Study Tip 02 - Time Management

Time management is one of the biggest issues for a student in online courses. Some courses force students to stay on track by using weekly deadlines with the students being able to choose when during the week they do the work. Other classes have a totally work-at-your-own-pace approach in which there is only the final deadline and the students have the entire semester to work on the material.

This course will be closer to the first with deadlines occurring roughly every 2 –3 weeks:

• Orientation - 1 week (official due date, but really should take no longer that 2–3 days)
• Unit 01 - about a week and a half (depending on how long you spend on the Orientation)
• Unit 02 - 2 weeks
• Unit 03 - 3 weeks
• Unit 04 - 3 weeks

While it is acceptable to work ahead, if you get behind, you might end up not completing assignments by the deadlines and receiving grades of zero (or 50% reduction for late work).

In my opinion, the best way to pace yourself is by following a schedule similar to the traditional versions of the class. During the summer, we are trying to fit 16 weeks of material into 10 weeks, so the traditional sections meet three times per week. Each day the class meets for one hour of “lecture” and two hours of “lab”. This means that students are meeting with their instructor for a minimum of nine hours per week. If you include the 2–3 hours of outside study time expected for each in-class hour, that brings the total time you are expected to be studying microbiology is between 18 and 27 hours per week.


Schedule for traditional BIO220 courses for the summer semester.

While instructors know that most students are not spending this kind of time on their courses, we also know that many students who struggle with the material are not spending enough time working on the class. This is why I think the topic of time management is one of the best study tips I can give this early I the course.

My recommendation is to look at your calendar and commit to a minimum of nine hours per week that you can schedule uninterrupted time to work on the course material. I definitely do not recommend just flying by the seat of your pants as it can be very difficult to choose homework over the other distractions that come along (especially in the summer).

Evidence supports the hypothesis that scheduling work times makes for more productive results. With the online course, you have the flexibility of choosing when you do the work, but again it is still best to schedule this in advance. Start by looking at your calendar and choosing how many days you want to schedule and how long per day. Again I recommend 3 days per week with 3 hours per day, but you can schedule 5 days a week with 2 hours each if that works better for you.

I also recommend taking time off between work times just like with an advanced workout program. If you work out hard every day with no rest in between, you are likely to hurt yourself. I am not saying that you can sprain your brain by studying microbiology, but you can get burned out pretty fast in any technical course.

During your schedule work period, look at the assignments list in Bb and complete the activities in order using the time you have. If you are starting a lab exercise with 30 minutes left in your time, you might want to put it off until the next time or extend your time a little to get it done. When you next sit down, just pick up where you left off. I have designed the flow of the class in a way that most students should be able to complete the module work before the deadline if working regularly for 12–18 hours per week. If you understand the material quicker you might spend less time working per week. If it generally takes you longer to grasp complex ideas, you might need to spend more than this per week.

Give it a try and if you find that you are struggling, at least we will know if time spent is a possible culprit.