Credit Assignment to Academic Courses

Boston University Policy on Credit Assignment to Academic Courses

The Boston University Policy on Credit Assignment to Academic Courses establishes guidelines for assigning the number of credits earned through fulfillment of requirements for academic courses. Reaffirming Boston University’s commitment to educational quality in terms that certify compliance with applicable government regulations and accreditation standards, the policy makes explicit the relationship between the credits assigned to an individual course and the expected work of a student completing that course.

The policy applies to all credit-bearing academic courses, regardless of course type, instructional format, mode of delivery, or length of the course.

Read the Full Policy Document with Tables

Effective Date. All new courses developed after June 1, 2015 should be in compliance with the policy. Full implementation for existing courses should be completed for the June 1, 2017 bulletin.

MET Task Force on Course Credit Assignment

In 2016, the MET Task Force on Course Credit Assignment (CCA) was established and charged with outlining the College’s procedures for implementation of the university-wide policy on course credit hours. The Task Force took into consideration the diversity of academic programs at MET and the variety of course delivery modes, and accomplished, among the others, the following specific tasks:

  • Outlined general procedures, priority order and timeline for CCA policy implementation in all existing and newly developed MET course in each of the delivery formats;
  • Identified faculty and administrators in each academic unit and program who would be in charge of implementation and supervision of the CCA policy;
  • Estimated the resources and time needed for full MET compliance with CCA policy across the delivery formats;
  • For each delivery format developed samples of the most common course activity distributions that satisfy the CAA policy that can be shared with the faculty;
  • Proposed mechanisms and steps that the MET Academic Policy Committee should implement in the review process to assure full compliance with the CCA policy for all the newly approved courses;
  • Suggested steps to be included in the online course development procedures that would assure implementation and compliance with the policy, including necessary updates to the course development contracts and facilitator contracts;
  • Recommended a procedure for informing MET full-time and part-time faculty about the CCA policy and its requirements and the wording to be included in course syllabi that would state and explain the policy to students;

The members of the CCA Task Force were:

  • Professor Robert Schudy, Director of the online MSCIS program
  • Professor Mary Ellen Mastrorilli, Faculty Coordinator for the MCJ online program
  • Professor Stephen Leybourne, Faculty Coordinator for the MSM online program
  • Eric Friedman, Director of Distance Education
  • Daniel Hillman, Assistant Director of Instructional Design
  • Dean Tanya Zlateva
  • Senior Associate Dean Lou Chitkushev

MET Course Time Analysis Table

The Task Force provided demos of the Time Analysis Table to the MET Faculty Council on March 25, 2016 and on May 6, 2016. The Time Analysis Table contains a course metric workbook that will help faculty examine their courses to see if they meet course credit hour requirements. The workbook can be used to:

  • show how many contact hours a course currently contains,
  • break down the amount of activity week by week, and
  • let faculty members play with the number and kind of activities they could add before any course development takes place.

The first tab of the table, “Constants” contains constants that are used to calculate the course credit hours based on a set time ratio assignment for synchronous and asynchronous activities. The second tab marked “Demo” contains an example online course not currently meeting the policy hour requirements, but can be used to see how entering new activities increases the contact policy hours based on the approved ratios for synchronous and asynchronous activities. The third tab, “Your Course” is a blank workbook set up for an online course with seven weeks, but can be modified easily for a fifteen week on campus course.

The Time Analysis Table is also required to be submitted to the APC with new course proposals.