Background Information

Many students enter their degree program with two goals. The first is to earn a degree; the second is to get straight A’s. This discussion exercise is designed to help you to change your focus from earning a letter grade to something much more important: learning as a way of life, while maintaining a life balance. The skill of writing clear measurable goals for personal, professional, and academic use will serve to provide a vision for you as you progress through this program.

The Post-licensure Entry Survey (See #2 below) is included as a resource for you to use as a self- assessment to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses as you prepare to think about your academic goals. The survey is based on the five BSN Program Outcomes, as well as the AACN Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. As you go through it, you may want to take notes on areas where you would like to strengthen your knowledge and skills while you are a student in this nursing program and write your goal to address that area.

The survey is also intended to help the Division of Post-licensure Nursing Division measure how much you gain from your educational experiences at Indiana Wesleyan University. Your participation in the survey is voluntary and your answers are anonymous so please answer each question as honestly as you can. Thank you for your participation.

Instructions:

Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

Complete the Post-licensure Entry Survey.

Visit the Mind Tools website and explore the many resources available that relate to time management. Only three pages are available free of charge from this website.

Explore websites or articles that provide helpful information on strategies and approaches for effective time management.

Download and view the PowerPoint presentation Writing Goals and Objectives. Using the format presented in this presentation, create one academic goal (written with SMART criteria) and write two specific objectives for achieving that written goal.

Download and open the file Time Management Assessment Tool. Complete the self-assessment tool and follow the instructions on page 2.

Prepare to discuss the following prompts:

Share a summary of your time management self-assessment. Be sure to include your areas of strengths and weaknesses and personal barriers to efficient use of time.

Discuss effective strategies that adult learners could utilize to balance various life roles along with the new role of full-time student. Describe strategies that assist you in effectively managing time as a student.

Share your created SMART goal (see #5 above) with your faculty and classmates. Discuss the specific objectives that you will take to achieve that academic goal.

Research and select at least two current scholarly sources to support your explanations and insights.