Credit Hour Policy

Since 1957, most Washington College undergraduate courses have been designed and delivered as four-credit courses over a 15-week semester. Students typically enroll in four courses for 16 credits per semester during the Fall and Spring semesters. This equals 32 credits per academic year and 128 credits over four years. Classroom-based summer courses may be four to six weeks in duration.

According to Federal Regulations, each four-credit lecture-based course should include the equivalent of at least 200 minutes of instruction per week over a fifteen-week semester. At Washington College, we typically offer three 50-minute or two 75-minute classes each week, with the remainder of the teaching consisting of structured instruction and an exam week at the end of the semester. Courses offered for less than four credits may also include structured instruction to reach the required minutes of instruction.

Structured instruction refers to supervised and required educational experiences aligned with a course’s learning goals, resulting in a product evaluated by the instructor. This type of instruction integrates both in-class and extracurricular learning opportunities and encourages students to engage deeply with course material while receiving support from faculty. Structured instruction varies by course, subject, and instructor, and can include, but is not limited to: 

• Laboratory work, research, writing, performance, or presentation development. 
• Participation in events or experiences that lead to tangible, assessable outcomes. 
• Engagement in office hours with faculty for direct guidance and feedback. 
• Required viewings of films or media relevant to course content. 
• Participation in outside speaker lectures, concerts, or events that align with course objectives. 
• Participation in on- or off-campus field trips. 
• Faculty-student collaboration in preparing for and attending conferences or colloquia. 
• Participation in review sessions, tutorials, or discussion groups outside regular class hours. 
• Participation in faculty-moderated and evaluated discussion forums. 
• Viewing or listening to recorded lectures by faculty or qualified instructors, as in a “flipped” classroom setting. 

Additional Notes: 

• Structured instruction does not need to be in 50-minute or 75-minute-per-week blocks. 
• Structured instruction could be offered as a menu of choices (as above) as long as each student completes 750 minutes of outside-of-class work during the semester.