Credit Hours
In accordance with U.S. Department of Education guidance, HUC-JIR defines a credit hour as the amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes (verified by evidence of student achievement) that reasonably approximates one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work per week.
Academic engagement hours for online or in-person courses:
- 12.5 hours for 1 credit
- 18.75 hours for 1.5 credits
- 25 hours for 2 credits
- 37.5 hours for 3 credits
Example: A 3-credit course must accumulate a total of at least 1,875 contact minutes (37.5 hours) in formal instruction and/or with the faculty and an additional 3,750-4,500 out-of-class minutes (75 hours) for a total of at least 5,625 minutes (112.5 hours).
Example: If during a fall term with typical holiday breaks, a 3-credit course meeting on Monday and Wednesday for 80 minutes only has 26 class meetings (adding up to 31.5 hours), the instructor would need to designate 5.5 hours of outside-of-class quantifiable educational activity (with the appropriate amount of accompanying out-of-class work).
Quantifiable learning activities might include:
- Weekly chavruta study (e.g., 30 minutes of weekly assigned chavruta study over 13 weeks adds up to 6.5 hours)
- Working on an individual or group project that is later submitted online
- Engaging in a reading assignment and then posting reflections or completing other follow up writing
- Watching pre-recorded lectures, assigned videos, or other media and submitting reflections or other follow up writing
- Posting to online discussion boards such as Canvas and other educational platforms.
When the formal meeting times reported to the registrar are either "To Be Determined" (TBD) or do not add up to the requisite number of classroom or direct faculty engagement, the instructor must designate hours of outside of class-quantifiable educational activities.
If the class time (in person or online) does not add up to the minimum total number of academic-engagement hours, the difference must be supplemented with learning activities (not homework) that are identified and explained on the syllabus in a way that could be quantified by an accreditation audit.
For credit awarded for courses like independent studies, internships, fieldwork, or intensives, Program directors must develop tracking instruments (logs, etc.) to document student time.