The criteria for quarter hour conversion is as follows:
- 10 hours (lecture) = 1 credit hour
- 20 hours (lab) = 1 credit hour
- 30 hours (externship/clinical) = 1 credit hour
Therefore, a lecture course consisting of 4 credits mandates 40 hours (10 hours of lecture x 4 credits) of instruction. Each class is scheduled as follows:
- 100 minutes of instructions four days per week. A classroom hour is defined as 50 minutes of instruction, so each day there are 2.0 hours of instruction. The course runs six weeks, so 2.0 hours per day x 4 days x 6 weeks = 48 hours of instruction. Scheduling classes in this manner exceeds the requirement by 8 hours, which provides an allowance for vacation, holidays, cancellations of classes, etc.
Note: Computational conversion formula could result in a .2 or .3 credit hour difference.