Credit Hours
General Rules:
The Faculty Senate and Curriculum Committee of cCc has elected to use 45 contact hours for all 4.5 quarter credit-hour courses. (The traditional minimum method is: 4.5 quarter hours = 3 semester hours = 35 actual hours (2100 minutes) of in-class materials. *)
Time in Minutes:
Video time is usually stated on or near the video. (Do not upload the video without consent from the owner. A link to the readings is much matter.)
Reading time is calculated as follows:
“The average reader snails through prose at a rate of about 250-300 words per minute, which roughly equates to about one page per minute.”
Ref: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/dec/14/you-can-t-speed-read-literature
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The research materials used by the Faculty Senate and Curriculum Committee Review to decide the standard 45 hours per quarterly credit hour:
*Our Accreditation Requirement:
TRACS will evaluate the reliability and accuracy of an institution’s assignment of credit hours before granting candidacy status, granting accreditation, or reaffirming accreditation.
TRACS evaluation will include a review of the institution’s published definition for a credit hour; whether qualified faculty determine the number of credit hours that are appropriate for individual courses; and whether the institution’s practice conforms to commonly accepted practices in higher education. If the institution offers distance education, the evaluation will include the manner in which credit hours are assigned to distance education courses. Normally, TRACS will sample course syllabi in its evaluation; however, TRACS may conduct a more extensive evaluation if irregularities are discovered. Should TRACS determine an institution has systemic noncompliance with this policy, in accord with federal regulations, it will notify the U.S. Secretary of Education.
Ref: http://tracs.org/documents/PoliciesandProceduresManual_000.pdf
A “Carnegie Unit” is the most common model and a very safe to follow:
The Carnegie Unit and the Student Hour are strictly time-based references for measuring educational attainment used by American universities and colleges; the Carnegie Unit assesses secondary school attainment, and the Student Hour, derived from the Carnegie Unit, assesses collegiate attainment. Per its original definition, the “Carnegie Unit” is 120 hours of class or contact time with an instructor over the course of a year at the secondary level. Strictly speaking, this breaks down into a single one-hour meeting, on each of five days per week for a total of 24 weeks per year. However, knowing that classes usually meet for 50 minutes yields a value of 30 weeks per year. However, further complicating the computation is the fact that American schools typically meet 180 days, or 36 academic weeks, a year. A semester (one-half of a full year) earns 1/2 a “Carnegie Unit.”
The “Student Hour” is approximately 12 hours of class or contact time, approximately 1/10 of the “Carnegie Unit.” As it is used today, a “Student Hour” is the equivalent of one hour (50 minutes) of lecture time for a single student per week over the course of a semester, usually 14 to 16 weeks.
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Unit_and_Student_Hour (Link to a news website referencing information provided above)
Rice University Sample Conversion:
Semester Credit Hour: the amount of credit awarded for successful completion of one contact hour of classroom instruction and two preparation hours per week for a semester of not less than 14 weeks.
Example: for a one semester credit hour course, the typical student would be expected to invest one contact hour in class and two additional out-of-class preparation hours each week of the 14 week semester (not including exam periods).
The typical course has two units of preparation time by the student for every one unit of contact time with the instructor. As such, it is expected that three semester credit hours are equivalent to a combined total of 6300 minutes: 2100 minutes of contact (instructional presentation) time and 4200 minutes of preparation (student work effort outside of instructional presentation) time.
Ref: https://registrar.rice.edu/facstaff/contact_hours (Rice University Office of the Registrar contact hours and credit hours.)