Read – Action – Due
Lydia Kitts, (Formerly) Director of Strategic Communications, Ferrum College
OVERVIEW
Read – Action – Do: a tool for modeling digital self management. This tool breaks down the course components in a logical way for students. By showing students the steps to successfully completing activities, we can help them learn the skill of self and project management.
THIS TOOLKIT WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO
Use your syllabi to create a scaffolding tool for your students to learn project and self-management skills.
IMPLEMENTATION STEPS
- Plot your due dates.
- Map out when students could/should complete components of assignments.
- Plug in the assigned sections of textbook/resources
WHAT
This is a way to model digital self management so that students can begin to develop project management skills. Typically, this is provided for entry-level courses – eventually we get to the point where students have learned how to do project management and self manage their time. Thanks to modeling, they know how to create a project/course management plan.
Read – Action – Do: a tool for modeling digital self management. This tool breaks down the course components in a logical way for students. When talking with students, I explain that the syllabus is like the ingredients list of a recipe. The lessons are the directions. Read – Action – Due allows us to take those directions and ingredients and break them down into steps.
It does take a little more time. However, the benefits outweigh the upfront work:
- RAD has saved me time in trying to follow up with students who:
- aren’t doing their work;
- don’t understand how to break something down into smaller bite-sized bits;
- It guides students to work on projects before they are due;
- The quality of work is better – because students knew when to start on a certain project, what elements to do and in which order.
WHY
Students see the self-management timeline needed to be successful in college coursework. Many of the students from our region do not have this skill developed before they get into our classrooms. Their education is controlled by teachers and parents (if at all) with work due in stages. Read – Action – Due models the process for them so that they can learn how to do it themselves. For many, it is new and we simply assume that they know how to manage their time and learning experience.
Think of it as a research paper. We want to come up with our topic. We want to research, we want to do an outline, and then a rough draft, and then a final draft. And then you submit your finished work. This is something most of the students are familiar with when writing a paper. But how many of your course projects are papers? For my discipline, many assignments are broader and require different types of work than a traditional paper.
Read – Action – Due is showing our students how to quickly and easily break down course work so that they can be successful.
HOW
Here’s how it works:
- Get your syllabus,
- Plot the due dates on a calendar – don’t forget quizzes, tests, papers, projects, etc.
- Working backwards from due dates, map out the work.
- What steps does a professional know need to happen before the final version of the assignment is complete?
- How can you guide your students by showing them when to complete these steps so that they can become professionals too?
I like to do this in class sometimes – to really help students understand why and how we’re creating this tool. It also gives them some input on suggested timelines and the chance to ask questions about assignments. I know this seems like overkill, but it has dramatically improved the quality of work and students consistently make two comments in evaluations:
- This tool helped them learn how to manage their own time.
- They felt like they had more control over their education and experience.
DO
If you want to implement or adapt Read – Action – Due into your courses, here are some action steps that might help.
- Collect your material – syllabus, textbook/resources, course schedule
- Make a copy of the Read – Action – Due calendar.
- Plot your due dates.
- Map out when students could/should complete components of assignments.
- Plug in the assigned sections of textbook/resources where it makes sense – remember we want students to have the tools they need to be successful.
- Double check due dates and workload.
- Share with your students if they didn’t help you create the calendar!
REFLECTION
When in your life has someone broken down a big task into bite-sized tasks? Did it make the big task less daunting? My mom has always said “how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Obviously, we don’t support eating elephants here, but the idea is the same. When we take BIG things and simplify them, we can help our students see that they can be successful. And we can give them the tools to replicate that experience.
Many times, I’ve thought “why do students wait until the last minute?!” Aside from the obvious, I firmly believe that many of our students have never been taught how to manage their own time. And I believe that it is our responsibility to teach them skills alongside content. It isn’t their fault they weren’t taught project management skills. Putting in a little work to teach them has positive returns for our students and ourselves.
