Managing Your Time To Successfully Complete Online Courses

Managing Your Time To Successfully Complete Online Courses

The most significant reason students succeed - or fail - in online classes has been their ability to manage their time effectively.

Successful online students say that they regularly spend 2 to 3 hours each week for each hour of credit for a class. For example, a 4- credit hour class on average required a minimum of 8 to 12 hours of work each week of the semester to complete all requirements. (Of course, many programs allow students to work at their own pace, and many complete their requirements in a shorter time than the average.)

Without class lectures to keep students on track, some online students procrastinate through weeks of the semester - only to find themselves hopelessly far behind.

Set up a Study Schedule

Students who have successfully completed online courses offer the following information:

Put your typical weekly schedule - on paper or a calendar - to give yourself a general guide for fitting your time to study into your other activities. A typical plan for scheduling:

• Fill in your non-flexible time (work hours, etc) with specific information.


• Fill in your flexible time related to those non-flexible ones (travel time to work, lunch break, etc).


• Fill in your other activities - kids ball games, clubs, meetings, etc - which happen less than once a week.


• Add special must-do for family, etc. (pick up the kids, etc) that occur regularly. Some students find that taking a book along can help the time spent waiting and can accomplish study time needs at the same time.


• Add time dedicated only to study. This is time that you set aside for study - and nothing less than a major emergency will be allowed to disturb it.


• List "try to study" time. This is time that you are planning to do nothing but study, but recognize that it may be interrupted. If your study is interrupted, remember to try to find some catch-up time later. 


• Use a semester calendar to lay out any classwork deadlines such as projects, papers or exams.

By managing your time effectively, you will find that you will be more succcessful in many aspects of your life, including your online coursework.  For more information about time management, and some online courses to help you enhance your time management skills, go to eLearningYellowPages.com Time Management Skills . 

Tags: online time management skills courses, online courses