Abstract:

The guidelines of the EHEA (European Higher Education Area) urge the university student to acquire a series of generic and specific competencies to carry out their professional careers successfully. Specifically, training in planning and time management skills is a challenge for education professionals (Ruiz, 2010). The educational practices that actively involve the student are those that produce more relevant and lasting learning, facilitating the transfer of knowledge to different contexts. This paper analyses the results of a university teaching innovation project carried out over two years and it has three main objectives: first, to diagnose the time management competencies acquired by university students throughout their academic life and to identify the main thieves of times; second, to teach through methodologies active methods and techniques for time management that have historically been applied to the business world and agile development, and third, to evaluate the impact of learning these techniques in the acquisition of skills and post-academic performance.

To do this, three samples of university students were analysed. In the first one, a pre-test was carried out to validate the scales and indicators to know the main thieves of time, the techniques that they knew previously and the importance and usefulness of these techniques. A second sample formed by 4500 undergraduates was evaluated in terms of time management skills, procrastination behaviour, time management importance, academic performance and declared stress levels. In order of importance they were: "the prioritization and awareness of time", "the relationship with time and the use of free time", "the punctuality and use of time", "the order of the workplace and documentation methods","decision making and doers", "the avoidance of interruptions and concentration" and finally, "the time management process (planning, recording, consultation, review and fulfill)". Finally, a third sample composed of students trained in time management techniques was analysed, among which were the attitudes towards the tools, the intention of future use and the perception of the impact of the techniques on their performance. The main conclusions of the project, we highlight the importance of improving the time management competence, students spend an important time a week to scheduling it, agenda and paper calendar is the main support used by them. Furthermore, students use methods of time management intuitively, but they mostly ignore the existence of concrete and more efficient techniques of time management or processes, which allow them to align their professional, academic or life goals with daily work. Most of the students have no clear methodology implemented, declaring to be procrastinators and indicating that it is an effort to perform tasks in a focused manner and without distractions, also we find differences between men and women.

It is essential to train students in time management and assess the impact of available methods on overall performance and stress levels, to be capable of implementing these techniques and obtain an improvement of the student's efficiency that results in well-being and personal, professional and academic balance.

Keywords:

Time management, Getting Things Done, Pomodoro, higher education.