NR 351 Week 1: Discussion: Time Management As An Online Student (Graded)

I look at my life on paper every day. I am not complaining about the life I have. Some people would love to have my life. I love to have my life, minus not being able to spend more time with my family right now. I spend most of my time working. In this moment, I did expect to be working a lot, but not as much as I am. I feel a lot of regret. I am watching my young children grow up with me being a fly-by-night mother. I try to make a work schedule that gives me more time to be with my family, but life keeps getting in my way. I didn’t expect to be working as much as I am because I didn’t expect for some of my complications to arise. Most of my situation happened at this inopportune time, and is making me feel inadequate. I am not the type of person to show up to the party late, and here I am late to this party. I have been looking into my situation to attempt to rearrange my work schedule to facilitate more time for me to spend with my family, as I planned my schedule as I have it currently to facilitate work and school. I thought that I would be able to squeeze family time in on my off days. As it has come to be, I have no off days. I have been trying to crunch numbers to attempt to cut some of my working hours. This way I don’t feel so sad and insufficient as a mother. I have been struggling with feeling happy about my decision because I was happy returning to school. I just did not foresee some of the issues that came up, coming up. I have spoken with my managers at work to determine if there is a possibility of me being able to decrease my work schedule and not still be able to receive benefits, as I am the sole provider for my family. I am optimistic that the answer will end in my favor. Until the final decision is made for my work schedule, I have sacrificed some of my family time to be better able to complete my studies and continue to work and get enough rest to continue on with both tasks successfully. The professional resources available to me to help with my success, at this time, would be my relationship with my instructor. I plan to remain in close contact because I realize that success is the main goal. I plan to utilize my time management tool to ensure I stay on top of my assignments. I am not a new student, but online is a different beast. I am accustomed to someone being in my face saying “remember you have to get this done.” I am the one responsible for telling myself that now. I feel that I will be successful in this program because I feel that the support is strong and genuine so far.

There are really not nearly enough hours in the day. I was shocked to realize how busy my life is. After utilizing the Time Management Tool, it appears as if most of my week consists of working at my job. I expected this finding due to my facility constantly being short staffed and guilting me into pulling overtime hours. I definitely feel like I need to re-prioritize my schedule. I no longer can spare the extra hours for work.

My plan to include more study time and flexibility for school is to write everything in a planner and use highlighters to indicate the priority level of my tasks. I also have identified that I sleep my days away after working. I can not afford the time it takes to recover from night shift and most likely will find a dayshift position in the near future.

I desire to enjoy Chamberlain and not feel overwhelmed all the time. I have been researching many websites and apps that help to perfect APA papers. I am hoping this will help me learn proper guidelines for citations etc and make me a better written communicator. I also will need to get a time management app to help me balance my schedule on the go.

I will communicate any barriers to success to the instructor. I plan to utilize all the links and libraries for assistance. 

Purpose

The purpose of this discussion is for learners to examine their own time management to promote success as an online student.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes:

• CO 4: Apply concepts of ethics and professionalism to nursing practice, nursing roles, and academic development. (POs 5, 6)

Due Date

During the assigned week (Sunday the start of the assigned week through Sunday the end of the assigned week):

• Posts in the discussion at least two times, and
• Posts in the discussion on two different days

Total Points Possible: 50 points

Preparing the Discussion

Discussions are designed to promote dialogue between faculty and students, and students and their peers. In discussions students:

• Demonstrate understanding of concepts for the week
• Integrate outside scholarly sources when required
• Engage in meaningful dialogue with classmates and/or instructor
• Express opinions clearly and logically, in a professional manner

 Discussion

Now that you’ve completed the time management tool in the Week 1 Lesson, address these items in your answer:

• Describe how you spend most of your time. Is this what you expected? Why or why not?
• How will you rearrange these items to dedicate enough time to your schoolwork?
• What changes do you want to make? What professional resources are available to help with those changes?

Grading

To view the grading criteria/rubric, please click on the 3 dots in the box at the end of the solid gray bar above the discussion board title and then Show Rubric. See Syllabus for Grading Rubric Definitions.