The credit hour is based on a history of “time” in class. The Carnegie Unit credit hour definition was developed between 1890 and 1900. The first influence of the defined unit was from the National Education Association; they appointed a committee to address issues on college requirements. The second influence to the creation of the Carnegie Unit, as it came to be called, was a foundation created by Andrew Carnegie to pay retirement pensions for college and university teachers. In an effort to define who would receive these benefits, the Carnegie Foundation and the General Education Board surveyed institutions across the U.S. It was determined that those eligible to receive the pension benefits must be from an institution that accepted the unit plan for admission, which was defined as carrying any one of four courses over five days a week. Thus, a faculty member who had a load of 12 credit units in a semester were considered fulltime employees and could receive full time pension benefits for the number of years worked at this level. The foundation stipulated that it was not counting learning attained, but time spent on the subject to determine faculty load. Because most universities did not have a pension program for their instructors, they quickly adopted the standard unit measure for their courses. Courses that met one hour a week for 15 weeks or 15 hours of time were worth one credit unit. The credit unit was defined in order to calculate faculty load and was not meant to demonstrate student learning. Education was shaped by a system designed for industrial factories. Time on task equals a certain amount of money. Unfortunately, because money was the issue, institutions blindly allowed the system to develop and flourish. As the age of accountability came into full view, institutions are now required to prove that students "learn" as a result of "attending class". The time based measure of the credit hour does not measure student learning, and was never meant to measure it. In 1909, the Carnegie unit was accepted across U.S. institutions.
In this day of multiple delivery methods, the use of time to document achievement of a degree has long passed. Many innovative programs, including Prior Learning Assessment and the Council of Adult and Experiential Learning, have changed the way undergraduate and graduate degrees are earned. Accelerated and intensive delivery formats are just one more step in the progress toward learning outcomes.
Accelerated programs have generally been defined as less time with instructor-student contact (as compared to the traditional Carnegie unit) and quality and effectiveness is measured by the students’ achievement of the course learning objectives. If education is about learning, then the measurement must be the student's achievement not the time spent in a classroom.
Resources
Shedd, J. (2003). The history of the student credit hour (pp. 5-12) New Directions for Higher Education, 122. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Walberg, H. (1988). Synthesis of research on time and learning. Educational Leadership, 45. 76-85.
Accelerated programs have generally been defined as less time with instructor-student contact (as compared to the traditional Carnegie unit) and quality and effectiveness is measured by the students’ achievement of the course learning objectives. If education is about learning, then the measurement must be the student's achievement not the time spent in a classroom.
Resources
Shedd, J. (2003). The history of the student credit hour (pp. 5-12) New Directions for Higher Education, 122. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Walberg, H. (1988). Synthesis of research on time and learning. Educational Leadership, 45. 76-85.
Second, please read the American Council on Education letter to the Department of Education. This is the best articulation that I have read on the issue.
All education programs must continue to address this issue through learning outcomes. Mark your calendars to attend the CAP Annual Conference. We have accreditation personnel who are deeply involved in these issues presenting. Be looking for that brochure!
