At Emory & Henry College, a credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that reasonably approximates:
- Not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours out of class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester, or
- At least an equivalent amount of work as required outlined in item 1 above for other academic activities as established by the College including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.
This definition follows that specified in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 34, part 600. Its application to Emory & Henry College courses is as follows:
The standard for credit hour calculation is the 3-credit hour course, meeting for three hours per week (each hour consisting of 50 minutes, to allow transitions time between classes). Depending on holidays and days of the week a class meets, a three-hour course meets for 41 to 43.5 hours per semester. Each course is assigned a three-hour exam period (three full hours) which increases the contact time to 44 to 46.5 hours. In line with the federal definition of two hours of work outside of class for each hour of direct faculty instruction, each three-hour class should require nine hours of work per week (three hours of direct instruction and six hours of homework).
In applying this formula to other methods of delivery, we maintain the principles (1) that the total estimated time spent on task by each student to earn one semester credit hour shall be approximately 45 hours or more, including regular coursework and final exams and (2) that at least one-third of those hours are directly supervised by faculty, whether through lecture, discussion, supervised laboratory work, supervised internship activity, structured on-line activities, or other means.