5.3 Monitoring your progress

Discussion

Here are some comments from Tim who kept a detailed diary earlier in the course and now adds some scores to different activities to check on his progress.

Don't do daily diary now but note significant things. I'll just note my thoughts from looking at what I've written. Not very good at being honest about my skills but I'll have a go.

Journal is useful because it's clear that it makes me think about what's going on when I study, what works well and what doesn't. Where I work isn't a problem - no children around now! 10/10 I think for where.

I can see now that studying in the evening rates about 4/10 for me - a little is fine but I'm much better in the morning - 10/10 I think provided I take a break! I can now stop worrying about that.

Seeking help and talking things through with others and sharing ideas makes a huge difference because my note-taking rating has gone from 1/10 to about 6/10 or 7/10. I can still speed up a bit though. Still my notes look better now - less detail than I used to put.

Finding time is still a bit of a problem though - 6/10 perhaps. I tend to stick rigidly to my timetable but to be honest I could do a bit more early evening and at the weekends. On the other hand I think that I could be more efficient with the time I do use. I still need to find a strategy that helps me to locate the right bits for the assignments - currently rating about 4/10. I panic and go back over everything! I want to get decent marks (not great at the moment) for my assignments and I'm trying to develop my analytical skills. I give myself 3/10 because I'm still too much into description.

The purpose of this activity is to monitor your progress as you are studying and, in this case, working towards the completion of an assignment. But keeping the diary and monitoring your study is only of use if you learn from it - i.e. if you use the information to improve how you learn. If you used a rating system, look again at the high and the low scores - when, how and why do you work well; when, how and why is your study less effective? Use this information to find ways of working that are more effective and efficient. You can also relate your diary to your plan (Activity 6) and your analysis of the task (Activity 7) since this might be a good time to check your progress and make any necessary changes.

Sue decided not to keep a diary at this point. She had kept brief notes earlier in the year while preparing her first assignment (Activity 4) but shift work and family responsibilities meant her schedules were irregular and always very tight. She said that good planning was important for her, even if only for a week or two in advance. So she decided to check out how well she kept to her action plan for Assignment 7 (Activity 6) by ticking off each stage and noting whether she kept to her target dates. As you can see, some tasks took longer than expected and she lost several days due to her son having time off school, but just managed to meet the deadline for her final assignment. Sue realised that her schedule was far too tight, especially for a final assignment and that, in future, she must allow time for unforeseen circumstances.

Here is Sue's amended action plan: