Time Management and Written Assignments in Distance Education: A Set of Communicating Vessels. A Case Study in Hellenic Open University

Abstract

Significant number of students in distance education in Greece delay s the completion of their courses. In many cases , courses are interrupted, even though st udents have tried hard enough. The question is whether ineffective tim e management and lack of planning are reasons that shape such a negative situat ion for students. In this paper, we investigate the issue of time manage ment of the students of the Hellenic Open University during the preparation of their written assignments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of the postgraduate students of the H.O.U. as to the usefulness of time management in the preparation of their written assignments. Individual objectives of the work are to examine: 1) The extent to which the students of the H.O.U. use the basic principles of time management during the preparation of written assignments. 2) The perception of the students of the H.O.U. about the contribution of time management to the graded performance of written assignments . 3) The perception of H.O.U. students about training in time management issues during the preparation of written assignments. The methodological approach is the quantitative method and the data collection tool is the questionnaire with closed type questions. Our sample consists of 87 postgraduate students in the Faculty of Humanities at the H.O.U. attending t he courses of Adult Education. The data analysis shows that the need for time management emerges, that proper management leads students to the active learning process, to the delimitation of learning goals and to the creative utilization of experiences that shape a creative study environment. There is a relationship of communicating vessels between time management and written assignments, since time management by students has a positive effect on the success of their educational goals. On the contrary, the lack of time forms conditions of pressure and stress.