Planner Palooza

Pens, highlighters and planner supplies were scattered across tables in the SUB Down Under for Planner Palooza, Aug. 20. Ashleigh Harding, Director of Student Success, designed the event as an opportunity for students to take a pause to organize themselves and learn various techniques for time management.

“As someone who’s worked with students in a variety of capacities, I know that sometimes that ability to learn some different techniques for time management is usually a big area of concern for students,” Harding said. “One of the most common areas that students struggle with is time management in terms of their ability to balance from what they’re used to in high school or from their other school if they’re a transfer student, and how to manage a full-time course load as a college student.”
The idea for the Planner Palooza came specifically from her work with the Bulldog Scholars Program, a program that helps first-year students find new avenues to succeed academically. 

Initially, the Planner Palooza was designed for students in the Bulldog Scholars Program, but eventually it was opened to all students.

“One of the things we thought about is we’re telling all of [the Bulldog Scholars], ‘Hey, have a planner system, have something to keep yourselves organized,’ and then that sort of sparked, ‘Well, why aren’t we doing this for everyone?’” Harding said. 

Students who attended the Planner Palooza said they wanted to improve their studying skills. Junior Erin Hulbert hoped to improve her time management skills after attending.

She said that while she was good at time management before the Planner Palooza, there’s still room for improvement.

“[I hope to improve at] stress management and scheduling fun time [or] relaxing time. I didn’t even think to schedule that kind of stuff,” Hulbert said.

One time management and scheduling technique discussed at the Planner Palooza was time blocking, which is also called study blocking or calendar blocking. 

Calendar blocking allows students to organize and prioritize their tasks by day, week or month.

“I really liked the calendar blocking or study blocking,” Hulbert said. “It was something that I had seen and heard of but hadn’t tried before, so I was open to trying it.”

Harding explained that it tends to attract more freshmen because many of them are learning new time management skills as they transition from high school to college.

Furthermore, college students are learning new areas of responsibility, especially at the beginning of their academics at a new college or university.

“As a freshman and as a young adult in college, you’re learning a lot of different areas of responsibility for yourself,” Harding said. “[College students] don’t always know how to manage their time in the best way.”

One of Harding’s greatest hopes for the event was that students would not only learn new ways to keep track of the time they have for assignments, but also that they would be more open to talking about the time management skills they learned.

She also hopes that the Planner Palooza will spark an interest in continuing to learn about time management and the various techniques that can be used.

“I hope that students will be more excited about the idea of time management,” Harding said. “It’s a skillset. I hope this gets everyone willing and open to talk about how they’re using their time.”