Time management during the confinement: the case of university students

Abstract

This article offers an overview of how a sample of students from the University of Castilla-La Mancha -Spain- has managed their vital time during the period of the state of alarm. The transition from experiences sponsored by normality to an unprecedented scenario in our lives, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, supposes a change in general behavioral models and especially particularly in the time period of home confinement. Thus, this exploratory analysis serves to illustrate how the profile of university students has organized their lives, reconciling their duties as students with carrying out other activities, which also allows us to know what their socialization patterns and their leisure and rest times.

Therefore, a qualitative research is proposed whose main objective is to know in a broad sense how this student profile experiences the new reality imposed during the state of alarm, under the obligation to stay at home. The analysis, supported by the in-depth interview, collects evidence of the effects that confinement has on the organizational capacity of the students. It is shown that said organizational capacity is a function of personal and environmental factors and the continuity of online teaching. On the other hand, it should be noted how the confinement situation negatively affects the ability to concentrate and the perception of productivity, requiring a greater investment of time in learning.