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
Appendices
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