ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the number of hours a student is involved in course learning that is reasonable and that further complies with contact-hour requirements. This initiative stemmed from a comprehensive institution-wide course review process aimed at systematically identifying the strengths and areas for enhancement or improvement for each course offered at the American Public University System (APUS). While conducting the course reviews, the chapter identifies the need for a contact-hour calculator that considers various online learning components and platforms. As a result, a model was developed to ensure adherence to the contact-hour regulations as well as course quality and rigor. APUS uses a variation on the traditional Carnegie unit for measuring the amount of time online students are engaged in specific or assigned course learning. This can be expressed as an “in-class” function or an “outside-class” function. As is usual in Carnegie calculations of contact hours, one clock hour is equivalent to 50 minutes of Carnegie contact units.
