Credit hour definition

Undergraduate day semester and graduate day semester

One credit hour is equal to one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out of class student work each week for approximately 15 weeks for one semester.

A typical 3-credit course would consist of 45 hours of classroom or direct faculty instruction and 90 hours of out-of-class student work.

Note: For the purpose of defining credit hours, one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction is defined as a 50-minute class period.

Online and graduate evening terms

Courses offered in our accelerated programs mirror the requirements of traditional courses in outcomes and assessment of learning. A typical 3-credit course would consist of 45 hours of classroom or direct instruction and 90 hours of out-of-class student work, irrespective of the course delivery duration or modality.

The following table is used as a guide to determine that the appropriate credit hours are assigned to an online course (new courses), and that the course meets the targeted hours (existing courses). This table is part of the annual review for all online courses.

	Undergraduate (hours)	Graduate (hours)
Instruction
# of Chapters, Articles, Websites, Instructor Notes, Instructor Presentations	1.5 hours each	2 hours each
Videos – allows students to pause, rewind, take notes	2.5 times total number of minutes / 60	2.5 times total number of minutes / 60
Target for 3 credit course	45	45
Student work
Discussion Questions - includes time to research, formulate response, and respond to 2 peers	2.25 hours each	2.25 hours each
Short Essays	2.0 hours each	2.0 hours each
Research Papers	4 hours per page	6 hours per page
Annotated Bibliography	2 hours each	2 hours each
Research Proposal	1 hour each	1 hour each
Group Project	0.75 hours per meeting	0.75 hours per meeting
Presentations	3 hours each	3 hours each
Other activities	Actual time x 1.5 for reflection, etc.	Actual time x 1.5 for reflection, etc.
Target for 3 credit course	90	90