Online Learning courses must meet the same credit hour requirements as traditional face-to-face courses.

The Department of Education calls for approximately one nominal hour (50 clock minutes) of "class time or direct faculty instruction" and two hours of "out of class" student work (at minimum) per week per credit hour. For a three-credit hour course this equates to a total of 45 nominal hours (2250 minutes) of direct instruction and 90 hours of out-of-class work total for the term. Faculty teaching online learning classes should be prepared to justify equivalencies if required by external or internal auditors.

3 Credit Course	= Per Week	= Per Term
Direct Instruction	2.5 – 3 hours	45 hours
Out of Class	5-6 hours	90 hours
TOTAL	7.5 – 9 hours per week

Guidelines

Online learning courses must meet the same learning objectives/outcomes, and cover the same amount of curriculum, as a traditional classroom-based class.
Online learning classes must include reasonable substitutes for direct faculty instruction, such as videos, lecture outlines, and other didactic materials that teach new concepts. Activities that would traditionally take place during class time or have an instructor oversight component are considered to contribute to the time for "class time or direct faculty instruction". Reading the textbook does not count as a substitute for direct instruction since it is considered “out-of-class” student work.
Online learning courses must include learning activities that are equivalent to a face-to-face classroom course. Activities can include traditional homework activities, but also hands-on projects, small group learning, and labs. Faculty may create assignments or projects that will allow students to go into further depth as part of instruction.
Online learning courses must include assessment practices to determine student understanding of the learning outcomes, including formative and summative assessment. Assessment should include written feedback to students on their performance in the class, not just a number or letter grade.

It is the responsibility of faculty teaching in an online learning environment to ensure that the course content is of sufficient scope and rigor to be comparable to the same campus-based course. If these conditions are met, we can reasonably state that an online learning course is equivalent to the face-to-face course, and therefore the credit hours are the same.

Please contact Digital Learning at dl@nwacc.edu with any questions or if you need assistance.