Time management

Online learning can be very self-directed and will require you to structure your schedule. It's important to ensure you are properly managing your time and balancing your priorities. 

We've provided tips below to help you stay on track and manage your time with online learning.

6 tips to manage your time

1. Identify your best time of day
Studying at your best time of day – whether it is morning, afternoon, or evening - will enable you to complete your assignments in less time. Research studies show that what we can accomplish in 60 minutes will take as much as 90 minutes to accomplish when we are fatigued.

2. Study difficult or boring subjects first
Study subjects that are more of a challenge to you first when you are less fatigued. It will be easier to find the motivation to study something you find enjoyable when you are tired than for a subject you dread studying.

3. Break tasks into manageable units
You may find that you become distracted after an hour or two of working on large tasks that take a lot of time to complete, or you may even lose motivation to finish the task because you don’t feel that you are getting anywhere. Sometimes breaking up a big task (for example, a large amount of reading or term paper) into smaller units (10 to 15 page chunks to read, or sections of your term paper to write), and spacing them out over several or many days will help you complete your tasks without becoming bored, losing motivation, or procrastinating.

4. Use the same place to study every time
By studying in the same place each day you begin to associate a particular activity with a particular location. When you are in that location, you are better able to focus on the task at hand more quickly. Studying on your bed or in your bedroom is not advised because you naturally associate your bed a bedroom with sleeping, not studying. See our tips on creating a study space!

5. Avoid distractions
Many things can be a distraction to studying if we are looking for ways to procrastinate. For the next few weeks, try to find ways to reduce the frequency with which distracters are interfering with your study time. This might mean finding a different place to study, or turning off your phone, computer, television or radio.

6. Connect with your classmates 
If you're having trouble holding yourself responsible and managing your time, connect virtually with your fellow classmates. Scheduling a virtual study group can be a great way to stay on track.