To maintain fidelity to federal program integrity regulations and requirements of the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), Augusta University adheres to the Carnegie unit for contact time for all courses that award academic credit regardless of the delivery method.
The Carnegie unit for contact time means that for every credit hour awarded, faculty members must provide 750 minutes of direct instruction and out-of-class work that requires a minimum of 1500 minutes per credit hour.
If you teach a 3-credit hour course, you must provide 2,250 minutes of direct instruction in the semester. Direct instruction includes activities in which you teach your students directly, like classroom teaching or holding synchronous sessions in an online or blended course.
Traditional 3-credit hour course
For a F2F class on MWF over a full semester, this = 3 fifty-minute sessions weekly. So, if you teach each session, you've met this part of the policy.
Canceling class(es) or dismissing early
For each canceled class, you're now short 50 minutes of direct instruction. What if you dismiss class 30 minutes early? You're still short. Per the policy, you must provide those minutes of direct instruction to your students. It's up to you and perhaps your academic unit how you do this, but you must meet the minimum expectation of 2,250 minutes of direct instruction. Providing substitute activities is essential if you must miss class.
Activities that count toward direct instruction include:
The Carnegie unit for contact time means that for every credit hour awarded, faculty members must provide a minimum of 1500 minutes (25 hours) of out-of-class work.
If you teach a 3-credit hour course, you must provide students with a total of 4,500 minutes of out-of-class work in the semester according to this policy. For a traditional F2F full semester course, this equates to 300 minutes of out-of-class work each week for 16 weeks, or 4.7 hours per week.
What is out-of-class work?
Essentially, this is any work the student does as assigned or in preparation for class in which you are not directly engaged. This could include reading, homework, projects, studying, or anything defined by you and your academic unit as acceptable for this policy. Can your students complete the work you assign faster than 4+ hours per week? Maybe. But for 3-credit hour course, you still must provide out-of-class work that would take a typical student roughly 5 hours to complete.
You and your academic unit's leadership are responsible for ensuring that your class meets the policy requirements for out-of-class activities.
Blended and online courses, including all courses designated as distance learning courses, must meet the Augusta University credit hour policy for both direct instruction and out-of-class work. Because the nature of distance learning courses flips more work outside of traditional "class session" environments, faculty members and academic unit leadership must work hard to ensure that course activities are meeting the policy as prescribed. This is especially true for 8-week courses.
The federal government has amended 34 C.F.R. Sec 600.2 on Distance Education to include a requirement for "regular and substantive interaction" between the faculty member and students within an online course. To meet this definition the following factors must be present:
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Put it in your syllabus
Include a breakdown of your direct instruction and out-of-class work time in your syllabus. This quantitative description communicates time expectations to your students and holds you and your students accountable to Augusta University's credit hour policy. You can provide something like this in your syllabi for direct & indirect instruction:
Example: Traditional F2F Full Semester
A Face-to-Face full semester three-credit hour course:
This semester, you can expect our course to require this amount of time:
Example: Online Full Semester
An online full semester three-credit hour course:
Example: Online 8-week Semester
An online 8-week three-credit hour course:
Example: Blended (Hybrid) Full Semester
A blended (AKA hybrid) full semester course:
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Provide substitute activities if you miss class
Provide a substitute method of direct instruction. If you know you will miss a class, ask a colleague to teach it instead, record your lecture in advance, or offer direct instruction via a D2L presentation, discussion, or other activity.
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Maintain awareness of policy
As you collaboratively work on syllabi and course requirements, keep the Augusta University’s Credit Hour policy in your discussions. If you plan to miss a class session, arrange for a colleague to take your place so that the class still meets or provide a substitute activity. Ensure all courses in your department are meeting the time requirement.
