Definitions for Time

While putting together my first proposal draft, I struggled to organize the various studies of time and learning into sections of the proposal. When trying to synthesize the material, I was faced with an illustrious concept. We all know what time is. Or, at least we know we don't have enough of it-whatever it may be.
Studies involving time and learning often fail to define time. And, on the off chance it is actually defined, the definition is different from study to study. I have attempted to organize the studies in three broad groups: allocated time, engaged time, and academic learning time.

Allocated Time
The group of studies categorized under allocated time are those studies which examine simply the impact of the amount of instructional time allotted. For example, this group of studies looks at adding or subtracting time to the school day or school year and block sheduling. Studies I have gouped in this genre are usually large quantative studies.

Engaged Time
Engaged time is a subset of allocated time. It is the portion of the allocated time where students are engaged in learning activities. Some refer to engaged time as time on task. This group of studies includes efficieny studies which examine how the allocated time is being used. Studies I have grouped in this genre are either large quantative studies or smaller studies using quantattive measueres.

Academic Learning Time (ALT)
Academic Learning Time is a very small subset of engaged time; it examines only those minutes where students are successfully learning. Some refer to ALT as time on target. ALT is the combination of content overlap, student engagement and student success. There is little research in this area. However, the reseach available are small, qualative case studies which examine what happens when students are actually successfully engaged and leaning the academic content.