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ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 112 (2014) 333 – 341

International Conference on Education & Educational E Psychology 2013 (ICEEPSY 2013)

Parallel programming:a modell for time management, improving the academiic achievement Zohreh Molaeea,Dr Hasan Assadzadehb,Dr Fariborz Dortaja,b,* a

Department of psychology&educational sciiences,Allameh Tabatabai’ University,Tehran,Iran

Abstract

The married women who educate simultaneously,arre faced to many challenges for managing their time.Since they have multiple and even conflicting roles, theirr academic achievement or their family life may be at risk.Whether parallel planning:a total time managem ment model made by authors,can improve their academic achievement or not?A model which tries firstly to improve some skills about and secondly put together all important tasks .The main goal of this study was deterrmining the effectiveness of instructing and employing this model in academic achievement in the case of married women.For doing so,a single case has been selected,multiple baseline(across subjects) design.Thhe sample included 5,married female subjects who were selected in a purposive sampling way among Payame Noor University 2013 students.The cases average age was 24.2 years.Each subject had atleast 11 instructional,ppractical and monitoring sessions during 18 weeks. Study had two phases of baseline and treatment(instruuction).Subjects entered in instruction respectively in 4th,5th,6th,7th&8th session.In each session ,each subject responded to totally 18 shortanswer exams(with 20 questions) based on her thermic lesson design, alongg baseline and instruction phase.The scores reported in a 100point scale and finally graphs and visual analysis prepared on the basis of data. Comparison of the scores of baseline and instruction phase,demonstrated a clear improvement in each subjects’ scores.Based on findings Parallel programming instruction was effective on acaademic achievement. © 2013 2013The Authors.Published byElsevier ElsevierLtd. Ltd. The Authors. Published by Selectionand andpeer-review peer-reviewunder under responsibility of Dr ZaferBekirogullari. Selection responsibility of Cognitive-counselling, research and conference services (c-crcs). Keywords:Parallel Programming,Time Management,Academic Achhievement,Multiple Baseline Design.

* Corresponding author. Tel.:+98-281-336-3036; fax:+98-281-3377-3101. E-mail address:[email protected]

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Cognitive-counselling, research and conference services (c-crcs). doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1172

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Zohreh Molaee et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 112 (2014) 333 – 341

1. Introduction

Academic achievement or academic performance can be defined as the outcome of education or the extent to which a student,teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals.Academic achievement is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects are the most important.But the most important is the urge to improving the academic achievement as a main goal of education and educational programs.However many variants have been identified in this case,there is no final answer to the problem of education. The importance of academic achievement in one hand and the importance of time management ,especially in modern life,results in forming the idea of this study. (Mackenzie,1972;Mccay,1959) believe that , the interest in Time management is not a new subject.There is no unique definition of time management ,it can be defined as , the analysis of how hours are spent and the prioritization of tasks in order to maximize personal efficiency .The other definition can be a particular form of self-management—that is, a conscious form of self-regulation ( Kuhl& Fuhrmann,1998 ,cited in Claessens, Roe, &Rutte( 2009)). The problem of managing time was already discussed in the 1950s&1960sand several authors proposed methods on how to handle time issues buton the job (e.g., Drucker 1967; Lakein, 1974; MacKenzie, 1954;McCay, 1959). ‘Despite the popularity of time management, relatively little scientific research has focused on the way in which people manage their time and on the processes involved.During the last two decades, therehas been a growing recognition of the importance of time in the organizational literature. According to Orlikowsky and Yates (2002), the temporal dimension of work has become more important because of expanding global competition and increased demands for immediate availability of products and services. Garhammer (2002) pointed at the increased pace of life which displays by doing things faster (acceleration), contracting time expenditure (e.g., eat faster, sleep less), and compressing actions (making a phone call while having lunch). Several studies acknowledged experienced time pressure among employees (e.g., Jackson & Martin, 1996; Major, Klein, &Ehrhart, 2002; Teuchmann, Totterdell, & Parker, 1999). The increasing salience of time is reflected in theoretical as well as practical publications. A number of authors discussed the need for better incorporating time in theoretical models and research designs (e.g., Ancona, Goodman, Lawrence, &Tushman, 2001; George & Jones, 2000; Wright, 2002). Others focused on the ways in which people in organizations manage their time, and on ways in which their efforts can be improved (e.g., Macan, 1994)’(cited in Claessens,2004). It seems that many studies have concentrated on time management in work,market and related subjects but a little one on educational subjects.Whereas planning is known as a metacognitive of study and learningstrategy ineducational contexts,it has not been acknowledged time planning and management in these contexts. The numerable literature about is summarized below. Claessens(2004)demonstrated ,time managementbehaviors were generally found to have a positive effect on perceived control of time, job satisfaction, stress reduction, job or academic performance, and health, although results were sometimes contradictory. Some evidence for individual differences in time management was found. Time management training has been shown to enhance time management skills.Britton&Tesser(1991) report time management practices may influence college achievement,they tested the hypothesis that college grade point average(GPA)would be predicted by time-management practices.Macan,Shahani,Dipboy,Phillips(1990) reports students who perceived control of time showed significantly greater evaluations of their performance,greater work and life satisfaction,less role ambiguity,less role overlap,and fewer job-induced and somatic tensions.(K.J.Swick1987 cited in Macan et al(1990) p.1)believes that many college students may find the academic experience very


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stressful.Macan et al(1990) and one potential coping strategy frequently offered by university counseling is time management. Macan et al(1990). Today life has been more and more complex,stressful and confusing,since contemporary man encounters more ambiguous roles.In a similar way the married women who educate simultaneously,are faced to many challenges like as managing their time.Since they have multiple and even conflicting roles, their academic achievement or their family life may be at risk.Considering a man as a multi dimensionalbeing,conceivesus,that a propermodel for planning his time and life must be a multidimensional too.In the other word ,he needs to a life plan which consider his realcharacteristics with all of his complexities,individual differences,….A mechanical to do list,a priority one,checklist and some things like that is not enough in itself.Thus the authors prepared a total model of time management, a new combination of cognitive,metacognitive,physical,emotional,skills which tries to manage all roles and tasks in a parallel way at the same time,it means Parallel programming model.The logic behind it is that a man is an integrated whole who can not be successful in all areas,if he couldn’t be in peace with all the realms.A student who has family conflicts or aperson who is not satisfied with himself,… can not be as successful as he can be potentially. Whether parallel planning:an authors made total time management model can improve academic achievement or not(married female students’ in this study)?The main goal of this study was determining the effectiveness of instructing and employing this model in women academic achievement in the case of married women.The hypothesis of this study was that Parallel programming instruction improves academic achievement ,in married women.

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2. Method 2.1. Subjects Five married subjects from Payame Noor University 2013 students selected in a purposive sampling.The main society of research was all the iranian married ,female students in2012- 2013 education year.All of the subjects were students in B.A degree,the average of their age was 24.2 years.

Table 1.Subjects’ demographic information Subject 1 Subject2 Subject3 Subject4 Subject 5 Age

26

24

25

22

Sex

Female

Marital

Married MarriedMarriedMarriedMarried

24

FemaleFemaleFemaleFemale

Status Education

B.A

Child No:

1

B.AB.AB.AB.A -

-

-

-

2.2. Instruments For assessing subjects’ academic achievement,was prepared 18 exams of students termic lesson design,with 20 short answer question.Parallel programming model,notebook,charts,checklists,...which were made by authors. 2.3Procedure Each subject had atleast 11 instructional,practical and monitoring sessions during 18 weeks,the duration of each session was 2 half an hour with a 15 minute intervals between. Study had two phases of baseline and treatment(instruction).Subjects entered in instruction respectively in 4th,5th,6th,7th&8th session(week).At first week and first session ,subjects completed a demographic questionnaire,the procedure and purposes of study has been determined for them and they declare their satisfaction for participate .The sessions contain contents such asParallel Programming introduction ,roles wheel,roles clarification,values,goal setting,longterm & short term goals,preparing 10 yearly,yearly and monthly charts,to do lists,checklists,introduction of time planning notebook,selfcognition,learningstyles,biologic clock,studycharts,study and learning cognitive and metacognitive inner strategies,concentration,breathing,emotionsmanagement,nutrition,sleep,recreations,... In every session ,each subject responded to totally 18 short answer exams based on her termic lesson design, along baseline and instruction phase. The scores reported in a 100points and finally graphs and visual analysis prepared on the basis of data.


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Table 2.Sessions contentents

Session Content 1 .Model introduction,lifewheel,roles Clarification 2.Roles chart revise,Setting goals 3.Revise ,Parallel programming notebook and strategies introduction 4.Planning notebook control 5.Tips on selfcognition:individual learning style,biologicalclock,etc. 6.Tips on cognitive &metacognitive Strategies 7.Tips on memory&concentration 8.Tips on relaxation methods 9.Tips on emotions management 10.Tips on nutrition ,sleep,recreation 11.Planning for improving individual instruments&skills.

2.4.Research Design A Single case,multiple baseline design was implemented , across subjects,nonconcurrent one ;with cases beginning treatment(instructional program)after base lines of 3,4,5,6&7 weeks. Since ,Parallel programming model contains many different subject matters,forinstruction,practice ,revise &Monitoring,it was necessary,devoting a considerable time to each subject.Hence on the other hand the purpose of study was not reversing treatment and it seemed somehow impossible to reverse subjects to a baseline inthat they have not received any instruction.Whitdrawal or Reversal designs may not to be proper or even inappropriate when treatment variables can not be withdrawn or reversed due to ethical considerations,practicallimitations,or problems insubject or staff cooperation Multiple baseline design is widelyrecognized in many areas of research(especially applied behavior analysis)as it is easily implemented,higlysensitive&internallyvalid.Many areas of research in which randomized group designs&reversal single case designsare disqualified by practical or ethical considerations are easily investigable with multiple base line designs.chapter21(Huitema:2011).Three main forms of multiple baseline designs are multiple baseline across behaviors,multiple baseline across subjects,multiple baselines across setting.Indeed the multiple baseline design across subjects is not a single case design,because it contains atleast 2 persons.(Huitema:2011)says single case study across subject appropriately must be labeled as a very small

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design.He continues this variant is basically a combination of some AB designs,but with a unique feature of regarding the timing of conditionchanges that results in a high internal validity.”Instead of introducing the intervention to all subjects at the same time ,the intervention is introduced at a different time to each subject according to a planned staggered sequence.The staggered initiation of the intervention makes it implausible that an event unrelated to the intervention is the cause of the apparent effect on each subject”.Huitema:(2011)pp.4534.Single case or single subject designs are designs which can be applied in the cases of samples of one subject or some individuals as a group.In these disigns each subject acts as her/his own control,similar to time-series design.The participant is exposed to a baseline(non-treatment)and also a treatment phase with multiple data points.(Gay&Airasian.2003,p383).”The baseline refers to a period of time in which the target behavior(dependent variable)is observed and recorded as it occurs without a special or new intervention”.(James H.McMillan:(2004)pp227-228)This baseline provides a base for comparing results of treatment.

3. Results The results of instruction and the exams scores are presented in table 3 and visual graphes,the obtained scores have been converted to a 100points scale.As one can find from results,all of subjects’ scores had an evident improvement; Each subject presented an obvious improvement in the instruction phase scores mean comparing to baseline phase.Subject 1,2,3,4&5 respectively had an improvement in their scores mean from 65 to 87,from 30 to 71.42,from 80 to 93.07,from 12.5 to 28.33 and from 87.85 to 97.72.The improvement for case 1 was 22 scores,for case 2,3,4 and 5 respectively:41.42,13.07,15.83,9.87. Table 3:Result scores per sessions Sessions scores of: Subject 1 Subject2 Subject3 Subject4 Subject 5 1

65

50

80

15

85

2

65

15

75

15

95

3

65

35

80

0

85

4

65

20

85

10

95

5

65

60

80

20

90

6

70

20

80

15

70

7

85

35

85

10

95

8

95

50

90

15

95

9

80

65

95

20

100

10

75

85

95

25

100

11

85

70

100

35

95

12

90

80

90

20

95

13

95

85

95

40

100

14

90

95

100

35

90

15

100

90

80

30

100

16

90

85

100

35

100

17

100

90

100

45

100

18

95

90

100

30

100


Hence the subject 2 who received 14 individual instruuction sessions,had the most improvement,then subject 1 with 15 minutes instruction sessions.The subject 5 ,shhowed the least improvement,with the least number of instruction sessions i.e. 11 sessions,but it must be notiffied that this subject was the same who had the highest mean at the baseline.However the subject 4,had the least mean at base line,uponthe start of instruction showed a competent improvement. S u b j e c t 1 S u b j e c t 2 S u b j e c t 3

Scores per sessions

Scores per sessions

Scores per sessions

S u b j e c t 4

Scores per sessions

S u b j e c t 5

Scores per sessions

Figure1:Results of exam scores per sessions

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Then the results showed an increase in academic achievement as measured through 18 exams. The study result are similar to those reported by Claessens(2004),which demonstrated ,time managementbehaviors were generally found to have a positive effect on academic performance. This study adds to the growing body of literature supporting the efficacy of time management behaviours in academic achievement. 4.Discussion Time management,mostly has been discussed in work discourses,but it seems important in the other aspects of one’s life.Time management can be focused on in educational aspects of one’s life,especially who have multiple roles.Since ,the absolute separation of life aspects is not possible.The various aspects impact on each other ,thus studying on time management as a whole can be more suggested . The present study attempted to present a more practical and surely holistic model for time management;A model which aims to conduct personal multiple roles in a parallel way,for it consider man as a whole .The logic behind of this model is the interaction between these multiple roles (as role of a person toward himself) and make them in balance.The results showed an obvious improvement in subjects’ scores after recieving the instruction and thus an improvement in their academicachievement. The study showed the first attempts to defining a more individual and holistic model for time management. For doing so,selected a multiple baseline design with a small sample to make possible a more individual,practical instruction and also proper monitoring and revise.But it is suggested to do a similar study with larger samples too.

And also similar study is suggested with the male subjects with multiple roles or roles conflict to define the effectiveness of Parallel programming on their academic achievement .In addition to it can be proposed examining the model effect on work,in male and female subjects and also on work,life&marriage satisfaction for future studies.The future sudies should to take a time management behavior test(like as Macan’s TMB or Time Management Behavior scale(2006) )on the baseline and even before sampling ,for a purposive sampling and define the improvement of time management behaviors after treatment;It can be compared the results of who had higher scores in time management behaviors on the base line phase with who had the lower one, to define the impact of initial behavior on final results in each subject. In addition to it is important to consider ,for taking advantage of time management instructions,it’s necessary to transfer these instructed skills to behavior.On the other hand Breaton(1997)investigates the difference between the effectiveness of passive instruction and active instruction of time management skills.These point of views can be considered in future studies for the study on time management in educational contexts seems at the beginning of the road.


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Acknowledgements Thanks to dear subjects of this study,who regardless of their time restriction,devoted their time to the study,for their presence at sessions,exams and all of the other study programs.

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