Credit Hour Policy Addendum
The externship/internship section below has been revised, effective November 2013.
Federal regulations define a credit hour as:
An amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally established equivalency that reasonably approximates not less than—
- One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out of class student work each week for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time.
- At least an equivalent amount of work as required in paragraph (1) of this definition for other academic activities as established by the institution, including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.
To comply with the federal definition, courses offered at West Coast University have an expectation of two hours of work outside of class for each hour of lecture, and one hour of work outside of class for each hour of lab work.
West Coast University measures its academic programs in Semester credit hours.
- Semester credit hours are defined as follows:
- For lecture classes, one semester credit is equal to 15 clock hours of instruction.
- For laboratory classes, one semester credit is equal to 30 clock hours of instruction.
- For Supervised Clinical/Practicum classes, one semester credit is equal to 45 clock hours. Labs in the Nursing are considered clinical for credit hour calculations.
- For externships/internships, one semester credit is equal to 65 clock hours. A student works in an agency or other professional setting under the supervision of a designated practicing professional.
- Clock hours are defined as follows:
- A clock hour is a minimum of 50 minutes in which lectures, demonstrations, and similar class activities are conducted.