College question: What does "Contact hours" mean?

Question

For example, I want to get certified in Information Technology (IT) Security, and at the end of their website for this certificate program, it says "Total Certificate Hours: 21" 7 courses, 3 credits per course. When you click on each course, it says "47 Contact Hours". So it is 21, or 47? Thank you guys! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Answer 1

Contact hours means the number of hours you are 'in contact' with an instructor.

One contact hour is usually interpreted to mean 50 minutes.

If you take a 3 credit course in a lecture environment, you are in 'contact' for 3 'hours' per week for 15 weeks. Thus the 3 credit course has 45 contact hours. You will be in class for 45 hours over the course of the semester for each class.

If it is a "LAB" class, such as where you are given instruction in a computer lab or art studio, the time is supposed to 50% lecture, 50% lab. Lab hours are counted at half the rate of classroom lecture hours. Thus, your classes will meet for longer than 50 minutes 3 times per week.

for a three credit 'lab' course, you meet for 60 actual hours (50 minute hours) each semester for a three credit class.

30Lecture hours + (30 Labhours*.5) = 45 contact hours

If you tool a class for 2.5 hours, once a week, it would still be 45 contact hours. (3cr*50min=150 minutes=2.5 actual hours)

Rest assured that the school has all of this figured out for you, and if they are off, they are subject to audit findings and possible fines. They cover their keesters!

Answer 2

Credits are ...credits...that then lead to the "contact hours" per course. You can think about contact hours as "seat time" in the course. Example:

3 credit course meets 3 hours per week for 15 weeks:

3 x 15 = 45 contact hours

Then, they usually add 2 hours for the final exam, which results in:

45 + 2 = 47 contact hours.

:)

Answer 3

Contact hours is the actual amount of time in contact with instructor, i.e. class time.  If a class meets 3 times a week, an hour each time, that's 3 contact hours a week.  The figure 47 equals the total contact hours per semester/session/quarter.  3 hours per week for 16 weeks (typical duration of a semester) is 48 total contact hours.  The reason 47 appears instead of 48 (which is 3 X 16) depends on how they actually count the time and what is considered "contact time".  If the school has Labor Day off, that's 48 - 1 = 47 contact hours.  

Some schools do not include the final exam as contact time.  Also, at most schools where a class meets 3 times a week, one hour per meeting, the actual class time is 50 minutes.  Some schools count that time as 50 minutes, others count it as an hour.

It is possible for a course's contact hours to not equal credit hours (per week).  The most common example is a laboratory class, typically connected to a lecture class.  The typical lab class meets for 3 or 4 hours per week, but is worth only one credit hour.