Lists and Reminders

There are many thing I suppose I could write about this week, but all of them are pretty scary. I feel like our whole world is one massive game of the floor is lava and I would love to stop playing soon. So instead I am going to focus on something that I realized this week that maybe others would appreciate too, that is not quite as scary.

I don't know about you but I have found my need for lists and reminders really ramping up during the pandemic. Basically if I don't write it down somewhere it doesn't get done. And I don't just write it down in one place, it has to be recorded in many places. I have a system and it is one that could easily be automated, but I choose not to because I think automating it would mean not really remembering what needs to happen. So first the thing gets written down in my paper agenda, then in my work outlook calendar, then in my phone calendar. Sometimes depending on how hectic the week is I also create a list on the notepad app on my phone and delete things as I complete them. It may seem like a bit much but it works for me and usually things do not get forgotten that way. Usually.

The thing I realized is that this works well for work things, which is what I am dealing with the majority of the time, but it often does not work well for you know life things. I forget to buy a thing when I grocery shop, I forget to send a thing I was supposed to send to someone, or the thing I realized this week was I completely forgot a friend's bday. The reason why I forgot is two fold, it wasn't written down anywhere except a social media space I am actively avoiding, and I was busy with family things during that time. I of course felt super bad when I realized I was 3 weeks late with my well wishes, and it occurred to me just how much this list making was part of my ability to navigate pandemic life. I was always a list person, but it has now reached an all time high.

It also occurred to me that this relates to a lot of feedback folk in education are receiving from students or witnessing in their pedagogical practice about the importance of reminders and checklists as part of a course. Late November is exactly the time when everyone is really really tired, instructors and students included. Reminders help in these times because it is so easy to forget that one thing, that one assignment, that one reading, that one email, as folk try to deal with what seems like an never ending list of things. These things are also not just school related, they are life related, they are work responsibility related, they are keeping oneself safe from COVID related (but I will not go down that path because it is just too sad).

Reminders also need to come from different places, but also not overwhelm so that students feel like the ask is impossible, or that one is trying to prioritize your ask over the many other asks in their life. A once a week announcement on your LMS is a good way to remind students of what is coming up. These often get forwarded to their emails if the user has not disabled this feature. Reminders during synchronous time are also good; this could be in class time or during office hours. In class you may want to mention it at the beginning of class, and again as a summary point at the end of class. That way if someone joined late or has to leave early they still have access to that reminder. 

But what if all of the reminders don't help and people still forget? Well, this is where I remind us all that we are also in a pandemic and a lot of things are going on. You can send an email reminder to see if they want to engage in a discussion about whatever it is that was forgotten. But I would suggest not sending many of these emails. One is good, and if you do not receive anything back from that one email, just carry on. There's a very fine line between being supportive in your communication outreach and being well micromanage-y. We need a whole lot less micromanagement right now as I have mentioned previously. 

I know that many others have fabulous tricks and tips about how to fold in lists and reminders in their day-to-day and their pedagogy. There have been many articles and books written on this topic as well. Do you have a good list or reminder tip? Please feel free to share it here or on Twitter so that we can all learn from each other. 

Be safe please everyone, and see you next week!