#353 – Calendar Tools for a New Year

#353 — Calendar Tools for a New Year

AVID Open Access
11 min

Keywords
calendar tools, digital calendars, multiple calendars, color coding, recurring events, resource attachment, meeting notes, calendar integration, appointment slots, time blocking, notification setup, productivity apps, time management, student skills, personal organization

Transcript

Paul Beckermann 0:01
Welcome to Tech Talk for Teachers. I’m your host, Paul Beckerman.

Transition Music 0:06
Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. What’s in the toolkit? What is in the toolkit? So, what’s in the toolkit? Check it out.

Paul Beckermann 0:16
The topic of today’s episode is Calendar Tools for a New Year. Lives can get really busy. We’ve got work obligations, appointments, family commitments, chores to get done at home, the list goes on. Keeping all of this organized and under control can feel a bit overwhelming at times. To keep on top of it, it can be really helpful to have a central place where you can record, document, and keep track of everything that’s going on. That’s where today’s episode comes into play. Calendar Tools for a New Year. There are a number of apps and programs that you can use to stay organized, and you should use what works best for you. Our topic for today, digital calendars, is one that I highly suggest trying out. This goes for both you and your students. By helping our students develop calendar skills early, we can help empower them throughout their lives, as both students and adults. Because there are so many calendar programs and apps out there, I’m going to focus more on strategies than technical aspects of navigating a certain program with specific buttons to push to make things happen. If you hear a strategy that makes sense to you, you can explore how to make that happen in your calendar program. For me, I use Microsoft Outlook for Work and Google Calendar for my personal information. While the specifics of how to use those two programs vary some, they’re remarkably similar in what they can do. All right, so let’s take a look at some calendar tips.

Transition Music 3:28
Here is your list of tips.

Paul Beckermann 1:48
Number one, choose your calendar. Before you can manage a calendar, you need to set one up. Chances are you probably already have one provided for you through work or school, and if you do, that’s a good place to start. Google Calendar and Microsoft Calendar, as I just mentioned, are probably the two most common options. For your students, they may also have one integrated into their learning management system or LMS. That can be a good choice for them as well, especially if it merges calendar events assigned by the teacher with personal ones that are created by them, the student.

Number two, set up multiple calendars. While our work, school, and personal lives definitely overlap, it’s helpful to keep them separated, as well. To do that, I’d encourage you to set up separate calendars for each unique role in your life. The two most obvious ones are personal and work. You and your students might also want a separate one for school or extracurriculars, things like that. If you can use the same tool for all your calendars, that can be a real benefit, as well. Not only will it mean that you only have to learn one program, but you’ll also most likely be able to link your calendars together and see them all in one place. For instance, my wife and I have several different Google Calendars. When I’m logged into my calendar, I see all the calendars listed over to the left. I can simply click the check boxes by the ones I want to see actively on my screen. I usually only have one or two turned on at a time, but if I want to check my wife’s calendar, for instance, I can toggle hers on. That really makes it helpful for avoiding being double-booked. Once I see what I need to see, then I can turn it back off again so my calendar isn’t quite so cluttered.

Number three, set up multiple workspaces. It seems like we all have multiple computing devices these days, and sometimes we’re using several of them at once. The two most common are probably a computer for work or school, and our phone. On your computer, it’s helpful to add a calendar shortcut for quick and easy access. For instance, I use a Google Chrome browser, and in that environment, I can either pin the tab at the top by right clicking on it and choosing the pin option, or I can save a favorite link to my calendar on my bookmarks bar. Other browsers and programs would work in a similar way. On my phone, I make sure the Calendar app is on the first screen of my application shortcuts. When helping my father, I set a shortcut on his desktop that takes him right to his email. That works best for him. You could do this for your calendar, as well. In short, find a system that works for you and makes it fast and convenient for accessing your calendar.

Number four, color-code your calendar. If you have a busy calendar, it can look visually overwhelming. One way to make it more accessible at a glance is to color-code the events. For instance, you might put meetings in one color, medical appointments in another, and school events in yet another color. Then at a glance, you get a feel for where you’re supposed to be that day.

Number five, use recurring events. If you have meetings or commitments that occur at the same time on the same day on a consistent basis, you can save a lot of time by setting up recurring events. You’ll typically see this option when you create an event for the first time. For instance, my supervisor and I meet Mondays at the same time, so we have a recurring meeting scheduled on our calendars. If we need to cancel or reschedule one, that’s no problem. We can do that, but the recurring option saves us a lot of time because we don’t have to manually create each event for every week.

Number six, attach resources to calendar events. Having a calendar reminder of an event is a great first step, but oftentimes, it just gets us in the door. To make sure you have what you need when you arrive, I suggest adding as many relevant links, details, and resources on the calendar link as possible. This might include pasting in a message from an email that includes an address or an agenda. It might mean attaching relevant documents and inserting web links. I find this really handy for meetings. It saves a lot of time if you have everything you need in the details of the calendar event, rather than needing to check the calendar and then also go digging through your online storage or your email files to find the related sources. Using a calendar as a one-stop shop can be a lifesaver. It also makes it a lot easier to find these resources back in the future, after that meeting has concluded.

Number seven, attach meeting notes to calendar events. Okay, this is somewhat of an extension of the previous point, but I think it deserves its own bullet point. Attaching meeting notes to your calendar event can happen before you meet, as you meet, or as soon as the meeting concludes. Whenever you do it, it can save a lot of time and frustration later if your notes are included on the calendar event, because it will be so much easier to find back and review when you need them. Some calendar tools include the option of adding a notes document built right into them. Other times, you can add a link to a shared document. And of course, shared documents are a critical part of the collaboration process.

Number eight, coordinate calendars. The more people you want to invite to an event, the more complicated scheduling becomes. If you share calendar access with other people being invited, you can usually use a Find a Time feature that’s built in to see common availability across calendars. Many times, you’ll see color coded calendars, either side-by-side or layered on top of each other, that show you where everyone has free white space. That can really help speed up the scheduling process. If you don’t have access to the other people’s schedule, you can use a tool like Doodle to have people check off times when they are available, and then that will aggregate that information and show you where the common free times are. That’s an extra step, but it can be helpful if you don’t have shared calendar spaces.

Number nine, time blocking. This tip builds on the previous one again. Sometimes you don’t want other people to see that you have white space. Sometimes you desperately need some dedicated quiet time to put your head down and get some work done. To do this, book a calendar event for yourself. That way you’ll be marked as busy when others are looking for a time to meet.

Number ten, explore integration with other programs. Increasingly, productivity apps communicate with each other. That’s growing even more commonplace with the increase of AI functionality. It’s very common for email to link to your calendar, for example. Let’s say you book a hotel room or a flight and you have the confirmation email sent to your Gmail account. Google will automatically put that booking information on your Google Calendar. This can save you a lot of time and clicks. Similarly, AI assistance often let you ask questions about content that spans across multiple productivity tools, including your calendar, email, and online documents. Explore what functionality you have and consider how it can save you time. Number eleven, set up appointment slots. If you have a role that requires others to book time with you, utilize appointment slots to allow others to schedule meetings during your available times. You get to choose when they can sign up, and then it appears on your calendar when they do accept a spot. This reduces a lot of back and forth communications and automates the process. Many email platforms now have this functionality. Again, you set the available times, share a calendar link, and others can book a time. Slick.

Transition Music 9:17
Here’s a bonus tip!

Paul Beckermann 5:22
All right, a bonus tip for you today. One more strategy that can be helpful is to intentionally set up your calendar notifications. On a computer, this might be in setting up a pop-up notification that appears at a certain time interval before a meeting starts. I find this really helpful if I’m busy working on a project and I lose track of time. The little ding noise and a pop-up message 15 minutes before a meeting is enough to help me shift mentally and prepare for that event. Similarly, if you rely more on your phone, you can set up a notification with a tone or a vibration on your device. Oh, in fact, I see I have a meeting coming up soon, so I’d better wrap up this episode. As we get set to start a new calendar year, I encourage you to recommit to your own personal calendar use. How can you take advantage of this functionality to help keep life just a little bit more organized and manageable? Maybe you’d even want to make it a New Year’s resolution? It’s up to you.

To learn more about today’s topic and explore other free resources, visit AvidOpenAccess.org, specifically, I encourage you to check out the article, “Develop Your Students’ Time Management Skills.” And of course, be sure to join Rena, Winston, and me every Wednesday for our full-length podcast, Unpacking Education, where we’re joined by exceptional guests and explore education topics that are important to you. Thanks for listening, take care, and thanks for all you do. You make a difference.