Prior to registering for a learning experience, faculty must seek pre-approval from their dean via the Faculty Request for Courses, Certifications, Licenses, and Other Approved Professional Development Experiences 🔒 form located in MyWCC Resources. If the faculty member indicates that they are requesting the hours be applied to the compensation schedule, and they are not earned through a traditional graduate course and/or the Graduate Course Equivalency Credits (GCEC) have not been established by the course provider, the faculty member or dean may email the Office of Faculty Development and Engagement (FDAE) at facultydae@waubonsee.edu and provide detailed course information. FDAE will evaluate the learning experience per the guidelines below, establish the GCEC amount, if any, and provide the resulting information to both the faculty member and dean. Note that it is the Dean’s decision as to whether these courses and credits may be applied for columnar advancement or not. The role of the FDAE Team is only to establish the amount of GCECs, if any.
Federal Definition of a Credit Hour:
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:
(1) One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out of class student work each week 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; or (2) At least an equivalent amount of work as required in paragraph (1) of this definition for other academic activities as established by the institution including laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours. (https://provost.illinois.edu/policies/policies/courses/credit-hour-definition/, Accessed 2.2.2021)
Guidelines:
- Per the federal definition of a credit hour, one GCEC equates to 15 hours of direct instruction, and 30 hours of out of class work, for a total of 45 hours.
- Evaluate the rigor of the materials provided by the faculty member or dean to determine its equivalency to graduate-level course work and total hours associated with the learning experience.
- Divide the total number of hours by 45 to determine the amount of GCEC to assign.
Graduate Course Equivalency Credits:
| Hours of Direct Instruction | Hours of 'Out of Class' Work | Total Hours | GCEC Assigned |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 30 | 45 | 1 |
| 40-41 | .9 | ||
| 36 | .8 | ||
| 31-32 | .7 | ||
| 27 | .67 | ||
| 22-23 | .5 | ||
| 18 | .4 | ||
| 13.5 | .34 | ||
| 9 | .2 | ||
| 4-5 | .1 |