LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Intro

Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. Without time management, the students life is bound to be a failure as he/she would not know the means of getting something done in a specific time. This will be a disaster when the student starts working in a society that emphasizes on efficiency.

2.1

Types of outside class time activities

Thompson (2012), says that the typical American college students spend an average of 8.4hours just on sleeping. This figure shows that the students in US take care of their health and they are aware that having enough rest during the night is essential for a healthier mind and body as well as for focusing on their work during daytime. But are the FKM (Fakulti Kejuruteraan Mekanikal/Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) students fully aware the importance of having the recommended number of hours of sleep by scientists? What is the use of having remarkable results at the cost of their health? In addition, the American students spend an average of 3.6 hours on leisure and sports, quoted Thompson (2012). That shows the students there are fully aware what the benefits of exercising are for their health. They are also moving around for that period of time and not just sitting like a couch potato in front of the laptop watching movies or just focusing entirely on their work for the whole day. This ensures that the students have a healthy lifestyle. In this competitive society nowadays, students should try their best to be an all-rounder and not just inclined either academically or physically.

2.2

Average time spent for outside class time activities

Next, Thompson (2012) also states that the average American students spend 3.4 hours on educational related activities which encompasses group studying, doing assignments, etc. This is followed by working and related activities (3 hours), travelling(a whopping time of 1.5 hours), eating and drinking (1.1hours) as well as grooming(0.8 hour). It is not a very good sign that students there are spending more time having fun rather than studying though. As a student, our main priority is to make sure we do well academically to increase our chances of landing ourselves in better jobs and contribute to the society in the future. Do FKM students spend as much time as the American students then?

2.3

Effects of activities on academic performance of students

According to GuidetoOnlineSchools.com, the American students who are Facebook users tend to spend much less time studying compared to those non-users. They spend 1-5 hours per week studying whereas those non-users spend an average of 11-13 hours per week studying, which is more than double the time of those Facebook users! So are social networking sites a boon or bane for students? Will they be addicted to the websites and neglect their studies? Besides logging in to their Facebook accounts, the students spend about 24.5 hours surfing the net, emailing and IMing. (GuidetoOnlineSchools.com) Wilk (2011) states that according to American Time Use Survey(ATUS), the report finds 24-year olds spend an average of 3.6 hours per day during school months going to class and doing homework, compared with just 2.8 hours per day for 18-year old students. This shows that as the students age, they get more matured and tend to spend more time studying to attain better results for their respective futures.

2.4

Time spent on leisure activities based on race and educational activities based on ethnicity

Results also varied by gender and race/ethnicity. While men spend an average of 80 minutes more per day on leisure activities/sports than women do, women spend an average of 3.4 hours on education compared to 3.1 hours for men. With respect to race and ethnicity, Asian students averaged 4.7 hours per day on educational activities, the highest of the categories, followed by 3.4 hours for Hispanics, 3.2 hours for white students, and 3 hours for black students. This does not come as a surprise as Asian students are well known for being the hardworking lads. When the educational activities are being dissected, white students spend the least amount of time in the classroom, averaging about 1.6 hours per day. (Wilk, 2011) In a nutshell, there are plenty of activities students can be involved in at any time of the day and it is up to them to have an effective time management plan. Future research should include activities that the FKM students carry out and a survey on their awareness of time management.