3.4.6  

The institution employs sound and acceptable practices for determining the amount and level of credit awarded for courses, regardless of format or mode of delivery.

RATIONALE FOR COMPLIANCE JUDGMENT

Nashville State Technical Community College (NSCC) delivers the instruction required for degree and certificate courses in the traditional semester credit hour (SCH) format.  There are no alternative formats.  Courses offered through varied delivery systems – traditional, online, video – are offered for the same amount of credit regardless of delivery system.

One policy that determines the amount of credit awarded for a course is the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) Policy on Undergraduate Degree Requirements [1].  This policy provides that “All associate degrees shall require a maximum of 60 semester hours except in certain degree programs in which approval to exceed the maximum has been granted.”

Faculty members are responsible for recommending the number of semester hours in a course.  When a new course is proposed to the Curriculum Committee, the number of semester hours is part of that recommendation [2].  Most NSCC courses are offered for three semester credit hours and meet for three 50-minute sessions per week during the 15-week fall and spring semesters, consistent with traditional academic practice.  All Tennessee Board of Regents institutions are on a common calendar.  Some courses, especially science and technical courses that require a laboratory, are offered for four credit hours.   The course descriptions in the catalog provide information about the total credit hours, and also about the number of class and lab hours required for each course [3].