Credit Hours and Time Across Terms

KSU policy on credit hours: “KSU’s policy defines a credit hour as one hour (50 minutes) of classroom or direct faculty instruction and one hour and 40 minutes of out-of-class student work each week for 15 weeks in a semester [4]. This equates to a minimum of 750 minutes of class and 1,500 minutes of out-of-class academic engagement per semester credit hour.  An equivalent amount of work is required in educational activities that are out of the classroom or do not include direct faculty instruction and equates to a minimum of three hours of student engagement per week, per semester credit hour or a minimum of 2,250 minutes. These equivalencies are provided for use in online and hybrid courses.  This policy is published in the academic policies section of the undergraduate and graduate catalogs and covers all courses regardless of type of course, term length, or delivery mode.” 
 
Thus, for a typical 3 credit hour class, there needs to be 2250 minutes (37 hrs & 30mins) of instructional time and 4500 minutes (75 hrs) of out-of-class time. 

Hours per Week for a 3-Credit Hour Course:

  • Terms
    Instructional Time
    Out-of-Class Time
    Total Hrs Per Week
  • 15-weeks
    2 hrs & 30 mins
    5 hrs
    7 hrs & 30 mins
  • 8-weeks
    4 hrs & 41 mins
    9 hrs & 23 mins
    14 hrs & 14 mins
  • 7-weeks
    5 hrs & 21 mins
    10 hrs & 43 mins
    16 hrs & 4 mins
  • 4-weeks
    9 hrs & 23 mins
    18 hrs & 45 mins
    28 hrs & 8 mins
  • 2-weeks
    18 hrs & 45 mins
    37 hrs & 30 mins
    56 hrs & 15 mins

 

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