Using Instructor-Implemented Interventions to Improve College Students' Time Management Behavior

• In Event: Supporting Undergraduate STEM Students' Academic Success Through Campus-Based and Researcher-Developed Self-Regulated Learning Initiatives

Abstract

Background. Academic time management is associated with positive student outcomes and is critical for success in online courses, which is especially relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many college students struggle with time management due to difficulties with self-regulating both their academics and external lives (van der Meer et al., 2010). Few empirically-supported college student time management interventions exist, and most that do are short-term training programs administered outside of the classroom and require students to opt-in to receive the training (e.g., Hafner et al., 2013; Stevens et al., 2018).

Aim & Methods. We investigated the effectiveness of instructor-implemented time management interventions in one introductory-level and one upper-level asynchronous online undergraduate psychology course. The Knowledge, Belief, Commitment, and Planning framework for learning strategy training (McDaniel & Einstein, 2020) guided the development of the interventions. Students completed a pre-intervention time management behavior questionnaire and were randomly assigned to one of two interventions. Students in the Schedule and Goals intervention (N = 70) watched videos about the benefits of time management and were taught about scheduling and goal setting. Students in the Schedule Only intervention (N = 72) were just taught about scheduling. All students then submitted time management assignments on their course learning management system for 8 weeks—either a weekly schedule and time management goals or just a weekly schedule. Students then completed a post-intervention questionnaire including time management behavior items and questions related to perceptions of intervention effectiveness.

Findings. No significant post-intervention differences in time management behavior were found between the intervention conditions. However, across both interventions, students in the introductory course showed a significant increase in time management behavior. Post-intervention time management behavior was also positively correlated with final course grades. Open-ended items indicated that students perceived the value of using time management strategies and found scheduling to be more effective than goal setting. See Table 1 for themes related to the value of using time management strategies.

Significance. Results support the use of instructor-implemented interventions to improve college student time management, especially for introductory-level students. Instructor-implemented interventions are particularly advantageous in that they are easy to use, potentially target more students than opt-in training programs, allow students to practice and use time management strategies for a longer duration of time, and hold students accountable for using the strategies.

Authors

• Alison E. Kelly, University of North Dakota

• Kelly Cuccolo, Alma College

• Virginia Clinton-Lisell, University of North Dakota