Course Workload Estimator

Reading rate depends on page density, text difficulty, and reading purpose. The table is built from Keith Rayner’s synthesis of reading science: a skilled adult reader’s optimal rate is about 300 words per minute, with comprehension dropping off above that. Real-world rates run somewhat slower.

“Engage” reading is treated as roughly equivalent to reading for memorization (about 138 words per minute or slower) — the original authors note this probably still understates the time.

Rates range from 67 pages/hour (light paperback, familiar material, skimming) down to 5 pages/hour (dense textbook, all new concepts, critical engagement).

These are the most speculative estimates in the tool. They rest largely on Torrance et al.’s study of 493 students writing 1,500-word essays, who reported spending 9 to 15 hours per assignment.

The table assumes students write at a constant rate (unrealistic), that reflection essays take half the time of arguments, and that research papers take twice as long as arguments. The original authors flag these linear relationships as “highly unlikely” but useful as a starting point.

Rates range from 45 minutes per page to 10 hours per page. If they look wrong for your assignment, set the rate manually.

These assumptions are not covered by the published methodology; they are taken from the original tool’s code.

Text posts: 250 words of composed discussion writing per hour — slower than drafting prose, since posts involve reading peers and composing a response.

Audio / video posts: 20 minutes of student work per finished minute of recording, covering planning, recording, re-recording, and uploading.

Discussion time counts as contact time, since it is interaction with the instructor and classmates.