Keeping up in H800

I mentioned in my 'Visual representations' post that I am a visual learner and often think in diagrams. We have just read a paper at the end of Week 24 that mentions the 'collaboration, creativity and enjoyment' involved in online learning. Here's a diagram I made just to relax and get creative, about the time pressure issues I felt last week, and that I believe we have all been feeling to some extent. It's about keeping up as the H800 train rumbles on.

Each week we have to read, watch, or listen to materials or carry out other activity instructions. The prescribed time for the activities is 16-20 hours per week. Many of us find it difficult to keep pace with the activities, let alone share with the rest of the group, consolidate and apply to our own individual contexts. Every so often there is a double week, with two weeks of activities packaged together, and that can afford us some more spacious working and reflection time, as the diagram illustrates.

I particularly have been finding insufficient time to pause, review and consolidate, as I have commented here before. My earlier attempts at summaries were very rewarding and I would like to be able to complete those. The weekly cycle depicted here is how I organise my learning, but it is being compromised by what is, in my view, too many activities, especially at the end of the course when most people need a breather before ploughing into the final TMA. The learner's affective (emotional) response is another important aspect of learning ownership that we have been discussing, and I am sifting out the various dimensions of ownership here in my blog, before writing about it for the TMA.