Contrary to popular belief, professors aren't twirling their mustaches and cackling in their tweeds over students missing assignments. It's stressful for students because their grade is on the line, and it's unnerving for teachers who put in the effort to create well-crafted assignments. Kind of like planning a party only for the guest of honor to bail.
So, when inevitably every semester at least one student in my class falls prey to the foible of poor time management, it's painful for everyone involved. They wait till literally the last minute to turn something in, simply forget the work was due or don't give themselves enough time to do it.
I hate to deny their requests for deadline extensions, despite their colorful excuses, so with the input of some of my students this semester I've put together a list of artificial intelligence tools to help keep them on track.
Here are some common pitfalls, according to real students, and how to remedy them as a busy learner trying to manage your time with AI tools.
When the assignment takes way longer than expected
Pitfall: The work took way longer than you thought it would.
One senior told me they spent six hours on reading materials they assumed would take them about one hour to absorb. Sure, that 5-page excerpt might seem straightforward and easy to tackle, but students are often surprised their expectations don't line up with reality once they get into the trenches.
Microsoft Copilot, billed as an AI assistant which uses large language model learning to help you with a host of conversational queries, is great for getting a handle on how long the work might really take. Copilot is built into Edge, Microsoft's browser, and can quickly and accurately review web pages as you're looking at them.
You can ask Copilot to review your learning materials, assignments and deadlines and give you estimates on how much time it might take to complete and prepare for the work without having to copy and paste anything or have a long conversation with other text prompt chat bots.
When you're multitasking life, work and school
Pitfall: Personal and professional priorities outweigh school work.
Another senior said they often find themselves trying to balance coursework with the work that pays the bills, creating a scenario in which assignments can sometimes fall into the "out of sight, out of mind" mental cavern.
Google Gemini, the company's answer to OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, can help students remember to prioritize their school work by integrating alerts into the set of Google tools they frequently use, like Gmail and Google Calendar.
This does require you to give Gemini permission to access your other Google tools, but that only takes a second. Once you've let Gemini know you'd like to receive reminders about assignments and due dates, you can drop a Copilot-designed timeline into the chat and it will do the heavy lifting of filling out the calendar for you.
When you're struggling with the coursework
Pitfall: Something went wrong and you're just over it.
A graduate student brought up the mental impact of scholastic to-do's falling through the cracks as a major impediment to keeping their time management on point. The emotional domino effect of missing something when you're already overwhelmed can be deadly to your overall grade if you let IDGAF disease set in.
Abby, an AI chatbot which aims to provide the comfort and guided introspection of a therapist, gives you a sounding board to review your feelings and find the silver lining in any poop-colored cloud.
Early in conversation with the tool, Abby will give you an analysis on your situation as you've explained it and provide some positive traits it identifies in you, as well as suggestions for areas of improvement.