contact hours

Definition

The actual time students spend in direct instructional contact with faculty, as opposed to all the other learning they're supposedly doing independently. It's how we justify claiming a 3-credit course represents 9-12 hours of weekly work.

Example Usage

This course has 45 contact hours per semester, though whether students are actually learning during that time is a different question entirely.

Origin

Educational accounting and credit hour calculation terminology

Fun Fact

The standard Carnegie Unit assumes one contact hour should generate two hours of outside work, a ratio that makes faculty laugh and students rage when it's explained

Source: Academic scheduling and credit hour terminology

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lbnr

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