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.
Here are the steps to follow to complete the grid on your computer or on paper:
- Identify the various areas of life or types of activity that take up your time and assign each one a colour. These should be recurring activities. You can add as many categories as you deem appropriate (e.g., social life, couple time, extended family, volunteering, medical or personal appointments, meditation, sports).
- Fill in the grid based on the legend to establish a snapshot of your weekly time use.
- Post the grid in plain sight in your office or in a shared space (fridge, family bulletin board, etc.) so you and your circle have a clear idea of the activities that need to be balanced.
Here is an example for someone who is studying part-time and working full-time and also taking care of a pre-school child with their partner.
Study |
| Meals |
| Work |
| Household tasks |
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Family |
| Transportation |
| Leisure |
| … |
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| … |
| … |
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Time | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |||||||
5–6 a.m. | ||||||||||||||
6–7 a.m. |
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7–8 a.m. |
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8–9 a.m. |
Work |
Work |
Work |
Work |
Work | |||||||||
9–10 a.m. 10–11 a.m. | Study | |||||||||||||
11 a.m.–12 p.m. | ||||||||||||||
12–1 p.m. | ||||||||||||||
1–2 p.m. |
Work |
Work |
Work |
Work |
Study | |||||||||
2–3 p.m. |
Study | |||||||||||||
3–4 p.m. | ||||||||||||||
4–5 p.m. | ||||||||||||||
5–6 p.m. |
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6–7 p.m. | ||||||||||||||
7–8 p.m. |
Study | |||||||||||||
8–9 p.m. | Study | |||||||||||||
9–10 p.m. | ||||||||||||||
10–11 p.m. | ||||||||||||||
11 p.m.–12 a.m. | ||||||||||||||
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).
Below, we provide a table and grid you can complete. These will help you establish a snapshot of your studies for the months ahead. This way, you will be able to plan the time you need to invest between submitting each assignment.
Start by completing the first table, the Summary Table:
- Enter the course title and code, the registration session and the start date.
- The deadline (completion date for all lessons and assignments) is six months after the official start of the course, but you may have a different goal in mind (for example, completing the course by a date required by your university).
- The number of hours required to complete the course and do all the assignments is stated in the Study Guide.
- Determine the number of hours per week that you can dedicate to the course based on your time use and schedule.
- Some courses have more than four assignments or more than two final evaluations. This is an important factor to take into account in your plan. Don’t forget about the correction time of 5 business days for each assignment.
- Consider the anticipated level of difficulty. Do you expect the course to be easy, average, challenging or very challenging? This will definitely have an impact on the number of hours you will have to devote to it.
In this example, the student wants to spend six to ten hours studying each week. The student is not following the recommended number of hours for the philosophy course and will have very little flexibility for completing the assignments on time. He risks needing an extension if something unexpected comes up.
Course title | Registration session | Course start date | Deadline | Target end date | Total number of hours | Hours per week | Number of assignments | Level of difficulty |
Course 1: Philosophy and rationality 340-101-MQ | F2022 | July 19, 2022 | January 19, 2023 | December 2022 | 105 hours | 3 to 5 hours | 4 | Challenging |
Course 2: Physical activity and health 109-101-MQ | F2022 | July 19, 2022 | January 19, 2023 | December 2022 | 45 hours | 3 to 5 hours | 7 | Average |
Course 3: |
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Course 4: |
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Complete the second table, the Session Grid:
- Enter the start date of your course on the first line.
- Enter the dates corresponding to each week in the first column.
- If you are taking a vacation, don’t forget to enter it in your schedule.
- Use the study guides, the projected number of hours of work per week and the deadlines to gauge the modules and lessons in each of your courses.
- Enter the assignment dates and the approximate time required to complete them.
Dates / Courses | Course 1 Philosophy and rationality 340-101-MQ | Tracking / Notes | Dates (If different) | Course 2 Physical activity and health 109-101-MQ
| Tracking / Notes
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Course start date | July 19 |
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| July 19 |
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Week 1 July 19 | Module 1 (13 h) Lesson 1 (4 h) |
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| Assignment 1 – Self-Evaluation (30 min) Module 1 (18 h including physical activity) – Lesson 1 (1 h) |
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Week 2 July 26 | Module 1 Lesson 2 (4 h 30 min)
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) Lesson 2 (2 h) |
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Week 3 August 2 | Module 1 Lesson 3 (4 h 30 min)
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) Lesson 3 (1 h) |
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Week 4 August 9 | Assignment 1 and self-reflection (2 h 30 min) |
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) Lesson 3 (1 h 30 min) |
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Week 5 August 16 |
VACATION | ||||
Week 6 August 23 | |||||
Week 7 August 30 | Module 2 (18 h) Lesson 4 (4 h) |
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) |
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Week 8 September 6 | Module 2 Lesson 4 (2 h) Lesson 5 (3 h) |
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) Lesson 4 (45 min) |
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Week 9 September 13 | Module 2 Lesson 5 (3 h) Lesson 6 (2 h) |
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) Lesson 5 (1 h) Assignment 2 (hand in 18 sheets for Module 1) |
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Week 10 September 20 | Module 2 Lesson 6 (4 h) |
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| Self-evaluation (1 h) Assignment 3 – Conversation with tutor (15 min) |
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Week 11 September 27 | Assignment 2 and self-reflection (3 h 30 min) |
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| Module 2 (14 h including physical activity) Lesson 6 (1 h 50 min) Lesson 7 (1 h) 1 sport session (30 min) + sheets (10 min) |
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Week 12 October 4 | Module 3 (12 h) Lesson 7 (4 h) |
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) |
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Week 13 October 11 | Module 3 Lesson 7 (2 h) Lesson 8 (3 h) |
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| 4 sport sessions (2 h) + sheets (40 min) |
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Week 14 October 18 | Module 3 Lesson 8 (3 h) |
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| 4 sport sessions (2 h) + sheets (40 min) Lesson 8 (2 h) Assignment 4 (hand in sheets for Module 2) |
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Week 15 October 25 | Assignment 3 and self-reflection (4 h) |
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| Self-evaluation 2 (1 h) Assignment 5 – Conversation with tutor (10 min) |
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Week 16 November 1 | Module 4 (25 h) Lesson 9 (5 h) |
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| Module 3 (13 h including physical activity) 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) Lesson 9 (1 h 45 min) |
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Week 17 November 8 | Lesson 9 (3 h) Lesson 10 (2 h) |
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) Lesson 10 (1 h) |
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Week 18 November 15 | Lesson 10 (4 h) |
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) |
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Week 19 November 22 | Lesson 10 (2 h) Lesson 11 (2 h) |
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| 3 sport sessions (1 h 30 min) + sheets (30 min) Lesson 11 (2 h) |
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Week 20 November 29 | Lesson 11 (4 h)
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| Final reports Assignment 6 (hand in sheets for Module 3) |
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Week 21 December 6 | Lesson 11 (3 h) |
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| Self-evaluation 3 (1 h) Assignment 7 – Conversation with tutor (15 min) |
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Week 22 December 13 | Assignment 4 and self-reflection (4 h 30 min) |
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| Final evaluation – Oral exam 24% (20 min) |
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Week 23 December 20 | Review
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| Final evaluation – Written exam 16% (3 h) |
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Week 24 December 27 | Final evaluation (4 h) Evaluation interview |
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| Evaluation interview |
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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.