OFFICE OF INTERSESSION AND SUMMER
Implementing RIT’s Portfolio of January 2015
TigerTermSM Courses
Identifying Intersession Courses
Office of Intersession and Summer
Spring 2014
1. Introduction
This document may help colleges identify courses that may be suitable for offering during the
Intersession term. It also discusses what a credit hour is and the impact that that has on
contact hours during a three-week course.
2. The basics – credit hours and contact hours
RIT’s definition of a semester credit hour (SCH) aligns with those used by the U.S. Department
of Education, New York State Education Department (NYSED), and Middle States Commission
on Higher Education, which state that a credit hour is:
"...An amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence
of student achievement that is an institutionally established equivalency that reasonably
approximates not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a
minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work for approximately fifteen weeks for one
semester or trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit,
or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time.”
In our semester calendar, an hour class of direct faculty instruction (a contact hour) is defined
as 50 minutes of class.
Therefore, in RIT’s 15-week semester calendar, a 3-SCH course requires a minimum 45 contact
hours each semester plus an end-of-term activity (i.e., final exam or final week’s activity) as
defined in RIT’s policy D11.0. A 3-SCH course delivered over a 15-week semester term, will be
scheduled for either three 50-minute or two 75-minute meetings each week plus an end-ofterm activity during finals week. To meet the contact hour requirement, a 3-SCH course offered
during the three-week (15 class days plus one day for finals) January intersession will need to
hold three daily contact hours plus an end-of-term activity during the final exam day. The
following table shows recommended daily contact hours for intersession courses to meet the
minimum contact hour requirement.
SCHs /
course
Minimum contact
hours
1
15
2
3
4
30
45
60
Contact hours per day
Plus an end of term activity as described in RIT’s policy D11.0
1.0 hour each day for 15 days
1.5 hours each day for 10 days (end-of-term activity could be held on
the 11th day of class)
2.0 hours each day for 15 days
3.0 hours each day for 15 days
4.0 hours each day for 15 days
3. Identifying courses
While course scheduling is a complex task, identifying which courses to offer each semester is
greatly facilitated by the semester structure of our programs and, consequently, by the
expectation that our students will take the great majority of their coursework during the fall
Office of Intersession and Summer / Spring 2014
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and spring semesters each year. However, identifying intersession and summer TigerTermSM
courses may be more challenging because for most RIT programs, summer is not a required
academic term, and because our students are not required to enroll in intersession courses.
On the other hand, while the three-week (15 class days) January intersession may allow us to
provide our students with new and exciting learning opportunities, the intensive nature of a
three-week course may challenge faculty and students in ways that quarter and semester
courses don’t. Here is why:
•
•
A 3-SCH course offered over three weeks, is likely to be implemented as three daily
contact hours, effectively requiring that we provide a week’s worth of a semester course
learning experience (class lecture, discussion, homework, project, etc.) each day for
fifteen days.
As per Federal and State law, and Middle States guidelines, each hour of direct faculty
instruction requires a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work.
Consequently, a 3-SCH course delivered over 15 days of class may result in at least nine
hours (3 hours of class + 6 out-of-class hours) of student work each day.
Therefore, for the 2015 offering of January TigerTermSM courses, it is recommended that
departments identify courses which, in judgment of their faculty, may be better suited for the
intensive three-week learning model. Among the various possibilities are:
Course type
General Education
Explanation
Popular at colleges and universities whose calendars include a January
intersession term, these courses provide students with opportunity to
earn General Education credits in a convenient way. However, we should
be careful as we prepare for our first offering of January TigerTermSM
courses: some General Education Courses may be better suited for the
intensive format than others (see next two items).
Humanities &
Social Sciences
High demand, 3-SCH courses whose content can be delivered in an
intensive learning model. While it is widely accepted that any 3-SCH
course can be taught in the intensive course format for three weeks, there
is also wide agreement on the fact that some courses may be easier to
implement in the intensive format than others. Courses in the
humanities and social sciences are generally viewed as better fit for the
intensive course format.
Natural science
With a bit of creative design, certain science courses may be offered in the
three-week format keeping in mind that pre-requisites may be used to
guide student course selection. There may be opportunity to offer
courses that will allow some of our students to recover from academic
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Course type
Explanation
misfortunes on high-impact courses such as first-year Math and Physics,
among others.
Non-credit skillbuilding
These are courses students can use to learn, refresh, or enhance
previously-acquired knowledge. These courses will need to be designed
with a SCH equivalence (or weight) in mind (1 or 2-SCH equivalence) to
facilitate the billing process.
Make up
These courses could be designed to improve a previously-earned grade.
Equivalent to 1 or 2-SCHs, these courses will not be designed as
replacement their of their respective semester version. However, they
would be designed to help students make-up for knowledge with which
they may have had trouble in a previous taking of a 3 or 4-SCH course,
typically during the previous fall semester. Prerequisites for these courses
can include having earned a “D” grade in the semester course for which
the intensive course is designed.
Special topics
These are courses designed to spike student attention in topics in which
faculty have a keen interest. These courses may require that faculty
actively recruit students that have a high chance of succeeding in their
course.
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