When students begin considering taking online classes, most
think it will be easier than campus classes. Of course they know that commuting
and having to attend class on certain days and times are no longer issues. Add
to that the flexibility to schedule around work hours and childcare, there just
is not contest between taking online and f2f classes.
What new online students fail to realize is that, while they
don't have to schedule going to class, they DO need to schedule reading,
writing, studying, assignments, and discussions. Most online classes required
asynchronous discussions with a minimum number of participation days per week,
and often a minimum level of quality contributions. All of this takes time.
So let's compare the time factor. In f2f classes, commuting/parking/walking
to the class building might take an hour. Reversing the process and arriving
home adds another hour. We'll use once-a-week night classes for our example.
When I taught evening classes at local universities, a quarter term class met
for four hours one night a week. A semester term class met for three hours once
a week. Professors expected a minimum of 6 hours of homework for undergrads and
double that for graduate students.
One aspect of online learning that no one talks about is
that students always factor in the precise number of hours required to sit in
class when determining how many hours they will need for online learning. The
fact is, though, that what they can accomplish in a 3-hour f2f class will take
3-4 times LONGER in an online class. Why? Because in a f2f class, discussions
are conducted by talking and listening. This doesn't take a lot of time, nor
does it take a lot of critical thinking and reflection. In an online class,
this short verbal discussion time increases significantly because, rather than
talking without much though, students need to WRITE their thoughts in a
cohesive and precise manner for effective communication. Added to that, instead
of listening to others in a f2f class, students in online classes must READ
what others are communicating, reflect on the meaning and intent of those
contributions, and then formulate their own responses in WRITING. All of the
reading and writing takes much longer in an online class than talking/listening
takes in a f2f class.
Added all together, WITHOUT taking into consideration the
reading/writing issue, that would be approximately 8-10 hours a week for
undergrad students taking a night class on campus. Once the reading/writing
element is added to that total, students should be prepared for approximately
10-15 hours a week working on discussions, assignments, and studying for an
online class. For some reason, most students think that they can take an online
class, and make A's, with only a few hours a week. They seem to simply subtract
the commuting and seat time from the equation from the f2f class timeframe and
think that the hours that are left is the timeframe for an online class. This
is a huge mistake and can lead to failing grades and/or dropping out of online
classes.
We need to find more effective ways to prepare students for
time management in online classes. I'll talk about this in another blog post
and in my new book (to be published next month) about student success
strategies in the online classroom.
Have you had online students who expressed surprise and
dismay about the amount of time needed to be successful in your class? What did
you say to them and were you able to convince them to put in the required time
to be successful?
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