By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

When you sign up for an online course, you are almost always advised that eLearning is time-consuming and that you will need to budget your time carefully.  This is true enough, but such advice may give a false impression that you can only succeed if you have large, uninterrupted blocks of time available to you.  The fact is, online courses are ideal for busy, working adults precisely because they can be successfully completed and deep learning can take place even when the student has highly variable amounts of time.  The successful online student and busy adult can work on courses even when she must juggle free time that comes in blocks ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours.

How can any progress be made in a 15-minute nugget of time?  Conversely, how can one assure that one gets the most out of a 3-hour "gold mine" of time?  The key is a combination of a) self-regulation strategies; b) task analysis; and c) strategic planning to match available time with task.

Self-regulation.  

In very basic terms, self-regulation refers to how an individual is able to be aware of and control one's behaviors, thoughts, and actions in order to "take charge" of one's learning process.  A few better-known researchers in this area include Bandura (1986) who suggests that self-regulation involves internal functions and that they include the ability to observe, judge, and respond to oneself.

McCombs (1986) has ideas that parallel Bandura.  While Bandura tends to focus on behaviors and inner beliefs, McCombs looks at perception and the qualitative judgments that an individual makes.  McCombs finds that self-regulation hinges on the on-going value judgment one makes about oneself, and how they think they are able to control one's own actions and to interact with others and the environment.

Zimmerman (1989) goes further and explores the importance of one's beliefs about the ability to influence one's environment.  Zimmerman and Schunk (1989) point out that one's beliefs are often evident in the way one talks to oneself, and how evaluating results sets up a feedback loop.

Most researchers agree when it comes to how to achieve a high degree of self-regulation.  Driscoll (2000) echoes most when he states that his research has found that the key is effective goal-setting.  

These theories are good news to e-learners who are wondering how to fit their coursework in with their job, their family lives and obligations.  The busy mother of three who is taking courses knows she must find a way to do course requirements while shuttling kids, attending events, and taking care of their needs.  She may also work, and she may also have the responsibility of caring for an elderly parent.
Goal-setting and positive self-talk are excellent, but how does one implement this for an online course?

Task Analysis and Strategic Planning.

Identify your time availability.  Identify the types of time.  Are you between tasks?  Quiet time with the computer?  Waiting in a waiting room?  In an airport?  On a plane?

Match time with task:   The best way to match time available with required tasks is to identify the work that needs to be done.

List the tasks you need to accomplish.  Take the course syllabus and map out the required work.  The best approach is to take one-week or two-week blocks.  List the tasks.  Be sure to include everything. Do not leave out reading texts, checking discussion board postings, or online activities.

Break tasks into small chunks and identify the types.

Reading:  List the books, articles, and online readings you will need to review.  Make a list of key ideas and themes to be covered, and look at the required work.  Make connections between the course themes and concepts and your reading.  Practice active reading and take notes to map out the connections and to jot down ideas to use for your assignments.  You will need quiet time.

Content item mastery:  Understand why you'll be learning the concepts from the course, and how you will be expected to use the information.  Develop a classification scheme that works for you.  If you make bullet lists and portable review items that you can pull up on your handheld, it is often useful.  E-mail a list of key terms to yourself and review them on your cell phone or pda when you have a few free moments.

Drafting papers:  Create outlines, and use an accretionary process to build the paper in which you add to the paper continuously.  A good way to do this is to e-mail a bullet list or outline in the body of an e-mail that you can open with your pda or smartphone.  Thus, you can add to it while you are on the go.  E-mail each version back to yourself.  In the subject line, list the version so that you do not confuse yourself.

Writing process:  The writing process has several stages.  Brainstorming can be done while you are on the go.  Drafting is something that you can continue to build, too, even via cell phone or pda.  The actual construction of the paper may require more time, though.  Because of this, you should block out as much time as possible.

Discussion board:   You will need your computer and a connection to do this, so make sure that you block out time while you are online.  Maximize your productivity by saving the tasks that do not require you to log into the learning management system and doing them in a mobile, non-connected environment.

Final Thoughts:  Success by Bringing Goal-Setting and Task Analysis Together.

Success depends on successful self-regulation, task analysis, and strategic planning.  Does that sound like a tall order?  Before reading this article, it might have seemed a bit daunting, but by following the procedures mapped above, you have a much higher likelihood of success.

If you have difficulty at first, please keep the following pointers in mind:

**Review your ability to achieve the goals you set for yourself.  Your goals may be too difficult or complex.  If you are not having success in meeting them, please review the tasks and the time, and try to determine where your tasks are not correlating well to available time.  You may need to break down the tasks into more manageable component parts.

**Stay flexible and do not be discouraged if you're having difficulty at first.  

**Be mindful of your required work and take advantage of every extra block of time that makes itself available.

You may be surprised at how your ability to match time with task starts to influence the way you live your life.  Without really trying, you may find that you have become more efficient, and feel more relaxed about life in general.   Instead of fighting the clock, it has become your friend.


References.

Bandura, A. (1986).  Social foundations of thought and action:  A social cognitive theory.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ:  Prentice-Hall.

Driscoll, M. P. (2000).  Psychology of learning for instruction (2nd ed.).  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

McCombs, B. L.  (1986).  The role of the self-system in self-regulated learning.  Contemporary Educational Psychology, 11(4), 314-332.

Zimmerman, B. J. (1989).  A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning.  Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(3), 329-339.

Zimmerman, B. J., & Schunk, D. H. (Eds.).  (1989).  Self-regulated learning and academic achievement:  Theory, research, and practice.  New York:  Springer-Verlag.