Abstracts
Abstract
Adult online college students often suffer from time scarcity, which results in a drain on cognitive capacity and executive function, thus lowering their ability to plan, reason, and multitask. Busy students often engage in tunneling, ignoring everything but the most pressing concern. To support these students, educators should recommend timelines for task completion and divide larger assignments into smaller tasks. To reduce feelings of time scarcity, classrooms should have a predictable rhythm of regular assignments, a clear syllabus, meaningful assignments, and no busywork. Allocating points for preparatory tasks affirms their value and demonstrates respect for students’ time. Educators can help students build slack into their schedules so that they can better navigate disruptions by recommending multitasking strategies, suggesting rules of thumb, highlighting key points in instructions, and distinguishing essential from non-essential resources. Better understanding the challenges of the busy adult online student can help educators more effectively support their success.
Keywords:
- online education,
- time scarcity,
- mental bandwidth,
- adult education
Résumé
Les étudiants adultes des universités en ligne souffrent souvent d'un manque de temps, ce qui a pour effet d'épuiser leur capacité cognitive et leur fonction exécutive, réduisant ainsi leur capacité à planifier, à raisonner et à faire plusieurs choses à la fois. Les étudiants occupés s'engagent souvent dans des tunnels, ignorant tout sauf la préoccupation la plus urgente. Pour aider ces élèves, les éducateurs devraient recommander des délais pour l'accomplissement des tâches et diviser les gros travaux en petites tâches. Pour réduire le sentiment de manque de temps, les salles de classe devraient avoir un rythme prévisible de devoirs réguliers, un plan de cours clair, des devoirs significatifs, et ne pas être occupées. L'attribution de points pour les tâches préparatoires affirme leur valeur et démontre le respect du temps des élèves. Les éducateurs peuvent aider les élèves à prévoir du temps libre dans leur emploi du temps afin qu'ils puissent mieux gérer les perturbations en recommandant des stratégies multitâches, en suggérant des règles empiriques, en soulignant les points clés des instructions et en distinguant les ressources essentielles des ressources non essentielles. Une meilleure compréhension des défis auxquels est confronté l'étudiant adulte en ligne peut aider les éducateurs à soutenir plus efficacement sa réussite.
Mots-clés :
- l’éducation en ligne,
- manque de temps,
- bande passante mentale,
- l’éducation des adultes
Download the article in PDF to read it.
Download
Appendices
Bibliography
- Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, deadlines, and performance: Self-control by precommitment. Psychological Science, 13(3), 219-224. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00441
- Bradbury, N. A. (2016). Attention span during lectures: 8 seconds, 10 minutes, or more? Advances in Physiology Education, 40(4), 509-513. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00109.2016
- Cook, B. R., & Babon, A. (2016). Active learning through online quizzes: Better learning and less (busy) work. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 41(1), 24-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2016.1185772
- Covelli, B. J. (2017). Online discussion boards: The practice of building community for adult learners. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 65(2), 139-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/07377363.2017.1274616
- De Sousa, M., Peterman, A., & Reeve, C. (2018) An initial model of scarcity. Qualitative Psychology, 5(1), 59-76. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000077
- Dubey, S. (2019). Towards finding association between decision fatigue and critical thinking in the constructive e-learning environment. International Journal of Scientific Research and Review, 7(6). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16936.83208
- Farrell, O., & Brunton, J. (2020). A balancing act: A window into online student engagement experiences. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00199-x
- Fyfe, E., De Leeuw, J., Carvalho, P., Goldstone, R., Sherman, J., Admiraal, D., Alford, L., Bonner, A., Brassil, C., Brooks, C., Carbonetto, T., Chang, S., Cruz, L., Czymoniewicz-Klippel, M., Daniel, F., Driessen, M., Habashy, N., Hanson-Bradley, C., Hirt, E., & Carbonell, V. (2021). Many Classes 1: Assessing the generalizable effect of immediate feedback versus delayed feedback across many college classes. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459211027575
- Gneezy, A., Imas, A., & Jaroszewicz, A. (2020). The impact of agency on time and risk preferences. Nature Communications, 11, 2665. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16440-0
- Hewson, E. R. F. (2018). Students’ emotional engagement, motivation and behaviour over the life of an online course: reflections on two market research case studies. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1(10), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.472
- Jabs, J., Devine, C. M., Bisogni, C. A., Farrell, T. J., Jastran, M., & Wethington, E. (2007). Trying to find the quickest way: employed mothers’ constructions of time for food. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 39(1), 18-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2006.08.011
- Kapoor, H., Inamdar, V., & Kaufman, J. C. (2021). I didn’t have time! A qualitative exploration of misbehaviors in academic contexts. Journal of Academic Ethics, 20, 191-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-021-09407-3
- Larsson, J., Andersson, D., & Nässén, J. (2017). Subjective temporal well-being: Defining, measuring, and applying a new concept. Cogent Social Sciences, 3(1), 1306201. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2017.1306201
- Liles, J., Vuk, J., & Tariq, S. (2018). Study habits of medical students: An analysis of which study habits most contribute to success in the preclinical years. MedEdPublish, 7, 61. https://doi.org/10.15694/mep.2018.0000061.1
- Loxterkamp, D. (2014). Staying ahead of getting behind: Reflections on “scarcity.” BMJ, 348, g2634. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g2634
- Lynch, J. G., & Zauberman, G. (2006). When do you want it? Time, decisions, and public policy. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 25(1), 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.25.1.67
- Macquet, A.-C., & Skalej, V. (2015). Time management in elite sports: How do elite athletes manage time under fatigue and stress conditions? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 88(2), 341-363. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12105
- May, K. E., & Elder, A. D. (2018). Efficient, helpful, or distracting? A literature review of media multitasking in relation to academic performance. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0096-z
- Mitsui, K. (2022) The relationship between coping mechanisms and the scarcity mindset. Undergraduate Research, 2(2), article 21. https://kb.gcsu.edu/undergraduateresearch/vol2/iss2/21
- Morehead, K., Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Blasiman, R., & Hollis, R. B. (2019). Note-taking habits of 21st Century college students: Implications for student learning, memory, and achievement. Memory (Hove, England), 27(6), 807-819. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2019.1569694
- Mullainathan, S., & Shafir, E. (2013). Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much. Henry Holt and Company.
- Nonis, S. A. (1997). The relationship of perceived stress and academic performance to perceived control of time. Marketing Education Review, 7(1), 27-32. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/10528008.1997.11488572
- Ortagus, J. C. (2017). From the periphery to prominence: An examination of the changing profile of online students in American higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 32, 47-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2016.09.002
- Peverly, S. T., Brobst, K. E., Graham, M., & Shaw, R. (2003). College adults are not good at self-regulation: A study on the relationship of self-regulation, note taking, and test taking. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(2), 335-346. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.95.2.335
- Schroeder, M., Makarenko, E., & Warren, K. (2019). Introducing a late bank in online graduate courses: The response of students. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2019.2.8200
- Serventy, E., & Allen, B. (2022). Generation 1.5 learners: Removing the mask of student invisibility and recognizing the learning disconnections that marred their academic journeys. Student Success, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.1867
- Shaikh, S. J., & Cruz, I. (2022) AI in human teams; Effects on technology use, members’ interactions, and creative performance under time scarcity. AI & Society. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01335-5
- U.S. Dept. of Education. (2021). Fast Facts: Distance Learning. Nces.ed.gov; National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=80
- Van der Meer, J., Jansen, E., & Torenbeek, M. (2010). “It’s almost a mindset that teachers need to change”: First-year students’ need to be inducted into time management. Studies in Higher Education, 35(7), 777-791. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070903383211
- Watson, F. F., Castano Bishop, M., & Ferdinand-James, D. (2017). Instructional strategies to help online students learn: Feedback from online students. TechTrends, 61(5), 420-427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-017-0216-y
- Zhao, J., & Tomm, B. (2018). Psychological responses to scarcity. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.41