A Kanban board for students: one board per semester, never blindsided by a deadline
The semester board (Assigned, This Week, In Progress, Submitted, Graded), a label per class, and due dates you can see, all in the free version of Hense.
The short answer. Make one board for the semester with five columns (Assigned, This Week, In Progress, Submitted, Graded), one card per assignment or reading, a label per class, and a due date on every card. Hense shows overdue cards in red and due-today cards in orange, so the board itself warns you. The whole setup fits in the free version, and it syncs between your iPad and your iPhone with no account.
The problem a board solves for a student
A semester is four or five parallel pipelines. Each class hands you readings, problem sets, essays, and exams, on its own schedule, and the syllabus that lists them is a document you read once in week one. By week six, the work lives in a mix of the LMS, email, a notes app, and your memory, and the failure mode is always the same: a deadline you knew about and still did not see coming.
A Kanban board fixes the seeing. Every piece of work is a card, every card has a due date, and every card sits in a column that says what state it is in. You do not have to remember anything; you have to look at one screen.
The semester board
One board per term, with these columns:
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Assigned | Everything on the syllabus you have not started. Load it in week one. |
| This Week | What you intend to do this week. Pulled on Sunday. |
| In Progress | What you have actually started. Keep it to two or three. |
| Submitted | Turned in, waiting for a grade. |
| Graded | Back with a grade. The satisfying column. |
Five columns is the free limit in Hense, and it is exactly the right number here. If you want a Waiting column (for group projects or a professor’s reply), fold it into In Progress with a label, or unlock Pro.
One label per class. The free version includes three labels per board, which covers three classes; for a five-class term, either prefix card titles with the course code (for example “HIST 201: Essay 1”) or upgrade to Pro for unlimited labels. Labels are what make the board filterable: turn on the label filter and you see just one class, which is how you plan a study session.
Loading the syllabus (thirty minutes, once)
This is the only real setup, and it pays back all term:
- Open each syllabus and add a card for every graded item and every reading with a date. Use the title format “Course: Thing,” so cards read the same way in every column.
- Set the due date on each card. This is the step people skip and the reason the board works: overdue turns red, due today turns orange.
- For big assignments, add a checklist of the real steps (outline, sources, draft, edit, submit). The card shows its progress on the board, so “Essay 2” reads as 2 of 5 without opening it. Five checklist items are free per card.
- Attach the assignment PDF or the rubric to the card so you stop hunting for it. One attachment per card is free.
The weekly routine
Sunday, ten minutes: look at Assigned sorted by what is due soonest, drag the week’s cards into This Week, and glance at In Progress for anything that has stalled. During the week, move cards as you work them, and move each to Submitted the moment you turn it in. When grades come back, move cards to Graded.
Two habits that matter more than any feature:
- Start cards early enough to show up in This Week the week before they are due, not the week of. The board makes this visible: a card due Friday that is still in Assigned on Monday is a decision, not a surprise.
- Keep In Progress short. Two or three cards. Three half-written essays are worse than one finished one.
Setting it up in Hense
In Hense
- Create a board named for the term (for example “Fall 2026”) and pick a color.
- Add the five columns: Assigned, This Week, In Progress, Submitted, Graded.
- Create labels for your classes: edit the board (⌘E on iPad and Mac, or long-press the board) and open Labels. Pick a distinct color per class.
- Add cards from each syllabus with due dates. On iPad, ⌥⌘N adds a card without leaving the keyboard; on iPhone, Add Card sits at the bottom of the column.
- Add checklists to the big assignments and attach the PDF or rubric.
- Filter by class with the filter button in the toolbar (⇧⌘L with a keyboard) when you sit down to study one subject.
- Search for a card by name from the board’s search field when you cannot remember where it is; the board scrolls to it.
Which device does what
- iPad is the planning screen: the whole board fits in landscape, and Split View lets you keep the LMS or a PDF open beside it. The iPad guide covers the sidebar and keyboard shortcuts.
- iPhone is the check-in screen: swipe to This Week between classes, drag a finished reading to Submitted from the bus.
- Mac, if you have one, is where you write; keep the board in its own window at the edge of the screen.
Boards sync through iCloud with no account, so a card added on the phone in a lecture is on the iPad when you sit down to work.
What Hense does not do (be honest with yourself)
Hense does not send notifications. The board warns you visually, with red and orange dates, every time you open it; it will not buzz your phone at 9 pm. If you need alarms, put exam dates and hard deadlines in the Calendar app too, and use the board for the work leading up to them. It also has no shared boards, so a group project’s shared tracker has to live elsewhere; your own cards for your part of it belong on your board.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Kanban column layout for students?
Assigned, This Week, In Progress, Submitted, Graded. Columns are stages of an assignment, not classes; use one label per class so you can filter the board by subject.
Can students use Hense for free?
Yes. The free version includes 2 boards with 5 columns each, 3 labels per board, checklists, one attachment per card, drag and drop, board search, and iCloud sync across iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Hense Pro ($9.99 USD, one time) adds unlimited labels, which helps with more than three classes.
Does Hense remind me before an assignment is due?
Hense shows due dates on the card and colors them (orange for due today, red for overdue), but it does not send notifications. Pair it with the Calendar app for alarms on hard deadlines.
Should I make one board per class or one board for the semester?
One board for the semester, with a label per class. A single board shows the whole week’s load across classes, which is the thing a per-class board hides.
Does Hense work on iPad with a keyboard?
Yes. Hense is a native iPad app with a sidebar, drag and drop, and keyboard shortcuts for new cards, columns, boards, and the label filter.