Policy

A credit hour will be defined for face-to-face instruction according to COMAR standards for lecture, laboratory and experiential learning.

Rationale

The College’s definition of a credit hour will be defined according to the COMAR standards, which are found in Section 13b.02.01.12. Scheduling and teaching courses according to these standards promotes effective credit transfer to other institutions of higher education.

Practice

• One credit hour of face-to-face lecture instruction will be defined as a minimum of 750 minutes of scheduled instruction. 
• One credit hour of asynchronous online and hybrid instruction is defined as the same amount of work to meet the same learning outcomes as in face-to-face section of the same course.
• One credit hour of face-to-face supervised laboratory or studio instruction will be defined as a minimum of 1500 minutes of scheduled instruction.
• One credit hour of face-to-face experiential instruction, i.e. clinical experience, internships and cooperative learning experiences will be defined as a minimum of 2250 minutes of scheduled supervised learning.

COMAR Sec. 13b.02.01.12. One Semester Hour of Credit

A. A credit hour is an amount of student work defined by an institution that is consistent with commonly accepted practice in postsecondary education and that reasonably approximates not less than:

(1) One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of 2 hour of out-of-class student work each week for approximately 15 weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or 10 to 12 weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different period of time; or

(2) At least an equivalent amount of work as required in §A(1)(a) of this definition for other academic activities as established by the institution, including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours; and

B. In determining the amount of work associated with a credit hour, to take into account a variety of delivery methods, measurements of student work, academic calendars, disciplines, and degree levels.