Credit Hour Terms

KSU policy on credit hours: “KSU defines a credit hour as a minimum of 2,250 minutes of academic engagement per semester. For many courses, the time is distributed as 750 minutes of direct, faculty-led instruction and 1,500 minutes of out-of-class academic engagement.  For a 14-week semester (i.e., Spring Semester or Fall Semester), that equates to 55 minutes of direct, faculty-led instruction and 100 minutes of out-of-class academic engagement per week.  An equivalent amount of work and a minimum of 2,250 minutes of academic engagement per credit hour is required for credit-bearing educational activities, for which the direct, faculty-led instruction time varies, including internship, field experience, cooperative education, and some online courses.  Thus, this definition applies regardless of type of course, term length, and delivery mode."

The majority of class at KSU are 3 credits, so for a 3-credit-hour course, over the entire semester, this would break down to:

• Overall Academic Engagement: 2,250 x 3 = 6,750 minutes
  • Instructional Time: 750 x 3 = 2,250 minutes
  • Out-of-Class Time: 1,500 x 3 = 4,500 minutes

The table below illustrates how this policy works out for a 3-credit-hour class: