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Regulations & Policies

Academic Affairs

I. OBJECTIVE & PURPOSE

In defining a credit hour, ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ recognizes established practices on scheduled instructional time or equivalent per credit hour and the Federal definition and Carnegie unit recommendations.

II. STATEMENT OF POLICY

For the purposes of course scheduling and for courses taught in a traditional classroom format, a credit hour is represented in terms of contact minutes or contact hours, and instruction is operationalized per scheduled classroom contact. A credit hour is normally granted for completion of at least one 50-minute session of classroom instruction per week for 15 weeks, or the equivalent time per semester and a minimum of 2 hours per week for 15 weeks of out-of-class student work, or the equivalent time per semester.

¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ uses Section 1009.24(17)(a) of the Florida Statute which a distance learning course is a course in which at least 80 percent of the instruction of the course is delivered using some form of technology where the student and instructor are separated by time or space, or both. For distance learning courses a credit hour is normally granted for completion of at least 50 minutes of online instruction and/or course work per week for 15 weeks and a minimum of 2 hours per week for 15 weeks of out-of-class student work, or equivalent time per semester.

¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ defines hybrid or blended course as a course in which at least 50 percent and not more than 79 percent of the instruction of the course is delivered using some form of technology where the student and instructor are separated by time or space, or both (Adopted from the Florida Distance Learning Task Force's Final Report of February 2009). For hybrid or blended courses a credit hour is normally granted for completion of at least 50 minutes of classroom and/or online instruction and/or course work per week for 15 weeks and a minimum of 2 hours per week for 15 weeks of out-of-class student work, or equivalent time per semester.

Alternatively, a credit hour may be granted for at least an equivalent amount of work as required in the previous paragraphs for other academic activities or instructional modes of delivery. For any course that does not meet the requisite contact hours delineated above, equivalent workload will be documented using a procedure established and administered by the Registrar's office in consultation with the Faculty Association. This process will take place and be completed prior to the registration period for the given semester and will require a description of the equivalent workload, and/or other academic work leading to the award of the credit for the class. The equivalent workload description will be approved by the appropriate department Chair, college Dean (or designee), and the Provost (or designee). Documentation of the approved equivalent workload will be retained by the registrar's office with a copy provided to the department. Failure to secure a fully approved plan for equivalent workload prior to the registration period will result in the cancellation of the class.

II. PROCEDURES

¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ recognizes established practices on scheduled instructional time or equivalent per credit hour and the Federal definition and Carnegie unit recommendations. The procedure described here applies to any course or section that does not meet the requisite contact hours delineated in 2.0810P and ensures that equivalent workload is documented, approved by appropriate academic units, and is duly recorded by the Registrar's office. This process will take place and be completed prior to the registration period for the given semester.

This procedure is established and administered by the Registrar's office in consultation with the Faculty Association.

1. Step 1. Prior to the registration period for a given term, the Registrar's office will run a Banner report (e.g. Job WSS1055 - Course Credit Hour Exception Report) and use the results to identify courses or sections that do not appear to have sufficient contact minutes/hours for the assigned credit hours.
2. Step 2. The Registrar's office will contact the Chair of those departments with courses or sections-identified in step 1 requesting the completion of a Contact Minutes Exception form for each relevant course or section.
3. Step 3. Department Chairs will be responsible for working with faculty on completing the necessary forms, ensuring that relevant language is included on course syllabi, and forwarding forms on to the appropriate Dean's office for approval.
4. Step 4. Deans (or their designees) will approve or disapprove the Contact Minutes Exception forms they receive. Approved forms will be forwarded on to the Provost's office for approval. Disapproved forms will be returned to appropriate Chairs for correction and re-submission.
5. Step 5. The Provost (or their designee) will approve or disapprove the Contact Minutes Exception forms they receive. Approved forms will be forwarded on to the Registrar's office. Disapproved forms will be returned to appropriate Deans and thence to Chairs for correction and re-submission.
6. Step 6. The Registrar's office will be responsible for archiving the fully approved forms and distributing copies of such to the appropriate departments for their records. Failure to secure a fully approved Contact Minutes Exception form prior to the start of the registration period will result in the cancellation of the course or section.

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