Co-created study schedule

While students are increasingly diverse, they also have many different obligations (e.g. family care, school vacations), cultural practices (e.g. religious celebrations, holidays), or work responsibilities (full-time or part-time working students). Giving a pre-defined study schedule with fixed deadlines and exam days is a very traditional way of creating course syllabi. However, it does not meet the present-day expectations of students who may be more mature and diverse than ever before.

An effective way of ensuring student commitment and passing courses is to involve the students in schedule planning. Co-creating the course schedule jointly in the beginning will allow consideration for overlaps with other study or private life engagements.

There are many ways for co-creating schedules. For example, using digital scheduling programmes is a fast and visual way of proofing that important dates are suitable for – if not every individual – at least for the majority of students. Another way is a classroom white board approach. Important assignments and other deadlines are proposed and drawn together on the board, overlaps with holidays, other courses, exams and similar engagements can also be discussed.