How much spare time have you got for online courses? Use the time planner below to see how much study time you have a week. You can then search for suitable online courses.
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Number of hours a week available for study:
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Most Online courses and MOOCs require a minimum of 3 hours study a week. If you are looking at a fixed schedule course, you’ll have to ensure that you have enough free time to study the course. As you currently have less than 3 hours a week of available study time, choose a course that only requires a small amount of effort. The course overview page usually gives you this information. If necessary, think about how you could make more time by prioritization your other activities and commitments and maybe dropping some that aren't vital right now.
With self-paced or on-demand courses, however, you can set your own schedule to fit in around your other commitments. In many cases, you also have the option to audit a course without committing to taking the assignments. If you choose this option, you can download the course content and access it as and when you choose.
Find courses requiring 1 - 2 hours effort a week:
On average, standard online courses and MOOCs require between 3 and 6 hours of study a week, including time for forum discussions. Check the course details to see the recommended number of hours to make sure you have enough time available, particularly for scheduled courses with a start and end date. If you're a bit short, see if you can juggle other activities and commitments around to spare up a bit of extra study time. You may wish to consider dropping another activity for the duration of your course and take it up again at a later date.
Also, with self-paced or on-demand courses, you can set your own schedule to fit in around your other commitments so it might be worth looking at these courses if you don't think you have enough time.
Find courses requiring 1 - 6 hours effort a week:
With over 6 hours of available study time, you are in the perfect position to really get the most out of your online course. Standard online courses and MOOCs usually require between 3 and 6 hours of study a week, although some require more. Always check the course details to see the required time commitment to make sure you have enough time available, particularly with scheduled courses with a start and end date. If you're a bit short, see if you can juggle other activities and commitments around to spare up a bit of extra study time. You may wish to consider dropping another activity for the duration of your course and take it up again at a later date.
If you do have some extra time, this will give you the added advantage to do some extra reading, review some of the more complex concepts and engage more with your peers in the course forums or other study groups. Interacting with others taking the same course, or with skills and knowledge in the subject you are taking can be a very positive learning experience and improve your success rate. Use any extra time to deepen your knowledge on the subject and/or work on related real-life projects to add to your portfolio.
Find courses requiring 2 - 12 hours effort a week:
Standard online courses and MOOCs usually require between 3 and 6 hours of study a week, but some require a much heavier time commitment of up to 20 hours a week. Your available time would qualify you, for example, to take some of the more demanding Credit Eligible MOOCs. Always check the course details to see the required time commitment to make sure you have enough time available, particularly with scheduled courses with a start and end date.
If you have more spare time than the course requires, you can use this extra time to deepen your knowledge on the subject by doing some extra reading, interacting with peers in the course discussion forums and study groups and/or work on related real-life projects to add to your portfolio.
With this amount of available study time, you could also consider enrolling on more than one course so long as the total amount of required hours a week doesn't exceed your limit.
Find courses requiring up to 20 hours effort a week:
With over 20 hours of available study time, you are in a position to enrol on a full-time course or create your own learning pathway made up of a series of online courses and MOOCs to achieve a particular goal. This is the perfect opportunity for you to get skilled up if you are looking to train for a job in a particular field or thinking of a career change. There are a number of low-cost specialization online courses available which are a series of related courses designed to help you deepen your expertise in a subject, or you could consider taking a Credit Eligible MOOC offered by higher education institutions via the major MOOC platforms.
If you are looking to train in Web Development, there are some high quality Online Coding Bootcamps that offer immersive, short and intensive learning programs designed to teach students the necessary coding skills to become entry-level developers. These bootcamps are a more affordable and certainly more flexible alternative to the expensive campus-based programs.
Find courses requiring up to 40 hours effort a week: