how many hours should be spent for every credit hour online course

by Jabari Dare 7 min read

Each credit hour corresponds to a minimum of 3 hours of student engagement per week for a traditional 14-week course or 6 hours per week for a 7-week course. This time may be spent on discussions, readings and lectures, study and research, and assignments.

Full Answer

How many credit hours are in each course?

Each course can vary in credit hours, however you’ll find the majority of courses are 3 credit hours each. When speaking about a 3 credit hour course, you may find that the course meets 3 times a week for 50 minutes, or 2 times a week for 75 minutes. This is typical and is still considered 3 full credit hours.

How much time should I spend studying per credit hour?

Research suggests that students should spend approximately 2-3 hours, per credit hour, studying in order to be successful in their courses. To see how that equation fits into your current lifestyle, please complete the following activity.

How many hours a week should I study for online classes?

Many schools say you should study two hours for every hour you spend in a class for an easy class, three for an average class, and four for a hard class. If you attended class three hours a week, you'd then have 6, 9, or 12 hours of study time per week. Now apply that to online classes.

How many contact hours are in a credit hour?

For all practical purposes, 1 credit hour is typically equivalent to 15 contact hours. The majority of colleges in the USA operate on two 15-week semesters per year; one in the fall and one in the spring. This makes the math extremely simple as credit hours = number of hours spent in class per week.

How many hours should I study per credit online?

Research suggests that students should spend approximately 2-3 hours, per credit hour, studying in order to be successful in their courses.

How many hours a day should I spend on online classes?

You should plan to devote a minimum of three hours per week per credit, plus an additional hour per class each week to review materials. For instance, for a three-credit online course, you will need nine hours of study time and one hour of review time each week.

How many hours should you spend on a 3 credit online course?

Typically, each 3-credit course will require you to spend three hours a week listening to or reading the actual coursework, similar to the three hours you would spend with in-person instruction in a traditional classroom.

How much time should I spend on my online course per week?

For one session, a student should expect to spend six hours a week on course work for every course credit. In other words, if a student is signed up for two or three courses during a session and each course is worth three credits, that student should plan to spend between 36 to 54 hours a week on course work.

How many hours should my online course be?

The most profitable online course length Based on what we've seen at Thinkific, the most profitable course length on average is between 10–25 hours. Just below that, 5-10 hour courses are about 75% as profitable. And at the higher range, longer courses—25–100 hours—are slightly less profitable than those.

How many hours do you spend in online learning?

While the typical student may spend about as much time online doing homework or research as on other online activities, almost half (40%) of students reported spending between 3 and 4 hours a day working online; these results were largely similar across Carnegie class, ethnicity, and gender.

How many hours is 1 credit hour?

Each credit hour corresponds to a minimum of 3 hours of student engagement per week for a traditional 14-week course or 6 hours per week for a 7-week course. This time may be spent on discussions, readings and lectures, study and research, and assignments.

How many hours should you spend on a 3-credit course?

College courses are measured in credit hours. A 3-credit course meets for 2.5 hours per week.

How many hours do you expect students to spend on online coursework each day and each week?

Many online learners say they spend 15 to 20 hours a week on coursework. That workload, of course, may vary between full-time and part-time students. A lighter course load likely means less study.

How long should I study per credit hour?

approximately 2-3 hoursThe general rule of thumb regarding college studying is, that for each class, students should spend approximately 2-3 hours of study time for each hour that they spend in class. Non-science courses: For every 1 unit you are enrolled, you are recommended to spend approximately two hours outside of class studying.

Do online classes take more time?

LAS Online courses may provide students more flexibility and convenience when scheduling their academic day, but the idea that online classes and coursework require less time than face-to-face courses is just not true. Generally, students spend 7 to 10 hours week for each online course they take.

How long is ASU online?

Through Arizona State University’s online programs, called ASU Online, undergrad and graduate courses are structured in seven and a half week sessions rather than 14-week semesters.

Why is time management important for online learning?

Additionally, one of the key benefits of online learning is that students can create their own schedules and fulfill their study hours whenever works best for their individual needs. Students who have full-time careers often make time for school in the evenings and on weekends, ...

How many hours does ASU take?

Through Arizona State University’s online programs, called ASU Online, undergrad and graduate courses are structured in seven and a half week sessions rather than 14-week semesters. For one session, a student should expect to spend six hours a week on coursework for every course credit.

How many hours is a credit hour?

Each credit hour corresponds to a minimum of 3 hours of student engagement per week for a traditional 14-week course or 6 hours per week for a 7-week course.

How many hours are there in AIC?

This time may be spent on discussions, readings and lectures, study and research, and assignments. Most courses at AIC are three credit hours. Credits to be earned. Hours per week, 7-week course. Hours per week, 8-week course. Hours per week, 14-week course. 1 credit.

Undergraduate Courses

As summarized in the above article, undergraduate courses use the following formula: For every 1 credit, the student has 3 hours of work each week for a full semester session. So in other words, a student in a full semester 3-credit course should expect to spend nine hours a week on the course.

Graduate Courses

Graduate students should expect to put more time into a course. The following is our estimations by number of weeks and credit hours for graduate courses. Please note that we’ve only indicated the time on task amounts for the credit + duration combinations offered by our program.

How many hours are in a 3 credit course?

Each course can vary in credit hours, however you’ll find the majority of courses are 3 credit hours each. When speaking about a 3 credit hour course, you may find that the course meets 3 times a week for 50 minutes, or 2 times a week for 75 minutes. This is typical and is still considered 3 full credit hours.

What is credit hours?

Credit hours are typically used in order to determine whether a student is in academic standing of a freshmen, sophomore, junior, or senior. They also determine the graduation eligibility for a student pursuing an associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s degree.

How many credit hours are there in a 30 minute shortage?

This is typical and is still considered 3 full credit hours. The 30 minute shortage per week is to account for transition between classes for both professors and students. Scenario: It’s the first semester of your freshmen year and you’ll be taking 12 credit hours.

How many contact hours are 12 credit hours?

Given what we learned above, 12 credit hours is the same as 180 contact hours (12 credit hours * 15 contact hours per credit hour). Given this is a normal 15 week semester, we can expect that the student will be in class for 12 hours per week (180 contact hours / 15 weeks).

What is contact hour?

A contact hour is the measurement of how many total hours a student will be lectured in a classroom or lab during a set term. A college will determine how many contact hours a student will receive during a semester or quarter, and then determine the credit hours of the respective course.

How do college credits affect your GPA?

Image Source: Unsplash | Crissy Jarvis. College credits influence your weighted GPA. In practice, the grade you receive from a course with higher credit hours will influence your GPA more than the grade you receive from a course with lower credit hours.

How many credit hours are required for a bachelor's degree?

The average number of credit hours taken per semester is typically 15 for a bachelor’s degree. This is popular among students as this allows for four years of college at 30 hours per year, allowing for each year to coincide with a new academic standing (Freshman, Sophomore, etc.).

How much time should I spend in online classes?

Here's how to estimate how much time online classes take. Many schools say you should study two hours for every hour you spend in a class for an easy class, three for an average class, and four for a hard class. If you attended class three hours a week, you'd then have 6, 9, or 12 hours of study time per week. Now apply that to online classes.

How many hours of study time do I need to take online classes?

If you attended class three hours a week, you'd then have 6, 9, or 12 hours of study time per week. Now apply that to online classes. Assume you're going to have to take part in class discussion or do homework to replace the class time.

Best Practices for Success: How to Maximize Your Time

How much time should you be studying per week? Research suggests that students should spend approximately 2-3 hours, per credit hour, studying in order to be successful in their courses. To see how that equation fits into your current lifestyle, please complete the following activity.

Make Things Possible

In nearly every industry, businesses can no longer operate without skilled, perceptive IT professionals to drive process and create connections. With the University of Wisconsin Bachelor of Science in Applied Computing, you can be the problem solver who makes things possible -- for your company and your career.

How many hours of class do you need for one credit hour?

The U.S. Department of Education defines the credit hour as “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…”.

Is focus on task more the point than focus on time?

Those observations aside, you do make a good point about focus on task being more the point than focus on time . And you also offer a number of good "active learning" techniques to bring into the classroom (in hopes that students might take the time to prepare for such outside of the classroom).

Is 15 hours in school a full time job?

I have tended to equate being in school full time (15 credit hours a semester) with being a full-time job. 15 hours in the classroom alone is hardly full-time work. Add to that an additional 2 hours a week per course credit and you get 45 hours/week focus on school work = more equivalent to a full time job.

image