Do Less, Better

Description:

Mike Short created a website for students to track the hours they spend in each class.

Steps:

  • On the first day of classes, encourage students to track their class hours on the Do Less Better site.
  • Let students know you intend to keep an eye on the weekly numbers.
  • Check in with the data regularly and, if the hours are too high, address it with the class. If they are reasonable, you should also point this out and acknowledge the hours your students are putting in.

Rationale:

  • When instructors access it, they can gauge how reasonable the workload is for their students. Students can use it to normalize the effort that their peers are also putting into classwork.
  • Research shows that multitasking is inefficient, instead it’s more beneficial to focus on dedicating time to doing less, better.