Managing Workload Expectations

National Standard Workload per Credit hour

In general at an accredited four year college , students should expect to do 2 – 3 hours of work (outside the scheduled class sessions) each week PER every 1 credit hour they expect to receive for the course.

Meaning, if you’re receiving 3 credits for this class, you should expect to do 6 – 9 hours of work each week outside of our scheduled class times. (You can see why it’s important not to overload your course schedule!)

The weekly readings should not take you 6-9 hours to complete each week.* As such, you should plan to allot some of those weekly 6 – 9 hours of outside work to completing some of the other assignments related to class. For example, you might:

• review the reading and prepare yourself to discuss the text in class (see: active reading pro-tips for details)

• thoughtfully complete weekly journal activities

• read and/or contribute to class blog discussion

• meet with final project group members

• brainstorm, research, draft, and/or edit materials for upcoming papers, presentations, and/or projects.

• review feedback

Instructor’s Specific Expectations for this Course

My goal is to maintain the quality and standards of your BC education while also being sensitive to the fact that students, like so many folks, tend to have very demanding schedules (academic and otherwise). As such, I gear my expectation towards the lower end of the average per-week, per-credit amount of outside work. The course design is such that you should be able to successfully complete the course requirements without spending more than 6-7 hours a week (on average) to completing assignments (outside the scheduled class sessions).

6-7 hours a week is an average. Many weeks you may spend much less, but depending on how you and/or your group members manage your time, there may be weeks when you need to dedicate more than 6-7 hours a week.

Again, I stress that 6-7 hours a week is an average. We are all different, and we approach text, topics, and learning in different and dynamic ways. Yes, some students (for a variety of potential reasons) may spend on average less than 6-7 hours of outside work a week and still do very well in the course. And yes, some students (also for a variety of potential reasons) may need to spend a little more than an average of 6-7 hours per week to successfully complete the course readings and assignments.

HOWEVER, if after the first 3-4 weeks of class, you are already spending over an average of 8 hours per week outside the schedule class time trying to keep up with the assignments, please check in with me so that we can make sure you’re establishing a healthy and sustainable pace.

National Standard Workload per Credit hour

In general at an accredited four year college , students should expect to do 2 – 3 hours of work (outside the scheduled class sessions) each week PER every 1 credit hour they expect to receive for the course.

Meaning, if you’re receiving 3 credits for this class, you should expect to do 6 – 9 hours of work each week outside of our scheduled class times. (You can see why it’s important not to overload your course schedule!)

The weekly readings should not take you 6-9 hours to complete each week.* As such, you should plan to allot some of those weekly 6 – 9 hours of outside work to completing some of the other assignments related to class. For example, you might:

• review the reading and prepare yourself to discuss the text in class (see: active reading pro-tips for details)

• thoughtfully complete weekly journal activities

• read and/or contribute to class blog discussion

• meet with final project group members

• brainstorm, research, draft, and/or edit materials for upcoming papers, presentations, and/or projects.

• review feedback

Instructor’s Specific Expectations for this Course

My goal is to maintain the quality and standards of your BC education while also being sensitive to the fact that students, like so many folks, tend to have very demanding schedules (academic and otherwise). As such, I gear my expectation towards the lower end of the average per-week, per-credit amount of outside work. The course design is such that you should be able to successfully complete the course requirements without spending more than 6-7 hours a week (on average) to completing assignments (outside the scheduled class sessions).

6-7 hours a week is an average. Many weeks you may spend much less, but depending on how you and/or your group members manage your time, there may be weeks when you need to dedicate more than 6-7 hours a week.

Again, I stress that 6-7 hours a week is an average. We are all different, and we approach text, topics, and learning in different and dynamic ways. Yes, some students (for a variety of potential reasons) may spend on average less than 6-7 hours of outside work a week and still do very well in the course. And yes, some students (also for a variety of potential reasons) may need to spend a little more than an average of 6-7 hours per week to successfully complete the course readings and assignments.

HOWEVER, if after the first 3-4 weeks of class, you are already spending over an average of 8 hours per week outside the schedule class time trying to keep up with the assignments, please check in with me so that we can make sure you’re establishing a healthy and sustainable pace.