Yep, time. You need it, you got it.
Studying takes time. Most courses listed with Coursera, the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) we have been discussing on this website, will give you a general idea of how many hours per week you should spend studying in the class. Some are small, just a couple of hours a week, others six, and I believe I had one class that expected us to put twenty hours of our time into that class.
It was worth it, that class, Medical Neuroscience. I will have to take it again, though, because I could not even spend that much of my time then in that class studying. Of course, I got sick during the first couple of weeks and missed too much to get back into it. But I did save most of the data from that class, and it is still open for me to peruse as I need, I believe.
What do you need to understand about scheduling your time for your MOOC class? I may not have all the answers yet, but I have been taking classes from Coursera since February this year, and I have gotten down a system. My system may not work for you, and you may not need as much time to learn from a course, or you may have to devise your own way of organizing your study schedule.
I am not going to talk about discipline here. Some folks like it, others work off the cuff. Each is a valid way to work, though the disciplined folks tend to think those of us who like to binge learn are not doing the thing justice. If I was studying to be a brain surgeon, I might agree with you. But these are FREE online courses, and should be enjoyed!
Speaking about enjoyment, you alone can decide how much time you want to put into studying, or whether you even want to call it studying. If studying makes you feel pressure (time pressure, after all this is about time), then call it something else. Maybe learning, re-educating yourself, adding to your skillset - call it something that will draw you back to it. I just call it Coursera.
You might want to calendar every little event from a class, when it starts, ends, when each week starts, when the quizzes are due, prep time for assignments, due dates for assignments, for peer reviews. I, personally, have learned that I work best from a rolling schedule. At the top are the classes that require discussion forums with a note how many per week or per class. Then I have the next date that something is due, and I just write due dates chronologically, something like this:
July 18 - THURSDAY
Social Epidemiology - Quiz 2
Intro to Public Speaking - Week 1 Quiz
July 19 - FRIDAY
Social Epidemiology - Quiz 3, 4 and MANY
Mental Health - extra credit quiz
July 20 - SATURDAY
Growing Old Around the Globe - P.A. 4
July 21 - SUNDAY
Growing Old Around the Globe - Asmt. 5
That way, if I am paying attention to this daily (time again), then I will know I have to have studied Week 2 for Social Epidemiology before July 18 and Week 1 for Intro to Public Speaking, IF I want to do well on those tests. I usually try to do the quizzes a day before, in case my score is not good, so I can do a retake or two. If I accomplish, pass a test, I will just write "DONE" after the item. Then when the day passes, I just cut and paste it to the bottom of the list so I have an ongoing log of what I did attempt. Works for me. P.A. stands for Peer Assignment, or peer review. Asmt. just means Assignment.
You can work that list anyway you want and just type it into WordPad (or other simple text editor) so that you don't have to make it very complicated. I tried to do an Excel spreadsheet for classes and it got really messy fast, so I just uncomplicated it and was much happier. Some of the classes will create a calender you can add to Outlook, and I sometimes do that, but it just clutters up my month page, and doesn't really work for me.
If you have a lot of things going on in your life, you will have to schedule time to enjoy your classes. As for me, I probably average 80 hours per week I can use to study, unless my kids and grandkids are here visiting. Then Coursera is out the window (sorry) and I am really enjoying myself!
Well, time to go enjoy Coursera for awhile!
Studying takes time. Most courses listed with Coursera, the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) we have been discussing on this website, will give you a general idea of how many hours per week you should spend studying in the class. Some are small, just a couple of hours a week, others six, and I believe I had one class that expected us to put twenty hours of our time into that class.
It was worth it, that class, Medical Neuroscience. I will have to take it again, though, because I could not even spend that much of my time then in that class studying. Of course, I got sick during the first couple of weeks and missed too much to get back into it. But I did save most of the data from that class, and it is still open for me to peruse as I need, I believe.
What do you need to understand about scheduling your time for your MOOC class? I may not have all the answers yet, but I have been taking classes from Coursera since February this year, and I have gotten down a system. My system may not work for you, and you may not need as much time to learn from a course, or you may have to devise your own way of organizing your study schedule.
I am not going to talk about discipline here. Some folks like it, others work off the cuff. Each is a valid way to work, though the disciplined folks tend to think those of us who like to binge learn are not doing the thing justice. If I was studying to be a brain surgeon, I might agree with you. But these are FREE online courses, and should be enjoyed!
Speaking about enjoyment, you alone can decide how much time you want to put into studying, or whether you even want to call it studying. If studying makes you feel pressure (time pressure, after all this is about time), then call it something else. Maybe learning, re-educating yourself, adding to your skillset - call it something that will draw you back to it. I just call it Coursera.
You might want to calendar every little event from a class, when it starts, ends, when each week starts, when the quizzes are due, prep time for assignments, due dates for assignments, for peer reviews. I, personally, have learned that I work best from a rolling schedule. At the top are the classes that require discussion forums with a note how many per week or per class. Then I have the next date that something is due, and I just write due dates chronologically, something like this:
July 18 - THURSDAY
Social Epidemiology - Quiz 2
Intro to Public Speaking - Week 1 Quiz
July 19 - FRIDAY
Social Epidemiology - Quiz 3, 4 and MANY
Mental Health - extra credit quiz
July 20 - SATURDAY
Growing Old Around the Globe - P.A. 4
July 21 - SUNDAY
Growing Old Around the Globe - Asmt. 5
That way, if I am paying attention to this daily (time again), then I will know I have to have studied Week 2 for Social Epidemiology before July 18 and Week 1 for Intro to Public Speaking, IF I want to do well on those tests. I usually try to do the quizzes a day before, in case my score is not good, so I can do a retake or two. If I accomplish, pass a test, I will just write "DONE" after the item. Then when the day passes, I just cut and paste it to the bottom of the list so I have an ongoing log of what I did attempt. Works for me. P.A. stands for Peer Assignment, or peer review. Asmt. just means Assignment.
You can work that list anyway you want and just type it into WordPad (or other simple text editor) so that you don't have to make it very complicated. I tried to do an Excel spreadsheet for classes and it got really messy fast, so I just uncomplicated it and was much happier. Some of the classes will create a calender you can add to Outlook, and I sometimes do that, but it just clutters up my month page, and doesn't really work for me.
If you have a lot of things going on in your life, you will have to schedule time to enjoy your classes. As for me, I probably average 80 hours per week I can use to study, unless my kids and grandkids are here visiting. Then Coursera is out the window (sorry) and I am really enjoying myself!
Well, time to go enjoy Coursera for awhile!