Time management is the most essential part of completing an online course successfully. Online learning requires great motivation, systematic study plans and self-discipline.

Proper time management will ensure that you complete your degree in time and reap the benefits as early as possible. Once you decide to take up an online course, the next step should be to work out a complete Time Management plan. Let us see how to go about this:

Identify your goals and priorities

You must define your objective, the time frame and the other priorities in your life that are likely to clash with your current goal.

Analyze how you are spending your time

Find out how you spend your time each day on Work, Leisure, Eating, Commuting, Exercise, Family commitments, Sleeping, Others. Write the amount of time in hours against each activity by the day and then by the week.

Match time with your priorities

Now set your priorities keeping in mind that you will be cutting time from your existing activities that you have listed above. You will have to do some hard thinking and may even have to give up some activities altogether. Remember your goal.

Make a new schedule of all activities

Once you have set priorities you can now set a schedule for the new set of activities.

Make an ACTION PLAN

1. First make a plan for the whole period of the online course you plan to take up. For example 6 month, 1 year and so on, as the case maybe.
2. Now divide it into weeks and then days.
3. Each day has to be broken down to hours for different topics or subjects. This depends on your attention span or the amount of time you can study a single subject at a stretch. Ideally this should be between 45 to 50 minutes for each subject.
4. Allocate separate time for study and self examination
5. Allot separate time for submissions of papers for review
6. When allotting time please also consider SPARE time and QUALITY time. SPARE Time means when you have a dentist’s appointment you can use the waiting time to study. QUALITY time is the time when you feel you can absorb the most. Remember both are PRODUCTIVE TIMES.

Study Plan

Having divided your time, you still need another plan that will actually lay down the ground rules of how you will commence your actual studies. This needs digging deeper into the methods of study. It is significant because in many cases you may have been out of touch with your studies for quite sometime and your learning process might need some brushing up. Therefore do not ignore this part.

• Make a daily plan with subjects or topics of study.
• Understand assignments and write them down.
• Study includes many different tasks. For example, research also forms an important part
• Different subjects require different types of preparation. Avoid being stereotype.
• Schedule study-learning sessions to fit your attention span. This can be different at different times of the day.
• Begin each study session with goal setting and make the result meaningful.
• Study the easy material first then go on to the complex one. This will give you more confidence
• Vary subjects and type of study for maximum efficiency. This will avoid boredom.
• Schedule periodic review sessions and be really tough on yourself from time to time.

Lastly remember the GOLDEN RULE

CONCENTRATE ON RESULTS, NOT ON TIME SPENT, and you will be on your way to success.