The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has defined the credit hour as, “…the unit by which an institution measures its course work. The number of credit hours assigned to a course is defined by the number of hours per week in class and the number of hours per week in out of class preparation.” The Seattle College District has adopted and supports this policy, and has used the SBCTC’s rules to establish credit for its course offerings, as follows:

Lecture / Discussion:
1:1; one credit hour is equivalent to one hour of direct teacher instruction in lecture/discussion, and approximately two hours of out-of-class student work (time spent on studying, working on assignments, etc.) per week. For example, a 5-credit course would involve five hours of in-class direct instruction, and approximately 10 hours of additional work by students outside of the classroom per week.

Laboratory / Applied Learning:
2:1; one credit hour is equivalent to two hours of laboratory work under the supervision of the instructor, and approximately one additional hour for out-of-class student work on assignments per week.

Work Site Educational Experience:
3:1; one credit hour is equivalent to three hours of work per week under the intermittent supervision of the instructor, and includes working with professional practitioners; includes a required one-hour-per-week seminar or discussion group activity.

Other:
one credit hour is equivalent to five hours of work per week in which minimum supervision is provided or required for work-related activities. In this case, work site experiences have no related seminar or discussion activity.

The above guidelines apply to all types of courses offered for credit and modalities of instruction offered by the Seattle College District.

Adoption Date : 2013/04/15
Revision Date : 2013/04/15