DURATION OF A COURSE
Do you believe that the length of the course impacts the students engagement?
What do you believe is the optimum time for a course to last in the online environment?
Length of a course could indeed impact student's engagement. Drawing out information that can be learned in a shorter period of time, I believe, can not only cause the students to loose interest but could be quite frustating to a student as well. On the other hand, rushing a course and trying to compact too much information in a short period of time, I think, will have a greater negative impact on a student's overall performance. Currently the course stucture at the institution I teach at is over a 5 week span. Personally, 5 weeks goes bye slightly too fast. Many students tend to need a bit of an adjustment period at the beginning of a new course to familiarize themselves with the platform, expectation of a new instructor, and introduction of new material. By the time many of the students do adjust, the course is already midway through leaving little room to make up for a slow start. I think for most standard courses a 6-8 week time frame would be more ideal.
Christin,
It is more difficult to keep students engaged for 16 weeks. All of my courses are 16 week courses and it can be a challenge to keep them engaged. It requires well paced assignments and reinforcement/feedback to do so.
Herbert Brown III
I agree with this. We have 8 week courses and I feel this is an appropriate amount of time. I would say no more than 12 weeks at the most. I can imagine that most students would burn out at 16 weeks.
Certainly the length of a course could impact student engagement. Student engagement can be 'renewed' (in real time) in a traditional 15-16 week on-ground semester if the instructor gains feedback or begins to realize that a change of pace, a field trip, a guest speaker, etc., needs to be inserted to renew interest/engagement. In an on-line course, this may be slightly problematic if an instructor is not allowed to 'change the pace/picture' (all within the course objectives/goals). Content, then, becomes the issue in an on-line course as short as 5 weeks, i.e., how much can the e-learners absorb, feeback, and create in the form of personal/portfolio projects, etc.) within 5 weeks?
Yes!!! I remember when they did that. It was fantastic! As a student at that time, it was a true break. I even remember my grades improving when that change was implemented.
It is easy to say "8 weeks, I can do anything for 8 weeks" opposed to 12 weeks.
Sheena Gonzalez
Sheena,
I could certainly see the benefits of breaking courses in to smaller blocks and move between courses a little more quickly. You don't have a chance to get in to a slump over the longer time period. Similar to when public schools moved from year-long 50 minute periods to semester long "block" scheduling - just even smaller time frames with your suggestion.
Herbert Brown III
I absolutely believe that the duration of the course is important. 8 to 12 week course would give the student and instructor adequate time to fulfill course material. Online courses are typically difficult (trigonometry online was the pits). A lot of continuing Ed students in my experience do a few classes at a time. In my opinion a 16 week course is way too long.
Charmelia,
Is the 5 week minimum for any course topic? Is there a maximum? How often after the first 5 week course would you follow up with any additional coursework. I teach 16 week courses and could see condensing it down to about 8 weeks, but it would be very hard for me to fit a traditional university course in to a 5 week period.
Herbert Brown III
A minimum of 5 weeks for any online class is acceptable.
Leyann,
I feel the subject matter could certainly influence the duration. Another bigger influence to me would the be duration BETWEEN sessions. If I am teaching advanced computer networking and one course builds on another the courses would have to be almost immediately after one another to make sure you don't have to repeat content between the courses.
Herbert Brown III
With your stated preference being 8-weeks, Do you feel 6-weeks would be just as effective ? Do you feel the subject material being presented should influence the duration?
Janis,
I would say that length of a course could certainly impact student engagement. I am in a traditional 16-week course. If I had a preference, I would probably break that in to 8-week block instead. My personal experience is that students start to feel burned out by the end of 16 weeks. Longer courses would require the faculty to plan accordingly and will require a little more work on the part of the instructor to maintain student engagement and motivation.
Herbert Brown III
