Teachers and students often state that they could learn more, "if only we had more time." All the principles discussed in the rest of this book are essentially ways to enhance academic learning time by using time more efficiently and enabling students to be more successful. In addition to teaching well and managing schools as effectively as possible, educators can expand academic learning time by enlisting the help of students themselves and of parents and other helpers.
One way to increase ALT is by assigning homework. This has the effect of increasing the amount of scheduled time available for educational activities. The effective use of homework is discussed later in this chapter.
Another way to increase ALT is by putting the learners themselves more directly in charge of their own learning. If students can monitor their own allocation of the time they will allocate to studying a topic, their engagement in that activity, and the degree to which they are successful, then they can be engaged in ALT with regard to a topic even when there is no teacher present. The metacognitive strategies discussed in chapter 7 and the What Students Can Do guidelines in each chapter will enable learners to monitor their own academic learning time.
Finally, parents are an important, often neglected educational resource. The What Parents Can Do guidelines describe ways in which parents or other caretakers can apply the principles discussed in each chapter to enhance children's ALT. Since parents are such an important resource, another section of this chapter describes strategies for involving parents in their children's education.
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