Abstract:

Time management is considered by many as an essential skill in higher education (Thibodeaux 2017; Willman 2015). The same can be said about self-regulation and self-efficacy, especially around one’s own time and tasks. Students with better time management skills have better grades. The same goes for students with higher self-efficacy and those who are able to self-regulate (Drago 2018; Zajacova 2005; Adams 2019). However, procrastination is an important construct, and according to some, can affect grades negatively (Tuckman 2002). Self-report is not always a reliable method - the tendency to forget or paint a more favourable picture of one’s actions is natural (Lee 2017; Samuelstuen 2007). Diaries have been proven to be an excellent way to collect data and create interventions that positively affect students’ grades (Schmitz 2011; Panadero 2016).

We conducted a 5-week intervention of a study time diary on 188 first-year computer science students. They also filled in a time management questionnaire before the intervention. The time management questionnaire revealed a 3-factor structure: procrastination, self-efficacy and planning. A linear model using the entry score, the self-efficacy factor, and the number of diary entries explains 37% of the first-semester average grade variability.

Keywords:

Time management, procrastination, GPA, time use.