Although your instructor has submission deadlines, it is a good practice to set up your own deadlines so that you finish early. Technology is prone to the most inopportune failure, and you want to ensure that you have a time buffer to resolve the issue. For example, if your assignment is due on the 5th of August, you and/or your team may want to have an artificial deadline on the 3rd of August, to allow for any issues that may arise. Finishing ahead of schedule, also gives you time to reflect on your work, get perspectives from others, and/or polish it up before it is actually due. Indeed, online learning is more flexible, however, you need to be organized and responsible with this new-found freedom.
Diego

The best advice I can give is to START EARLY. At the beginning of the week, the course instructor will present the coming week's readings, tasks, and assignments. Check in as early as possible in order to get a sense of what your week is going to look like. If there is an opportunity to post right away (e.g. you are being asked your opinion on a topic), then do so. Early posting begins conversations. It is a lot harder to jump into conversations late in the week. Much of what you wanted to say may already have been said, and then you feel that you are just repeating what others have already posted. Also, late postings can become add-on ideas, and not really stimulate conversation. Much of the learning in online learning comes from the collaborative knowledge building that emerges from the various conversation threads online.

As you engage in the readings and read what others have to say on a topic, your thinking may begin to evolve. Perhaps your thinking will be challenged. Perhaps your thinking will be affirmed. Perhaps new questions emerge for you. As these things happen, jump into the conversation and share these ideas. Frequent postings help to stimulate and advance conversations, and ultimately consolidate thinking. It is not about the number of posts that you make; rather, it is the quality of your posts, and your ability to demonstrate that your thinking has been extended.

Over the past decade I have taken over 15 online courses. I have learned a lot about how to make the most of online learning - both the hard way, and from learning from my mistakes.

Ken