The 2 hours per credit thing

I have been told since I started college "that you need 2 hours of studying for every credit you have in class".  For some classes, it is needed but for other classes, this is a bunch of BS.  I don't really know how you can manage to study 2 hours for every credit.  Lets say I have a 3 credit psychology class; I need to study for 6 hours.  I am taking that class online so I am going to have more time to study for that class so this psychology class does take up my life.  But this works when you are thoroughly interested in the subject and  I think it is best for you to find a subject that you are just "gum hole" about, and you'll be motivated to study the "required 2 hours".

Lets see if I am studying the 2 hours.  OK, this is a human development course which is pretty interesting.  I had spent about 1 1/2 to 2 hours just reading the text and I have spent about 1 hour looking over the notes.  Then the online class has required me to do some type of online activities that will take me about an hour to do.  I think it will actually work out if you do this right.  But not a lot of students do this right.

The 2 hours per credit thing may work out in the 1950s and 1960s when college was more of a privelege than a right.  College was designed for people who are really serious about learning something and getting something out of it.  But the lifestyle was different - you only had 2 TV channels and it was black and white, and the TV don't come in half of the time, you had crackly radio - AM radio, and you didn't have half the technology.  The internet didn't exist at that time and you had to sit in the library and at the dorm and study, study, study.  But people in college probably sluffed off back then, since you are worried about "fitting in" than being a "nerd."

Now you have the internet, which was designed for studying but it turned out the internet was used mainly for everything else - Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, online radio, online gaming, 500 TV channels, Hulu, video games, cell phones, iPods, iPads, text messaging - distractions.  It seems like the technology has eaten into your study time and people are using the internet for fun instead of study.

There are some things you can do to get  students to study.  Cut off the technology - make the internet connection SUCK or block off website during "study hours."  But sites such as YouTube can be great for education as well.  Making the internet connection and cell phone connection SUCK could get students to study - they will be forced to read dusty library books again; actually crack a book in the library instead of using the internet.

Cutting off technology could work too extent, but you can also ASSIGN more homework.  I think they are doing this in college is starting to assign more homework to get students to study.  There are many "educational" materials on the internet and the professors could integrate the internet with their homework.  You will be bugged on Facebook to get your homework done.

You can't really watch every move every student makes but you need some psychological motivation to get students to study.  Maybe you should try to get the students more interested in the subject material.  Some of the liberal arts credits are boring, but you need to make connections to the real world and in future career.  If you really want students to study, students need to have a "carrot" or some form of motivation to study, along with some reinforecement.  I don't think the grades are going to do this because grades are abstract.  You have to understand that some students are not motivated by knowledge.  Some want the money when they are done and some want POPULARITY and good grades do not equal popularity unless you motivate students that the "cool kids" get good grades and not "nerds."

Students today are not as career motivated as they used to.  They could care less about bucks unless they can enjoy doing it and being popularity.  A good thing you should do is to make connections such as understanding psychology so you know how to be cool or get a date, etc.  All this gibbery gabbery needs to be converted into something more concrete, and that means you need to study.