CREDIT HOUR EQUIVALENCIES – The ratio of weekly contact hours to credit hours varies with the type of instruction being used. The College will recognize the following methods or types of instruction:
THEORY, (T) One hour of theory instruction under the supervision of an instructor plus an average of two hours of out-of-class study per week. 1:1
EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY (E) Two hours of experimental laboratory under the supervision of an instructor plus an average of one hour of out-of-class assignments per week. 2:1
PED ACTIVITY, (A) Two hours of physical education class activity/practice under the supervision of an instructor with out-of-class assignments per week. 2:1
MANIPULATIVE LABORATORY, (M) Three hours of practice/manipulative laboratory under the supervision of an instructor with no out-of-class assignments per week. 3:1
SKILLS LABORATORY/CLINICAL PRACTICE, (S or C) - Three hours of skills laboratory or clinical practice under the supervision of an instructor. 3:1
- Skills Laboratory/Clinical Practice is the term for skills laboratory (S) and clinical experiences (C) which are under the direct supervision of faculty. There may be out-ofclass assignments per week, but they are not required. For example, skills laboratory and clinical experiences may have out-of-class assignments whereas a computer laboratory may not require an out-of-class assignment.
PRECEPTORSHIP, (P3 or P5) Three or five hours of clinical experience per week under the supervision of a health care professional who is currently licensed, has expertise in the selected clinical area, and serves as a facilitator of learning. 3:1 or 5:1.
- Preceptorship is the term used for clinical experiences which are supervised by currently licensed health care professionals who have expertise in a selected clinical area. Preceptors are employees of a clinical agency who are approved by faculty of the program and the administration of the clinical agency. Objectives for the preceptorship are specified. A designated faculty member is readily available (by telecommunication devices, for example) to the preceptor and student during the preceptorship experiences. Students enrolled in fields of study for which programmatic accreditation and/or licensing bodies require an 8:1 preceptorship ratio must comply with discipline-specific time-to-credit criteria. As the contact hours for courses using preceptorship clinical experiences are entered, specify in the column for “clinical” the actual number of contact hours per week followed by a bold (P3) or (P5).
INTERNSHIP (I) Five hours of experimental internship per week under the control and supervision of the employer on the job with coordinated employer/college representative planning. 5:1
- Internship is the term used to include cooperative education, practicums, and sponsored work instruction. Internship involves the development of job skills by providing the student with a structured employment situation that is directly related to, and coordinated with, the educational program. Student activity in “internship” is planned and coordinated jointly by an institutional representative and the employer, with the employer having the responsibility of control and supervision of the student on the job. Students enrolled in fields of study for which programmatic accreditation and/or licensing bodies require a 10:1 internship ratio, must comply with field-specific time-to-credit criteria.
The number of clock hours of each type of instruction is stated in each course description. Types of instruction may be mixed within one course. In that event, the number of contact hours for each type of instruction is spelled out in the following order: Theory (T); Experimental Laboratory (E); PED Activity (A); Manipulative Laboratory (M); Skills Laboratory/Clinical Practice (S or C); Preceptorship (P3 or P5); and internship (I). On the right side of the column, the number of credit hours for the entire course is given.