Time Management in Online Higher Education Courses
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Date
2020-07-28
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Although the online delivery format can increase access to higher education, access does not necessarily translate to success for online learners. The purpose of this study was first to assess the needs of online students, particularly those with low GPAs and those who identified as male, at a graduate school of education. Results of a needs assessment suggested that online students at the institution, and students with low GPAs and male students in particular, struggled with time management in their online courses. Therefore, the second purpose of this study was to evaluate a time management intervention at the graduate school. The intervention involved a goal setting activity and mental contrasting with implementation intentions exercises, and was evaluated using a mixed methods approach that included a quasi-experimental comparison group design. The evaluation of the intended outcomes of the intervention revealed that it did not demonstrate a significant positive relationship to time management self-efficacy, on-time submission of assessments, successful course completion, or course grades in online courses at the graduate school. For the subgroup of students with low GPAs, those who participated in the intervention outperformed, on average, students with low GPAs who were in an untreated group, but differences were not significant. Results of a process evaluation of the intervention’s implementation as well as qualitative analysis of participant writing provided possible explanations for the lack of significant positive results. Those considering a similar intervention should attend to fidelity of implementation and consider testing the intervention with students with low GPAs before using it with a broader group.
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Keywords
implementation intentions, goal setting, mental contrasting, online learning, self-efficacy, time management, WOOP