Course credit hour approval

The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines and responsibilities for determining the credit hours awarded for all courses and programs, regardless of academic level or mode of delivery, at Lynn University.

The awarding of credit hours occurs at Lynn University in an effort to calculate and record students’ achievement and fulfillment of requirements as they progress toward the earning of degrees and other academic qualifications at the institution. While credit hours are commonly understood to measure student work, it is important to remember that credit hours also reflect general academic learning. For all Lynn University academic programs, students must have successfully met the academic requirements with an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that reasonably approximate:

• One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of student work completed outside of the classroom each week for approximately fifteen weeks for a traditional semester, or the equivalent amount of work over a different period of time; or
• For other academic activities (including laboratory work and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours), an amount of work at least equivalent to that required in the above definition, as determined by the College Curriculum and Academic Standard Committee, the applicable College Dean and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

The following examples clarify the amount of work expected at Lynn University per week (for approximately fifteen weeks for a traditional semester, or the equivalent amount of work over a different period of time) for other academic activities:

Laboratory courses (with little outside preparation required): Three hours of instruction or supervised student work conducted in the laboratory.

Laboratory courses (with moderate outside preparation required): Two hours of instruction or supervised student work conducted in the laboratory, and one hour of preparation work conducted by the student.

Studio work: Two hours of studio instruction or supervised student work and one hour of student work completed outside of the studio.

Internships/practical/field experiences: Three hours of documented work completed by the student.

Field trips/educational travel: Three hours of actual student time spent engaged in learning.

Workshops–At least one hour of instruction or supervised work, and two hours of work completed by the student individually.

Online and graduate courses: Courses offered in our accelerated and online programs mirror the requirements of traditional courses in outcomes and assessment of learning. A typical three (3) credit course would consist of forty-five (45) hours of classroom or direct instruction and ninety (90) hours of out-of-class student work, irrespective or 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 instruction meets the minimum required instruction hours (existing courses). This table is part of the annual review of 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

Course number

Courses numbered 100-199 are typically introductory and general education courses for first-year students (less than 30 credits) with no special knowledge or background.

Courses numbered 200-299 are considered lower level classes and typically build on foundational knowledge from 100-level classes. These courses may or may not have prerequisites, and are intended for second-year students (30-59 credits).

Courses numbered 300-399 are upper-division courses and are intended for students with 60-89 credits. These courses are typically within the majors, and often have prerequisites from 200-level courses within the major.

Courses numbered 400-499 are advanced upper-division courses and often require prerequisites. These courses represent advanced study and are usually unsuitable for students with less than 90 credits.

Courses numbered 500 and above are Graduate courses.

Credit level

The level of the credit (i.e .100 level, 200 level, etc) is determined by the college and faculty providing oversight, and verified by the Curriculum and Academic Standards committees at both the college and university level. A primary factor in determining the level of a course is based on the SLOs and assigned tasks within the course, and compared with Bloom’s taxonomy. Higher-level tasks, such as analyze, evaluate, and create are associated with higher course levels (300 or 400); whereas lower-level tasks, such as define, list, and classify, are to be associated with lower course levels (100 or 200).

Credit hour- the unit by which the University measures its course work. The number of hours assigned to a course is a measure of the outcomes expected, the mode of instruction, the amount of time spent in class, and the amount of work that is expected outside of class in order to complete all course objectives.

To ensure the reliability and accuracy of credit hour assignments, credit hour assignments for returning/ongoing courses are determined prior to each academic year by the College Dean in consultation with the program coordinator. Moreover, credit hour assignments are included as part of the Program Review cycle.

New courses will be assigned an initial credit hour allotment during the Curriculum Development process. The initiator of the course proposal is responsible for setting forth reasoning for a particular credit hour assignment, and this recommendation will be approved or amended along with the other elements of the course that are reviewed during the curricular change process.

To learn more about this policy or the supporting procedures, please contact Academic Affairs.