Research: Link to five time management tools in your blog. Briefly describe each tool’s use and relevance to the online world.
Answer: How is each tool used? Would the tool be most helpful in a personal or professional setting, or both? Explain.
1. Stay Focused Google Extension - This add-on for Google Chrome limits the amount of time you can spend on time-wasting websites like Facebook, YouTube etc. It is highly personalized, allowing you to block whole sites, subdomains or pages, even content within a page (video, games, etc). Once your allotted time for a site has been used up, it remains blocked for the remainder of the day. It's like parental controls... for parents. :) This could be used for professional time management, by limiting access to certain websites until my planning period. It could used on a personal level by limiting the amount of time I spent on social media.
2. Strict Workflow Google Extension - This add-on for Chrome also aids in time management by helping users cycle between work periods and frequent breaks. It utilizes the Pomodoro technique of working for 25 minutes at a time and taking 5 minute breaks in between. Basically, you click the timer to get started and you will be prompted with 25 minutes is up. The add-on can be configured to allow (or block) websites during working periods or breaks, ensuring that breaks are truly spent resting, not browsing social media or checking emails, etc. This would be helpful in both personal and professional areas of my life. I'm a teacher (full time), a pastor of a church (essentially full time), and a father to two girls under the age of 3 (DEFINITELY full time). As I work on school-related tasks, my personal coursework (like this), ministry related tasks, or personal tasks, setting goals and taking frequent breaks would help me manage my load a little better.
3. Google Calendar Gadget - For users with a Google account, Gmail enables "labs" experimental features that are still being developed. These are accessible through the user's settings (so I can't really share a link to it here). One that I have used for the past 2-3 years is the Google Calendar Gadget. When I open my work Gmail, I have a gadget on the left of the screen where my mail folders are located, that gives me my day and week at a glance. Events can be quickly added to your Google Calendar from the Gmail window. Details for events can be expanded or collapsed. It's great to have my mail and my calendar viewable at the same time. I use this for both work and personal email when I'm on a desktop or laptop.
4. Canned Responses - Also a Gmail lab, this feature is one that I have used occasionally over the past 2-3 years. If you send frequent messages that are generally the same (progress reporting, instructions for accessing materials or webtools, FAQs, etc), canned responses saves you time by saving a "canned" response for frequent use. It places a button for canned responses right beside the compose button. Again, Gmail labs are found and configured in Gmail settings, so I can't really share a link to this one. This add-on has been helpful for sending parent communications for work, but also for sending out recurrent messages for my ministry work.
5. Dropbox/Google Drive Sync - I'm a Google person, 150%. I've drank the Google Kool-Aid. I live in a Google ecosystem. However you want to word it, I love my Google apps. Everything that I do related to work is pretty much stored in my Google account. Google Drive is for Google users what DropBox is for much of the rest of the world (when the sync feature is enabled.) Google Drive is accessible from any web-enabled device, but when Backup and Sync (formerly Google Drive Desktop) has been downloaded, copies of your Google Drive files are accessible from any synced device.
For example, I have my work computer synced through Google Drive Desktop. Files that I use at work are synced with my Drive. So if I need to pull up a worksheet, PowerPoint, or other file from my work computer, I can access it from home or on the go, assuming I saved it to this backed up folder. Dropbox works in a similar fashion, both tools allowing users to conserve and manage time by syncing files across devices. I use this primarily for my work, but I do have shared and synced folders for personal or pastoral-related things. For example, one of the committees at my church has a shared Google Drive folder where we can all access committee resources.
Answer: How is each tool used? Would the tool be most helpful in a personal or professional setting, or both? Explain.
1. Stay Focused Google Extension - This add-on for Google Chrome limits the amount of time you can spend on time-wasting websites like Facebook, YouTube etc. It is highly personalized, allowing you to block whole sites, subdomains or pages, even content within a page (video, games, etc). Once your allotted time for a site has been used up, it remains blocked for the remainder of the day. It's like parental controls... for parents. :) This could be used for professional time management, by limiting access to certain websites until my planning period. It could used on a personal level by limiting the amount of time I spent on social media.
2. Strict Workflow Google Extension - This add-on for Chrome also aids in time management by helping users cycle between work periods and frequent breaks. It utilizes the Pomodoro technique of working for 25 minutes at a time and taking 5 minute breaks in between. Basically, you click the timer to get started and you will be prompted with 25 minutes is up. The add-on can be configured to allow (or block) websites during working periods or breaks, ensuring that breaks are truly spent resting, not browsing social media or checking emails, etc. This would be helpful in both personal and professional areas of my life. I'm a teacher (full time), a pastor of a church (essentially full time), and a father to two girls under the age of 3 (DEFINITELY full time). As I work on school-related tasks, my personal coursework (like this), ministry related tasks, or personal tasks, setting goals and taking frequent breaks would help me manage my load a little better.
3. Google Calendar Gadget - For users with a Google account, Gmail enables "labs" experimental features that are still being developed. These are accessible through the user's settings (so I can't really share a link to it here). One that I have used for the past 2-3 years is the Google Calendar Gadget. When I open my work Gmail, I have a gadget on the left of the screen where my mail folders are located, that gives me my day and week at a glance. Events can be quickly added to your Google Calendar from the Gmail window. Details for events can be expanded or collapsed. It's great to have my mail and my calendar viewable at the same time. I use this for both work and personal email when I'm on a desktop or laptop.
4. Canned Responses - Also a Gmail lab, this feature is one that I have used occasionally over the past 2-3 years. If you send frequent messages that are generally the same (progress reporting, instructions for accessing materials or webtools, FAQs, etc), canned responses saves you time by saving a "canned" response for frequent use. It places a button for canned responses right beside the compose button. Again, Gmail labs are found and configured in Gmail settings, so I can't really share a link to this one. This add-on has been helpful for sending parent communications for work, but also for sending out recurrent messages for my ministry work.
5. Dropbox/Google Drive Sync - I'm a Google person, 150%. I've drank the Google Kool-Aid. I live in a Google ecosystem. However you want to word it, I love my Google apps. Everything that I do related to work is pretty much stored in my Google account. Google Drive is for Google users what DropBox is for much of the rest of the world (when the sync feature is enabled.) Google Drive is accessible from any web-enabled device, but when Backup and Sync (formerly Google Drive Desktop) has been downloaded, copies of your Google Drive files are accessible from any synced device.
For example, I have my work computer synced through Google Drive Desktop. Files that I use at work are synced with my Drive. So if I need to pull up a worksheet, PowerPoint, or other file from my work computer, I can access it from home or on the go, assuming I saved it to this backed up folder. Dropbox works in a similar fashion, both tools allowing users to conserve and manage time by syncing files across devices. I use this primarily for my work, but I do have shared and synced folders for personal or pastoral-related things. For example, one of the committees at my church has a shared Google Drive folder where we can all access committee resources.
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