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Back to Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal & Professional Productivity

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal & Professional Productivity by University of California, Irvine

4.6
stars
15,571 ratings

About the Course

You will be able to gain and apply your knowledge and understanding of personal and professional awareness, organization and commitment, and use the tools, methods and techniques that you have learned in goal setting, prioritization, scheduling, and delegation to overcome time management challenges and enhance productivity. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Learn to plan effectively to achieve your personal and professional goals 2. Learn to recognize and overcome barriers to successful time management 3. Identify specific time management tools and use them effectively 4. Manage resources both effectively and efficiently 5. Keep your sense of perspective to prevent and manage crises 6. Learn to delegate effectively 7. Learn to manage expectations and say “No” when appropriate...

Top reviews

SK

Jan 24, 2020

This course was quite helpful. I work in a fast pace environment with multiple projects going at the same time. Planning the work, prioritizing and mapping progress was helpful. Thanks for the course.

JV

Jun 14, 2017

Excelente, parece un tema muy sencillo pero la verdad cuando te empiezan a explicar lo sencillo que puede ser mejorar la productividad uno cae en cuenta de que había estado malgastando mucho su tiempo

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51 - 75 of 3,260 Reviews for Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal & Professional Productivity

By Yulia R

Aug 18, 2015

Some things are useful, such as the table "task list", but I would say there isn't enough of this type of help. It would be better if there were more tables like that.

Also, more information and help is needed on how to accomplish multitasking. Unfortunately, multitasking is necessary in many environments, from office to home, and even a housewife has to multitask. One of the most important aspects of multitasking that was not covered and that is really needed is how to multitask in a situation of "housewife" type of work. Examples of this include engineering, molecular biology, chemistry, work in a lab in general etc. You constantly need, like a housewife, put something for a chemical reaction (or start laundry, or put a cake in the oven), and then you have to wait for the chemical reaction to occur. And during that time when you wait, you need to keep this ongoing "laundry" task in your head, so that you don't forget to take it out later on time. And when there are more than 3-4 tasks like that, and they all have this "pick me up and start on me later" thing, they are all in your head and they take up all your memory and resources. And the worst part is, it's difficult to schedule them, because you need to schedule not how long will something take, not in a linear fashion, but how long will multiple parallel things take. I would really appreciate it if there was something about this topic in a time management course.

By Judith A

Nov 13, 2016

The contect of some modules of this course is very light and the multichoice tests at the end insultingly easy. I would not pay for the certificate unless you need one per se.

I found that modules 1 and the communications part of module 3 were useful. However, the most valuable thing I got from the course was the link to the lecture by Mike Sanders on Advanced Multi-tasking.

The reference material referred to is very light - there are no reading lists and one link is to an out-of-date web page. Coursera may wish to review whether it continues offering this course.

By Martin S

Apr 5, 2020

Most of the course contents is highly trivial and not inspiring at all. It seems suitable for very repetitive jobs (most examples in the course deal with repetitive tasks instead of creative ones), but if you're an engineer or researcher, you probably won't learn anything new.

On the plus side it's short (maybe 2 hours total), and there is a chance you might try out one or two of the ideas.

By Shawna T

Sep 27, 2015

The information is probably great, but the instructor speaks way too slowly in the videos and it's very difficult to listen to. I switched to reading it as a transcript but that generates as a .txt file which is also very difficult to read as it's not broken into paragraphs.

By Carly N

Jul 11, 2018

The instructor is wonderful, but the class is mostly common sense stuff and lot of filler for a class that is suppose to be about managing time efficiently. Would like to see more content or have it condensed into two weeks.

By zaqwer93

May 11, 2018

The course gives only the basic knowledge. It's a little bit waste of time. There was not so much interesting clues/tips. Youtube in video was more valuable than the whole course. I don't recommend it.

By Kayla G

Nov 12, 2017

Very basic course, was able to complete all content in an hour. Didn't feel like I got any new information, or like any of the action items would actually help me improve my time management.

By Daniel D

May 8, 2016

I'm glad I didn't pay for this course.

Nothing new, obviuos advice and basic information.

Nice instructor, with a clear pronunciation and interesting videos in Module 4.

By Hong J

Sep 13, 2015

This course is less informative and systematic than I expected. Although some time management tools are provided, the course is in general loose rather practical.

By Daria K

Nov 16, 2017

Very short course with a small amount of useful info, what might be useful are some templates to use in planning your worktime/daytime.

By Serena S

Sep 1, 2015

The course does not offer very useful material. The instructor speaks too slowly and it takes her a long time to explain simple ideas.

By Reinhard S

Sep 4, 2016

I expected more content. The course description says that there is material for 4-8 hours, however the videos are only one hour long.

By Javier N P

Nov 8, 2015

A little bit tedious/monotonous course. It has some useful tips and tests for beginners in Personal Time Managment.

By Fabien C

Aug 19, 2015

This is more like a one hour lecture than an actual course. I was hoping for more content.

By Paul I

Jan 3, 2016

Well explained videos, But very short course. Only 1 or 2 (short) videos per week!

By GUILLERMO R M

Nov 15, 2020

The course can be considered more a talk than a course. It gives basic ideas but does not go in detail and force to work on them. Some lectures given are just simply poor power points with the basic ideas but not contributing to expand the lesson. Links to other videos from other courses seems a joke

By Michael L

Nov 1, 2020

It seems that they payed minimum efforts to build this course. Video quality is disturbing, reading tasks are simply links to the presentations shown in the videos, futhermore they are not correctly formatted. Totally not recommended

By Nasrullah N

May 8, 2021

Vidoe Lectures were almost nill, no tutor. Course content was also not well worked out. Overall disappointed that i put so much effort but it was not worth.

By Nicole V

Jun 18, 2018

This course seems kind of pointless. I finished the 4 weeks in 1.5 hours and the material did not provide any value to me.

By Carsten K

Jun 2, 2021

For an online course it is quiet bad. Mostly reading, few videos, not many topics covered. A book is better.

By Vassilis S

Aug 15, 2015

Very basic and trivial information that can be easily summarized in an article. Not need for a whole course.

By Cristine R

Jul 26, 2020

The course is kinda short. I want more real work scenario examples. Role playing is much better I think.

By Ana L R H

Feb 22, 2021

Dont get me wrong it is a good course, however it is short and it doesnt deliver cost benefit.

By Sumitra R

Sep 4, 2022

The course is easy to get through and provides a variety of resources (although linked out of site) for you to explore and read through. The content is relatable, and gives you many ah-hah! Moments, the real challenge is applying it in real life, it does take a lot of self awareness and ability to (for example) saying no, in order to stick to your schedule etc. Flexibility is key, to apply what you learn, there is not super schedule or productivity person, but applying these steps will help you improve in this area a whole lot..

How the course is paced makes it easy for you to relay the same information and steps to other people in your life who may be striggling in these areas too.

By Fede L

Sep 24, 2020

Now that the pandemic has restricted us from doing our normal activities, we are also forced to do everything in one place. Time management is a challenge now more than ever, because we have a lot of things to do and responsibilities to fulfill at home and in our jobs. This course made me realize how important my time is and how I can maximize it by working smarter, not harder. I learned how inefficient multitasking is and how it can negatively affect my work. Now, I am able to identify my priorities and know how what actions I can do to accomplish them. This course is short and insightful! Perfect for everyone!