Task management is fundamental to almost all courses in a typical college. Professors give projects that are usually broad in nature; the student is expected to narrow down broad subjects to a specific topic of focus. To do this, the student must use task management skills, such as outlining, listing and mapping, to identify major points in the project. These skills give a logical structure to the creation and content of a project.
Some students may not be taking full advantage of the technology and resources available at most colleges. For example, many colleges have an online learning system suite. This suite is filled with organizational tools, such as note taker widgets, calendars and assignment notices. Professors have integrated these suites into their courses through handouts and electronic testing.
Colleges offer many academic and extracurricular options for their students. Prioritization is a key skill to master to sufficiently balance all these choices. This involves knowing how to choose between which projects to do, factoring in deadlines, grade impact and difficulty. Prioritization could also apply generally in choosing between academic study sessions and socialization activities. A tip for prioritization is goal-setting early on in the semester. The student should outline a list of goals he wants to achieve within the semester in descending order. This list would effectively be a major decision-making tool in choosing which activities to do first.
Scheduling is vital to college survival because it is the student's main tool for keeping track of all academic deadlines, tasks and events. This is particularly important for students who regularly work with different teams for group projects and extracurricular organizations; scheduling guarantees that all meetings are attended without sacrificing study or work. One suggestion is to note down all the details of events as they are announced; you can later re-organize these events in a calendar or an organizer.