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Teach Online: Calculating Time on Task

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The classical Carnegie definition of a semester credit hour, stipulates that one semester credit hour be awarded for fifteen sessions of 50-minutes duration in classroom lecture-recitation each requiring two hours of outside preparation by the student.

In online instruction, rather than looking at “contact hours,” an estimate of time on task is the adaptation necessary.

So, the formula for an undergraduate course would be: For every 1 credit, the student has 3 hours of work each week for the full semester, which is typically 15 weeks. The work would include both online and offline activities and interactions, including viewing, reading, writing, collaborations, and interactions. So, for a  full semester 3-credit course an online undergraduate student should expect nine hours of work per week in their online course for 15 weeks = 135 total hours.

15 weeks 8 weeks  3 weeks
3 Credits 9 hours per week  17 hours per week 45 hours per week
2 Credits 6 hours per week 12 hours per week 30 hours per week
1 Credit  3 hours per week  6 hours per week  15 hours per week

Graduate students would be expected to spend more time on their online course activities. Below is an estimation of approximate numbers of hours of work per week required in online graduate courses by number of weeks. A 4-credit 15 week graduate online course = 225 total hours. A 3-credit 15 week graduate online course = 180 total hours.

15 weeks 8 weeks 3 weeks
4 Credits ~ 15 hours per week ~ 28 hours per week
3 Credits ~ 12 hours per week ~ 24 hours per week
2 Credits ~ 9 hours per week ~ 17 hours per week ~  45 hours per week
1 Credit ~ 6 hours per week ~12 hours per week ~ 30 hours per week

Although we can provide these basic guidelines, determining how much time the work in a course would take the students each week is up to the course designer/subject matter expert.

Below are some calculators and guidelines to assist you calculating workload and dividing and understanding time on task to better organize and plan online course activities:

Calculators

Guidelines and Policies