Just like in traditional classes, this varies – but don't expect your course to be easier just because it's online. Many online learners say they spend 15 to 20 hours a week on coursework.
Before you decide to take online classes, you should know that they’re different than traditional classes in some key ways. These differences may cancel out the advantages of a flexible learning schedule for you. It all depends on your learning style and needs. Here are 7 things you should know before taking an online course:
Independent, disciplined, and productive students are often most successful with online classes. Online classes may let you study whenever you want to, but don’t think you’ll spend any less time studying. Do you wait to the last minute to do your work?
If, on the other hand, people come away from it without half the answers they wanted, you probably needed to make it twice as long and include supplements -- in the case of an online course, things like workbooks and checklists -- to deliver the most value.
For one session, a student should expect to spend six hours a week on course work for every course credit. In other words, if a student is signed up for two or three courses during a session and each course is worth three credits, that student should plan to spend between 36 to 54 hours a week on course work.
The length of online classes varies. Some can be completed in as little as five weeks, while others take longer. On average, online courses last eight to nine weeks, especially those offered through universities.
Figure two hours of study time for every credit hour for elective classes or classes in subjects that come easier for you. Plan four hours a week for every credit hour for difficult classes and three hours for the classes that fall somewhere in the middle.
Thus, many online courses run the same length as their on-campus counterparts. This means that a semester-based schedule will include approximately 15 weeks of work for 9 hours per week or 135 hours total for the semester for each 3-credit course.
EduWW Recommends: At Least Two Hours of Learning Per Day – Based on my experience working daily with our youngest students all I can say is that there is no specific amount of time a particular student should spend studying online.
The most profitable online course length Based on what we've seen at Thinkific, the most profitable course length on average is between 10–25 hours. Just below that, 5-10 hour courses are about 75% as profitable. And at the higher range, longer courses—25–100 hours—are slightly less profitable than those.
Many online learners say they spend 15 to 20 hours a week on coursework. That workload, of course, may vary between full-time and part-time students. A lighter course load likely means less study.
The recommended amount of time to spend on your studies is 2-3 hours per credit per week (4 hours per credit per week for Math classes), right from week 1. For example, for a 3-unit course, this means 6-9 hours devoted to studying per week.
The general rule of thumb regarding college studying is, and has been for a long time, that for each class, students should spend approximately 2-3 hours of study time for each hour that they spend in class. Many students carry a course load of 15 credits, or approximately 15 hours of class time each week.
In college, classes can last around 50 minutes, meeting three days a week or twice a week, meeting for an hour and 15 minutes. A class that meets for an hour two or three days a week is a standard college schedule for full-time students.
LAS Online courses may provide students more flexibility and convenience when scheduling their academic day, but the idea that online classes and coursework require less time than face-to-face courses is just not true. Generally, students spend 7 to 10 hours week for each online course they take.
Total: 12 hours per course per week. Or a little less than 2 hours per day per course.
Online course assignments depend largely on the discipline. But in general, students should expect assignments similar to those in on-ground programs, such as research papers and proctored exams in addition to online-specific assignments such as responding to professor-posed questions in a discussion board.
Many online learners say they spend 15 to 20 hours a week on coursework. That workload, of course, may vary between full-time and part-time students. A lighter course load likely means less study.
At Arizona State University 's online arm – ASU Online – students typically spend six hours a week on coursework for each credit they enroll in, Joe Chapman, director of student services at the school, wrote in a 2015 U.S. News blog post.
Online classes are typically a mix of video recordings or live lectures supplemented with readings and assessments that students can complete on their own time. But nothing is typical about education in 2020 as the coronavirus has forced a sudden migration to online learning with little time to prepare for it.
ASU Online courses, for instance, are structured as seven-and-a-half week sessions rather than 14-week semesters.
Online classes are typically a mix of video recordings or live lectures supplemented with readings and assessments that students can complete on their own time.
Some online classes may require students to attend a residency on the school's campus before or during the program. The lengths and details of these requirements vary. Students may complete team-building activities, network and attend informational sessions.
Like us, students are facing more stress and difficulties in their personal and professional lives. Many now face altered daily schedules with added responsibilities of caring for family members and/or changes in employment.
First, acknowledge the world isn’t normal—we are doing a disservice to our students if we ignore the impact on peoples’ lives. Second, consider how you will build in flexibility to your course.
Consider where your content is coming from, where is it currently located? If you need material from another Canvas course, be it weeks’ worth of content or a single assignment, you can easily import that content into a new course. If you want to upload documents from your computer, you can do so now or later as outlined by this process.
Any and all documents, presentations, and spreadsheets (etc.) you have prepared for you course can be uploaded into the Files section of Canvas. Here is a guide that outlines this process. In addition to documents, you will likely have mixture of Assignments to create, Discussions to outline, Quizzes to produce, and Pages for any custom content.
You may need to setup Canvas Assignment Groups in order to weight your grades to different types of assignments (i.e. homework, papers, exams, participation, etc.). Even if you don’t need to weight grades, this is an excellent feature for general assignment organization to help you and your students keep track of different types of assignment.
Although this document outlines many of the features in an “ideal setup” Canvas course. Please note that all eight of the above steps are not needed by all instructors. That being said, the most important take away is that Modules can be used as the go-to-place for students in your course.
An online course is a lot like an office meeting. If people feel like it could’ve been handled in an email, you’ve probably overthought it, cut into everyone’s lunch hour, and need to go back to your talking points.
But while the idea that a newcomer will need more time to get their bearings than an expert may be common sense, it’s worth reiterating just how stark the difference is. Because if you’re an expert in your subject -- and you probably are -- you may not be able to judge how much time a process should take accurately.
Time is a precarious resource. We never get it back, and if we spend it unwisely -- especially other people’s time -- then we lose even more of it to regret.
No two courses will have the same time requirements, but by using these four steps to nail down your schedule and video length, they should have the same result — happy, successful customers. And that makes for a happy, successful creator, too.
An online course should be as short or long as it needs to be in order to deliver the learning outcomes it promises. In practice, you might create a course that only has a few short 5 minute videos to teach something simple. For a more in depth flagship course you might make 25-50 video lessons each 5-20 minutes long.
If you make your course too long, people will get bored and never actually finish it. But if it’s too short, people might not feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.
Each module might have 3 – 10 individual lessons within it which all hold together as a related subject or step in the learning of the bigger outcome. Each lesson of a module should be kept nice and short; just 5 – 20 minutes long. It’s best to create your courses with busy people in mind.
Another way to make your course interactive is to add activities between presentations. So one section of your course may have 5 minutes of video. Then students are instructed to pause and complete a worksheet before returning to watch the remaining 5 minutes of video.
Make your course an adventure. Give your students a reason to explore the course content. Even if that means making some kind of scavenger hunt to get them to go back and look at material multiple times to find a hidden word or something similar. Make them prove they understand.
A good amount of your students are likely people with full-time jobs and families to take care of. So it’s not convenient for them to sit down and watch a 30-minute video each day. Also, psychology shows that people retain information better when they’re given it in small portions with breaks in between (source).
It can be hard to accomplish. Instead of sacrificing quality content that you feel should be included, it’s usually worth splitting it out into multiple sections of the course. Worst case scenario, you can always attach extra material to the course in an appendix or “bonus section.”.
Most online courses are built around the concept of collaboration, with professors and instructors actively encouraging that students work together to complete assignments and discuss lessons.
2. Hold yourself accountable. Set goals at the beginning of the semester, and check in with yourself weekly.
In the past, earning a college degree meant physically attending in-person classes, which often posed challenges for working professionals or those with complicated schedules. Now, thanks to advances in technology, it’s easier than ever to find a degree program that offers the flexibility you need, whether through traditional in-person classes, ...
Online classes are an excellent option to help you earn that degree you need to fulfill your goals. Though they come with their own unique challenges, following the advice above can help you be successful even in the most chaotic of times.
Online classes are not for everyone. Success with this format takes a great deal of self-motivation. Students should realize that they will work just as hard in an online class as they would in a traditional course. Click to tweet. Independent, disciplined, and productive students are often most successful with online classes.
You might be able to take them on your own schedule, but that doesn’t make the course any easier. Without strong time-management skills, the advantages of online classes quickly become disadvantages. Add to that the challenges of learning through a computer, and it could quickly become a more difficult than a traditional class.
You might not share a classroom with them, but you can still chat and collaborate. Online classes have discussion boards, online chat, and video conferencing to help. This way, online students are still able to connect with each other, and have opportunities to work collaboratively.