Credit Hours

American City University adopts the Federal Definition of the Credit Hour.

For purposes of the application of this policy and in accord with federal regulations, a credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally established equivalency that reasonably approximates

1.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 trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit , or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time, or

2. At least an equivalent amount of work as required outlined in item 1 above 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.

In accordance with federal guidelines and commonly accepted practices in higher education, American City University operates on a 50-minute hour for definition (1) as it relates to direct classroom instruction (including navigating within student portal, down loading course materials, reviewing power point presentation, watching educational video clips, interacting with classmates and faculty through the discussion boards, communicating with faculty through email or chat room for guidance on research project, uploading assignments for grading); and a minimum of two additional hours per week for definition (2) as it relates to other non-direct instructional activities (i.e., homework assignments, exams, research projects, and case studies, etc.).

Course developers at ACU are to ensure that the quantity of student learning required per credit course is the equivalent of between 30 and 36 hours of coursework for the 10 week through activities that address and demonstrate student competency in the defined learning outcomes.

Student learning outcome equivalencies are to be based on documented qualitative and quantitative expectations for:

• Time required of students to complete assigned learning activities, taking into account expectations based on degree level (i.e., BBA, MBA, and DBA), and weight in students' final course grade;
• Time required of students to read and understand content developed by course faculty;
• Time required to read corresponding assigned text book chapters;
• Time required to communicate with classmates and course faculty via e-mail, to post comments on the discussion board, and/or to discuss in the online class chat room; and
• Time required to participate in online conference activities such as webinars.