Academic learning more about project management skills

By Brian Johnson

Maybe it’s because there is too much on their plate or maybe it’s about the changing personal capacities that are now important and need investment. One way or another, fresh from behind the desk, students are not prepared for the modern globe that is already spinning tangibly faster.

The modern system of education sees the solution in loading students with loads of additional material they have to cover. But results that our future professionals show in writing, for example, seem to disqualify the traditional approach to preparing students for the future. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress report, only 24% of students have a proficient level of writing during a computer-based evaluation of their writing skills while 52% hit the basic level mark.

This is a clear signal that educators do something wrong and if changes are not applied, the situation won’t get any better. The challenges students should learn to cope with must be more about learning how to operate and less about memorizing useless facts. What students do need is the ability to manage time effectively. Powerful time management skills can help students to optimize their time and save a lot of energy.

The challenges students should learn to cope with must be more about learning how to operate and less about memorising useless facts

For example, students can incorporate pragmatic psychological exercises to improve their effectiveness. A good example is a mental directive to remove the controversy between what you want to do and what you need to do in your head. In this case you predict the long term outcomes of both courses of action, make the final choice and stick to it. Such activities would provide motivation and many other handy benefits including better health. Rather than spending the entire night hopping between distractive activities and a dragging assignment, a student should be taught to get a grip. He or she will then finish the work as soon as possible in order to solve the task and feel good about it.

Time management and organisation are the skills of the future that need encouragement. Here are only a few of the best ways to improve it:

• Workspace Organisation Routines. A simple ritual of restoring law and order on the desk can work miracles.
• Rewarding Good Performance. The student has to feel positive about his or her actions.
• Giving the Freedom of Choice. Increased flexibility can be good for the overall progress. This way the student will feel interested in a boring task because multiple ways to complete it will make things challenging.

Additionally, there are a lot of useful scheduling web apps out there, among which is this Assignment Planner. It is tuned specifically for academic purposes and fits for student writing needs. Truly, the approaches that can be undertaken in order to make our students masters of their lives are diverse. It is only the good will that seemed to be lacking up until now.

With surprising educational initiatives emerging around us, perhaps the society is becoming more reasonable and conscious in what it does to students after all. The most logical way is to always question the given conditions. Maybe, instead of being stubborn about the usual routine, teachers should really stop stuffing them with material, hoping it will sink in. Instead, give them the needed impulse to get it together and determine what they expect from life and truly want.

Brian Johnson is content manager at AcademicHelp.net – a free essay writing resource for students.