page by pressing Ctrl+V (PC) or Cmd+V (Mac).

3SCI 180 ORIENTATION Time Management Assignment F2025

Total (must be 168) 168

The Summary Table and Reflection

1. Summarise your time commitments in a table. Below the calendar screenshot, create a table

that summarises your time spent by activity type, as shown below. This is where all that work

you did colour-coding your calendar pays off. Note that the total hours per week must be 168. You

may use the 'Time Insights' function in Google Calendar, but know that its results are based on your

working hours only. You must adjust your working hours to 24/7 to get it to work right. If you can't

get your hours to add to 168 using Insights then you'll have to create the table manually. That

should only take about 15 minutes if you are careful.

Example summary table

Activity type Hours per week

Classes 22.5

Study time 40

Sleep 56

Commuting 5.5

Family responsibilities 3

Work 10

Personal care time 14

Recreation 7

Physical activity 3

Free time 7

2. Write a reflective paragraph. Just below the summary table in the Word document, discuss what

you have learned about your time from this exercise. I am expecting a paragraph, not a novel. The

paragraph must be reflective, to demonstrate that you have thought about how you spend your

time. Think deeply. Some example questions you might ask yourself are: Are you satisfied with

how you are spending your time? Are you spending enough time studying and doing homework?

(Remember the benchmark is at least 2 hours per hour of lecture.) Are you getting enough sleep

and exercise? How will you accomplish the lifestyle you are contemplating? If you are considering

adding commitments (such as a job) to your schedule, will you need to stop doing something else in

order to find the time? Could you improve efficiency, such as riding a bike to school to combine

commuting and exercise? These are examples reflective questions that your paragraph could

answer. You can use them and/or come up with your own. I would like you to think and write, not

just fill in the blanks.

Final Check and Submission

Before submitting your assignment, ensure that

Your name and student number are on the top of the first page.

The screenshot of your schedule is readable and shows all your waking hours and a bit of your

sleeping hours at top and bottom (or, if that's not possible, that you've included two

screenshots that show all 24 hours).

Your name is displayed under the 'My Calendars' item in the menu to the left of the calendar.

Your table is neatly presented and accurate and the hours total to 168 (I always check, so don't

fake it)

Your paragraph is thoughtfully written, and the English is good

4SCI 180 ORIENTATION Time Management Assignment F2025

Save your assignment as a single PDF file. In Word, this is done by choosing 'Save as' and then picking

'PDF' from the 'Save as type' drop-down menu. It's probably similar for Mac users. (PDF files work with

D2L. Other formats do not work. Word documents often do not render well and have to be

downloaded, which is a time sucker. 'Pages' documents don't work at all. That's why.)

Submit your assignment through the Time Management drop box. You will find it along with the video.

FINAL NOTES

The standard for a pass in this course is 80% (A-). I will read every assignment, and I will send yours

back for revisions if it doesn't conform to the standard that has been presented in meticulous detail

above. Examples of reasons for rejecting assignments include:

Failure to colour-code the time categories properly (see description above)

Failure to include subjects for "study times"

Leaving blank time blocks instead of labelling them "free time"

Cropping the user's name from the calendar screen shot

The screenshot of the calendar is sideways or there are multiple screenshots that break the

week into 3- or 4-day segments instead of showing the entire week on one page.

This is not an exhaustive list. Consider that I expect an A- effort, not a C- effort and ask yourself whether

your submission is worth an A- before you submit it.

Grading of assignments: Your grade must be entered manually, which I will do after I have had a chance

to review your assignment. That I will do when I get a moment, so you may not receive your grade for

several days. Please leave at least seven days before emailing me to ask why your assignment has not

been graded.

You may continue to work on the course while waiting for your assignment grade. However, you cannot

attempt Modules 8 through 14 without passing this assignment.