The amount of time spent in the classroom might change next year.
According to the Higher Learning Commission, Otterbein is not meeting the required amount of in-class work hours. Currently, students must receive a minimum of 750 minutes of formalized instruction to be awarded one semester credit hour, according to the guidelines set by the Ohio Board of Regents.
Otterbein falls short of this by 90 minutes per credit hour.
Barbara Schaffner, dean of Professional Studies and the Graduate School, said the reason for this is because of the switch from quarters to semesters two years ago. When the switch came, the amount of attributed hours was not finalized.
This past summer, former Provost Victoria McGillin put together a force of faculty members from different sections of campus to work on the formal definition of a credit hour. They have put together a recommendation that was presented to the faculty during the fall faculty meeting last month.
The task force came up with what the definition should be from looking at what the HLC and OBR’s definition is and what other schools similar to Otterbein’s size have. The definition is: for each credit hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction, students are expected to engage in two hours of out-of-class course-related work each week for approximately 15 weeks.
With the HLC visiting campus February 2015, Otterbein is not at risk to lose their accreditation. And Schaffner said in an email interview that Otterbein students are still getting their money’s worth. “At Otterbein, with our emphasis on experimental learning, planned learning opportunities by faculty assure a quality education.”
Some ideas that were discussed among the faculty task force were to: a.) Do nothing and provide a reason to the HLC and OBR on the school’s stance on the decision. b.) Adjust the time modules to add seven to ten minutes to each class to make up for the time lost through out-of-class work time. c.) Adjust the calendar to add a week and a half to make up for the lost hours.
These are not solid ideas but modules to get people thinking.
Schaffner said that there is still much to discuss, but the finalized plans will be voted on by the graduate committee and the curriculum committee later on this school year and will be implemented to the 2014-2015 school year.
Students have mixed feelings about this change in the schedule for next year.
“Underclassmen won’t really be affected,” said Hannah Benson, a junior history major. “I don’t really care, though. I do like the hour to hour-and-a-half classes, but we need to get caught up. I don’t know why this wasn’t taken care of when we switched from quarters to semesters.”
As a freshman chemistry major, Amjad Hussein said, “We haven’t even had enough time to adjust to this schedule.”
“I think it will provide the standard for both faculty and staff on what the expectations are to be successful in a 4 credit-hour course,” Schaffner said.
