VCU CTE - Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task

Principle 5 - Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task

Scenario:

Chickering and Gamson noted that there is no substitute for time on task. Time management of online work can sometimes be a weakness in some students. When Professor Leigh Adams taught her first online class, she decided that online learning meant maximum flexibility for her students. She therefore laid out a series of assignments and expectations for her course, but she did not establish any deadlines.

Twelve weeks into the course, Leigh knew that she was in trouble. Most students had delayed starting their work and most had only completed a few assignments. Now that she was in the closing weeks of the course, students were suddenly barraging her with either poorly written papers or requests for incompletes. Leigh began to panic because she found that she did not have adequate time to provide detailed feedback to each of her students, and she felt rushed to just provide some type of grade to the students.

Leigh learned her lesson. The next semester, she established in her online class a series of deadlines each week to control the flow of the class, keep all members together on the subject of the week, and ensure that both she and her students devoted adequate time on the topic for that week. She set up staggered deadlines so that course readings and journaling/commenting occurred before written work was submitted.

More importantly, she shifted the time management responsibility on to the students. She had the students keep an online learning log in a personal learning wiki, where students utilized rubrics to self-evaluate their progress and level of effort. She was able to intervene when she saw students were not adequately spending time on the subject matter that it required.

The students did not really lose any flexibility, because they could determine when in the week they worked, as long as their outputs were posted by due dates. Leigh also found that retention in her class improved, as students found the structure and the tools they needed to be successful. As one student noted, “I really worked harder in this course than in my other courses on campus, but I got so much more out of this course. I am telling my friends to take Ms. Adams’ course!”

“Time plus energy equals learning. There is no substitute for time on task. Learning to use one's time well is critical for students and professionals alike. Students need help in learning effective time management. Allocating realistic amounts of time means effective learning for students and effective teaching for faculty. How an institution defines time expectations for students, faculty, administrators, and other professional staff can establish the basis for high performance for all” (1987, pp. 1-2).

Chickering and Gamson’s comments hold equally well in online classes. A misconception that some students have is that online classes have no deadlines. Faculty that allow this are setting themselves and their students up for failure. Breaking the class into discrete modules and having deadlines for work helps mold the students into a learning community that is always together on the same topics. Deadlines help students achieve the tasks necessary to meet the learning objectives in a systematic way. As Graham et al (2003) noted, “regularly-distributed deadlines encourage students to spend time on tasks and help students with busy schedules avoid procrastination. They also provide a context for regular contact with the instructor and peers.”

The concept of setting deadlines is not new in teaching, and yet our work with faculty suggest that this misconception exists about deadlines online. Deadlines are equally important online, but they also need to be consciously structured around time management issues. For instance, with 24/7 availability of the course, does it make sense to have written assignments due at the same time as discussion comments? Should commenting be structured so that reflection and replying are factored in? If students are scattered over multiple time zones, how does one communicate “when” an assignment is due?

Time on task is also an issue for faculty teaching online. The Teaching and Learning with Technology Group polled faculty and collected their ideas regarding online teaching using the Seven Principles (TLT Group, 2004). In the section on Time on Task, faculty noted that students reported that online instruction took longer than equivalent instruction in face-to-face classes. This was backed up by a study by Spector (2005), but significantly, while students invested slightly more time in online courses, it was the faculty, all of whom were experienced online teachers, who invested considerably more time in their online courses. Cavanaugh (2005) noted similar findings in his study of online teaching but had an alternative viewpoint. He concluded:

“There are many advantages to teaching online. It provides flexibility to the instructors schedule and is a rewarding format for faculty with a keen interest in the application of technology in their teaching. Although the time demands here were large, teaching online was significantly less burdensome then these numbers suggest. The reason for this is because the work was largely performed at the convenience of the instructor. Even so, this analysis did not address the large front-end cost of developing an online course, or any additional grading time that may be required for an online course. All of these issues should be considered carefully by an instructor or an administrator thinking about developing/offering an online course.”

Faculty transitioning their course online must therefore consider their own time on task issues. The redesign of the course, the mapping of assignments and assessments to learning outcomes, and the development of the learning process all require considerable investment of time up front. This is an investment, as the online course that is developed can be used with some enhancement in subsequent semesters.

Students can bring their own misconceptions about the level of effort needed online to their courses. Just because a course is available 24/7 does not mean that a student can necessarily sign up for 20 hours of online courses and hold down a full-time job. Helping students understand the time on task requirements of the course up front will facilitate the successful completion of your course by your students.

Principle 5 - Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task

Scenario:

Tool Box