Focused Report

Comprehensive Standard 3.4.6

The institution employs sound and acceptable practices for determining the amount and level of credit awarded for courses, regardless of format or mode of delivery. (Practices for awarding credit)

Off-Site Committee Finding

The Committee was unable to verify compliance because the Board of Regents document provided was the policy statement on new academic programs rather than the guidelines for awarding credit. In addition, the curriculum review document stated only that a semester conversion had been completed for the Georgia system and implemented in 1998, but did not provide information about Albany State University 's conversion process. For example, information was not provided about the total number of instructional hours required per credit hour (although the Compliance Certification did state the length of lecture class sessions and lab/activity course sessions). Information was not provided about the institutional policies' correspondence with principles developed by nationally recognized organizations regarding the type and amount of credit awarded. This is a particular concern as the institution has special programs, such as the weekend college, in which the procedures to ensure that the credit earned in this program is comparable to that delivered in other formats is not provided. Documentation of the number of instructional hours required per credit hour and the consistent application of this policy, particularly with regard to the weekend college, would be helpful for the On-Site Committee in ascertaining compliance.

Albany State University 's Response  

Albany State University follows University System of Georgia policies regarding awarding credit. The system requires a minimum of 750 instructional minutes of instruction for each credit hour awarded [1] . The system also requires that all universities, including Albany State , provide schedules that fall within specific dates [2] . The University's Spring 2008 academic schedule [3] and academic calendar [4] document compliance with both policies for classes scheduled both on weekends and weekdays. Semester conversion occurred in 1998 based on a statewide requirement [5] . As a part of the conversion process the University reviewed every course in the curriculum and implemented a course by course conversion process [6] .  

Supporting Documentation

[1] Policy for awarding semester credit hours, USG Academic Affairs Handbook

[2] Uniform Academic Calendar Policy, USG Academic Affairs Handbook

[3] Spring 2008 schedule with weekend courses highlighted in yellow

[4] Albany State University Academic calendar

[5] BOR Policy for semester conversion

[6] Albany State University semester conversion crosswalk