Organisation and time management

Embedding good organisation and timekeeping in your studies and working life will help you reduce stress and free up time for other activities. These programmes could help you develop organisation and time management skills. 

To find out more about how these programmes could work best for you, your learning style, and your studies, book a one-to-one training session with technology experts Diversity and Ability (D&A).

A video explaining how to use Microsoft's OneNote Play video
A video explaining how to use Microsoft's OneNote

Microsoft Outlook and OneNote

Use them together to:

  • Plot your schedule including lectures, seminars, study time and deadlines
  • Manage your workload
  • Prioritise tasks using to-do lists
  • Set reminders
  • Collate voice notes, images, text, checklists
  • Label notes for easy reference and navigation
  • Collaborate with others
  • Export to Microsoft Word
  • Use Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
  • Synchronise across devices

Tips for using this tool at Imperial College London:

  • Outlook and OneNote is part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite
  • Work or study anywhere by adding the Office suite to your own device
  • Available on all staff and students PCs on campus
  • More Microsoft 365 tools you can download

Help & how to get started

To install Office on a PC or Mac:

  1. Log in to Office 365
  2. Your username is your College username followed by @ic.ac.ukg: abc123@ic.ac.uk
  3. Your password is your College password

To install Office on a tablet or phone:

  1. Open the App Store or Google Play
  2. Search for Office 365. The apps are by Microsoft Corporation.
  3. Install and open an app
  4. Swipe through the introduction screens until you see Sign in now
  5. Your username is your College username followed by @ic.ac.ukg: abc123@ic.ac.uk
  6. Your password is your College password

Book an online training session to learn more about how Microsoft Outlook and OneNote can work for you.

More helpful videos:

Outlook

OneNote

A video explaining how Strict Workflow works and could help with your concentration and discipline. Play video
A video explaining how Strict Workflow works and could help with your concentration and discipline.

Strict Workflow

Strict Workflow helps increase concentration and discipline by temporarily blocking social and other time-wasting websites.

This web extension runs in the background blocking your chosen list of ‘blacklisted’ websites for 25 minutes to allow you to work without distraction. After 25 minutes it allows you a five-minute break. You choose which websites to add or remove from your list.

Help and how to get started:

What is Notion? Play video
What is Notion?

Notion

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that allows you to set up pages for all parts of life. It can be used to plan and track deadlines, store research, take notes and organise general life admin. It can be used as a web page, desktop or mobile app allowing you to synchronise across all of your devices. The Google chrome add-in can also be used to save useful websites to read later. Its collaborative feature can also be used to work on group projects and presentations.

Help & how to get started:

Useful mind mapping tips 1 (align/organize floating topics, show branch only) | XMind Tips Play video
Useful mind mapping tips 1 (align/organize floating topics, show branch only) | XMind Tips

XMind 8

XMind 8 is a concept mapping program, (much like MindView, MindManager, and Inspiration), which allows you to create ‘spider diagrams’ or ‘mind maps’ on your computer or mobile device. 

Creating a mind map can help you to plan and write essays, revise for exams, and organise large projects.

The main reason that XMind is such an exciting piece of software is that it can be downloaded and used for free.

Buying the premium version unlocks additional features but, importantly, you can get to grips with many of the planning and organising strategies without having to pay a penny. For instance:

Use XMind to plan and write your essays:

  • Quickly add branches to your mind map using the mouse or keyboard shortcuts; get ideas down without worrying about the order they come out in.
  • Add detailed notes or bullet points, which can be hidden inside the branches of your map.
  • Attach files to your map (for instance, PDF versions of your research, so that all of your reading is to hand).
  • “Drag and drop” the different parts of your map until they are in the right order.
  • Convert the map, (including any notes you have added) into a text file which you can then edit in Word.

Use XMind to revise for your exam:

  • Create colour-coded mind maps to help you revise exam topics.
  • Add images to help you easily navigate around your revision map.
  • Add icons, (like flags and smiley faces) to mark off topics that you have revised.
  • Show and hide different parts of the map to test yourself.

Help & how to get started: