Online Course Success/Expectations for logging into class

Hello students

One of the biggest challenges in college is learning how to manage your time successfully.  Everyone has different responsibilities that they have to balance throughout each day that can include things like:

• work
• childcare
• babysitting siblings
• clubs/organizations
• making dinner
• walking the dog

These are just a few examples.  Students also must study and set aside time to complete homework and assignments if they are going to be successful in their courses.  The general expectation in college is that students will spend a minimum of 2 hours outside of class for every 1 hour in class. Those 2 hours might be spent doing things like reading assigned textbook information, doing research, completing homework assignments, or working on group projects.  This means that a 3.0 unit class would meet 3 hours in class each week and then require 6 hours of work outside of class.  A 3.0 unit online class would have a minimum of 9 hours of work each week (class time + outside class time). 

It is important to plan out and manage your time every day, in advance, to ensure that you are able to meet your obligations and deadlines.  Planning ahead and managing your time are the keys to academic success.  Conversely, not planning ahead and tying to cram things in at the last minute to make a deadline, generally leads to poorer work, lower grades, and less success.