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National Park College complies with the federal definition of a credit hour as established in the Federal Register:
[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 not less than:
(1) One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of 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 in paragraph (1) of this definition for other academic activities as established by an institution, including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours. [34CFR §600.2 (11/1/2010]
In short, a credit hour is the amount of credit awarded for a course based upon the intensity of the course’s learning experience, the amount of time spent in the classroom learning environment, and the outside preparation required to meet the learning objectives of the course. To assist in making this determination, National Park College adheres to the United States Department of Education’s guidance on applying the federal standard as well as the following guidelines set forth by the Arkansas Division of Higher Education’s 2018 Higher Education Coordinating Board Policy manual.
· A formal lecture with extensive assigned reading or other out-of-class preparation is awarded one semester credit for [a minimum of] 750 minutes or 12.5 hours of classroom instruction;
· A laboratory class with moderate out-of-class preparation is awarded one semester credit for [a minimum of] 1500 minutes or 25 hours of laboratory instruction; and
· Clinic, practicum, internship, shop instruction or other self-paced learning activities involving work-related experience with little or no out-of-class preparation is awarded one semester credit for [a minimum of] 2250 minutes or 37.5 hours of work-related instruction.
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