Cégep à distance Session Organization Guide
This guide will help you use a variety of tools to plan your study session.
First you need to determine how many hours you can dedicate to your studies each week. Ideally, you should check this before signing up for your courses, so you can be sure your study plan is realistic, in light of other demands on your time.
1) Ponderation (weighting) at Cégep à distance
Here is a grid that includes several general education courses:
Ponderation (weighting) at Cégep à distance
In regular CEGEPs, the first number in the weighting is the number of in-class hours per week, the second number is the number of hours in the lab and the third is the number of hours of personal work the student is expected to invest in the course each week.
At Cégep à distance, you can add up the three numbers to determine the number of hours to dedicate to the course each week.
Example 1: The literature course 601-101-MQ is 60 hours long, with a weighting of 2-2-3. To pass this course, you need to spend at least seven hours a week.
Example 2: The physical education course 109-101-MQ is 30 hours long, with a weighting of 1-1-1. To pass this course, you need to spend at least three hours a week.
Note: Physical education courses require less time but lots of autonomy and organization to do the selected physical activity and complete the course sheets.
Of course, the number of hours required will also depend on your skill with the subject matter. You can plan for more time if you generally have trouble with a specific subject matter.
2) Weekly planning
You can start your plan by completing a weekly planning grid. Download the following Word document: Planning tools.
This tool will allow you to establish a snapshot of your week and identify the best times to dedicate to your studies. It’s unlikely that you will be able to follow this schedule to the letter, because it cannot take into account appointments and unexpected events that may come up each week.
3) Session planning
Dynamic schedule
Right now, this tool is not offered for all courses.
You can find it in your learning environment (Moodle) in the “course resources” section, on the right side of the screen. You can also do a tutorial to learn how to make the best use of it.
When you open the Excel file, choose the “Schedule” tab. Then you can enter your start date and assignment deadline and the number of hours per week you plan to dedicate to the course.
The schedule will populate with the specific dates by which you have to finish each lesson and assignment.
Session grid or schedule
Since there are no start and end dates for Cégep à distance sessions, it may seem hard to plan your session. By using tools such as the dashboard, the dynamic schedule or the schedule suggested in the Study Guide, you should get an idea of when to submit your assignments, based on the amount of time spent each week, for each course.
Don’t forget that you have up to six months to complete the assignments for each course. You have another three months to complete the final evaluations (examination and interview with the tutor).
We provide you with this Session Grid, including a table and a fillable grid. These tools will help you gain an overview of your studies for the coming months, allowing you to plan your time effectively between each assignment submission.
4) Short-term planning
Using an agenda for daily planning
Whether you use a paper or electronic agenda is a personal choice. The important thing is to use your chosen method effectively.
5 tips to make the most of your agenda
- Use the hours to create blocks of time.
- Write in your daily activities.
- Plan each week in advance: make sure you do it on the same day each week (for example, on Sunday).
- Check your agenda regularly: morning, noon and night.
- Use a colour code for each type of activity.
Prioritizing short-term tasks
Start by making a two-column list.
In the left-hand column, write your personal tasks.
In the right-hand column, write study-related tasks.
Prioritizing short-term tasks
| Personal | Study |
|---|---|
|
|
Then combine both lists, putting the tasks in order of priority.
List of priorities
| 1. Urgent | Unforeseeable, top priority Example: Go to vet because my dog ate medication. |
| 2. Very important | 1 to 3 tasks: To do that day. There will be consequences if not done. Example: 1) Do exercises 11 to 18 in chapter 3 of math book. 2) Call my cousin for her birthday. |
| 3. Important | To do within 48 hours. Example: 1) Read pages 8 to 15 of the philosophy course pack. 2) Fold clean clothes. |
| 4. Other tasks | What is least important for the time being. Example: Bring jackets to the cleaner. |
5) References
Cégep à distance. (2021). Introduction and Instructions (retrieved April 28, 2022).
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Gestion du temps. Bureau de l’inclusion et de la réussite étudiante (BIRÉ). https://bire.uqam.ca/capsules/gestion-du-temps/.
Les Cégeps du Québec. (n.d.). Grille de cours et pondération. https://www.cegepsquebec.ca/nos-cegeps/presentation/systeme-scolaire-quebecois/grille-de-cours-et-ponderation/ (retrieved April 6, 2022).
Lemoyne-Dessain, S., & Millereaux, R. (n.d.). Atelier d’aide à la réussite, Cégep du Vieux Montréal.
Viens, E. (2021). 5 façons pour mieux utiliser son agenda. La planificatrice (retrieved April 6, 2022).