XXI

The Student 2.0 Tools detailed in NEFLIN's 23 Things blog actually seem pretty cool and useful.  I wasn't expecting much prior to looking at the University of Minnesota's open source code Assignment Calculator and the Research Project Calculator, but came away pleasantly surprised.  I think that one of the toughest things for college students (particularly incoming freshmen) to embrace is time management, especially when it comes to mid-term or final projects, when it seems like they have all the time in the world to work on them.  In addition to freshmen, I believe these tools could be useful for any student finding themselves panicky and in a time-crunch.

Just to give them a test ride, I input dates for my upcoming final report just to get an idea for what I would need to do if this were a traditional research paper I'd be working on.  I liked the prompts telling me I should have (x) completed by Dec. 12th, then (y) and (z) completed by Dec. 13th, so on and so on.  Spelling it out so clearly gives students clear deadlines which they should be able to abide by without getting ahead of themselves and freaking out, regardless of whether they have a week or three months to complete a project.  The only limitations I see in the Assignment Calculator (which seem to be resolved in the Research Project Calculator) is that these guidelines seem to pertain only to written papers, although the open-source nature of Assignment Calculator would seem to be a resolution in and of itself.

Just like LibGuides can be an incredible resource when executed well and utilized by students, the Assignment Calculator and Research Project Calculator can likewise be tremendously useful.  These tools can be used to instill good future practices among younger students, while aiding more seasoned students with better time-management skills who may find themselves in a time-crunch or having difficulty with a particular project.  Teachers and librarians alike could use these tools to help pace students, adapting various criteria as needed to suit the tasks or assignments at hand.