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Mt. Hood Community College Mt. Hood Community College Mt. Hood Community College

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  • Credit Hour Policy: AR-6110-A

  • Section 6000: Instruction
    Credit Hour Policy
    Administrative Regulation: AR-6110    -A
         		President’s Cabinet (PC) Approval: 11/5/2013
    Revised:
    1. Establishing and Revising Credits in Courses
      1. New credit courses and any change in course credit or clock hours are recommended by the Curriculum Committee for approval by the Vice President of Instruction and Student Services, (substantive changes).
      2. Credit is based on in-class or equivalent hours and student out-of-class work. MHCC operates in the quarter system, in which one credit is based on, or equivalent to, 30-36 hours of academic engagement. When equating clock or contact hours to credit hours, one credit in the following types of courses is represented by:
        1. Lecture: 10 to 12 clock hours of instruction plus a minimum of 20 hours of out-of-class student work
        2. Lecture/lab: 20-24 clock hours of instruction plus a minimum of 10 hours of out-of-class student work
        3. Lab: 30 to 36 clock hours of instruction
        4. Cooperative Education/Clinical: 30 to 36 clock hours of supervised or semi-supervised instruction consisting of work experience in which a college instructor visits the work site periodically but primary supervision is from the employer or other individual contracted to provide the work experience
        5. Seminar: 10 to 12 clock hours in class plus a minimum of 20 hours of out-of-class student work
        6. Independent Study: a minimum of 30 hours of student involvement equals one credit hour
      3. For courses in which instruction is less clearly tied to clock hours, such as courses that might be offered exclusively online, the Curriculum Committee will review evidence of equivalency that reasonably approximates the minimum hours of student engagement

    2. Administrative Procedures
      1. This credit hour policy applies to all courses that award academic credit and that appear on an official transcript issued by MHCC regardless of the mode of delivery including but not limited to self-paced, online, hybrid, lecture, seminar, and laboratory formats. Academic units are responsible for ensuring that credit hours are awarded only for work that meets the requirements outlined in this policy.
      2. The expectation of contact time inside the classroom and student effort outside the classroom is the same in all formats of a course, whether it be fully online, a hybrid or face-to-face contact with some content delivered by electronic means, or one delivered in lecture or seminar format. Courses that have less structured classroom schedules, such as seminars, independent studies, internships, practica, studio work, or any other academic work leading to the award of credit hours should, at a minimum, state clear learning objectives and expected outcomes and workload expectations that meet the standards set forth above.
      3. The Curriculum Committee of the college is charged with following the policy on credit hours in its review and recommendations of all courses and for certifying that the expected student learning outcomes for the course meet the credit hour standard. The determination of credit hours will be made when a new course or a revision to an existing course is proposed. The curriculum documents submitted for review will be examined for contact time as well as for assignments and evaluation mechanisms.

    3. Periodic Compliance Review of Credit Hour Administrative Regulation
      1. Initial compliance review:
        1. From the date of adoption of this administrative regulation, each department or academic unit will conduct an initial comprehensive review of the credit hour assignment of approximately no less than one-third of its courses each year for the next three years. Review will be done by the pertinent department faculty and any resulting substantive changes will be submitted to the college Curriculum Committee. Results of the review will be documented.
      2. Ongoing compliance review:
        1. At the time of any course revision proposal, or at the time of its triennial review in the absence of course revisions, every course will be reviewed for its compliance with the credit hour assignment requirements defined by federal requirements per 34 CFR Section 600.2. Results of that review of credit hours will be included in the course review documentation.