Online course / hours per week

[katsiki]

Great forum - thanks to all!

I am taking my first course in about 20 years.  I requested the syllabus and it included this blurb which surprised me:

All online students will spend 12-16 hours per week on this course.  The amount of time each student spends on this course will vary depending on the student’s skill level, etc.



Course is Introduction to Business.  Based on the syallbus and grading criteria, the number of hours seem high.

Should I worry about this?  Probably more nervous since I am going back to school again in general.

Thanks for any advice!

[rachel83az]

The part to focus on is "The amount of time each student spends on this course will vary depending on the student’s skill level, etc."

A high schooler will need to spend a LOT more time on the course than someone who has been out of school for 20 years. As long as it's an ACE course, like from Sophia, you can safely ignore the estimated hours most of the time.

[Flelm]

They're probably doing something with the "Carnegie Unit": https://www.aic.edu/academics/credit-hours-calculator/. I wouldn't expect it to actually take that much time, but I've been wrong before.

[katsiki]

Thank you both!

It is a 7-week course format so it may be related to the Carnegie Unit.

[bjcheung77]

The course may indicate that number of hours as a suggested timeline for new students starting college. For those who have experience and some credits in similar courses already will vastly vary. I think you'll be fine with the 7 week course and should have nothing to worry about, just perfect your time management to complete the assignments and you're good to go! Of to the races my friend...

[LevelUP]

I don't have psychic powers to know what course provider you are using since you never mentioned it in the thread.

Every course provider can be different and things could also vary course by course. Also, your experience level and study methods can be a factor.

Intro to businesses could take:
10hrs on avg Sophia
20hr on avg Study.com
20hr on avg SL
40hr on avg Saylor

Calculus could take:
40hrs on avg SL
120hrs on avg CLEP (if you pass)
200hrs on avg SDC

You said "7-week course format," which doesn't tell me much. I have done 12wk courses in less than 20hrs total. I also did a 12 wk course taking 60hrs for one course.

What is your degree goal, what are you trying to accomplish? When you are going for a degree that can involve taking 40 courses, wasting time adds up quickly, so that is not what you want to be doing.

[katsiki]

I don't have psychic powers to know what course provider you are using since you never mentioned it in the thread.

Every course provider can be different and things could also vary course by course. Also, your experience level and study methods can be a factor.

Intro to businesses could take:
10hrs on avg Sophia
20hr on avg Study.com
20hr on avg SL
40hr on avg Saylor

Calculus could take:
40hrs on avg SL
120hrs on avg CLEP (if you pass)
200hrs on avg SDC

You said "7-week course format," which doesn't tell me much. I have done 12wk courses in less than 20hrs total. I also did a 12 wk course taking 60hrs for one course.

What is your degree goal, what are you trying to accomplish? When you are going for a degree that can involve taking 40 courses, wasting time adds up quickly, so that is not what you want to be doing.

Thanks again for the feedback.  I didn't mention the university as I didn't think it would be relevant (it is not found in the forum at all in my searches).

So this is an online course from a state school.  Based on the syllabus, I suspect the hours are very inflated, probably for reasons given upthread.

Again, thanks everyone.