A Bowdoin course credit is equivalent to approximately twelve hours of work each week for fifteen weeks. (A Bowdoin credit is equivalent to four credit hours per Federal guidance as to what constitutes a credit hour.)
In-Class Instruction
In the context of in-class instruction, it is expected that three “contact hours” are spent together in a shared physical space, with a minimum of nine additional hours a week spent in lab, discussion group, film viewings, or preparatory work.
Online Instruction
In the context of online instruction, twelve hours of work or “time on task” each week should be your baseline. It may be the case, however, that depending on the type of course, additional time is necessary. “Time on task” is the estimated time students will be engaged with learning course material and completing assignments, bearing in mind the variability of students’ pace and schedule. See Rice University’s comprehensive workload estimator here: https://cte.rice.edu/workload. In online courses, contact hours as “seat time” in a shared physical space is, of course, impossible. In this context, “contact time” is synchronous or real-time interaction. However, given different time zones and screen fatigue, it may not be feasible nor advisable to provide three hours of synchronous meeting time for all students each week. According to best practices, online courses should provide a mixture of asynchronous and synchronous components; the ratio of that mixture will likely vary depending on the discipline and size of the class. For an example of one configuration of synchronous class time, see this helpful explainer video here.
Asynchronous Time
Asynchronous time can take many forms, such as listening and responding to a prerecorded lecture, completing an assessment, or posting to a discussion board. Interspersing short recordings with learning activities or low-stakes assessments has been shown to increase student learning.
Synchronous Time
Synchronous time is defined by real-time interactions in a “virtual space” (usually videoconference) between instructor and students or between students. We strongly recommend that instructors plan for at least one hour of synchronous meeting(s) per week for each student. Synchronous time can be divided across the week as best suits the nature of the course and, depending on the class size, instructors may want to consider smaller group meetings in addition to, or instead of, a whole-class synchronous session. Most best-practice references suggest that synchronous meetings be limited to forty-five to sixty minutes (although shorter and longer meetings may sometimes be appropriate).
Note: Students will be informed as to these expectations in their Blackboard Orientation course. You may also wish to post this information on your syllabus.
Should I adjust the workload over breaks? What about quizzes and exams over breaks?
Faculty should adjust the workload over break to accommodate possible travel time as well as the need for rest and recuperation. A break also offers an opportunity for students to catch up or get ahead: students will need to prepare for the classes that immediately follow break. To these ends, faculty should generally plan on assigning asynchronous time on task activities that are correlative (by the standard 3:1 hours) to the synchronous hours scheduled for that week. Faculty should also keep in mind that quizzes, exams and/or projects will likely be scheduled at roughly the same points throughout the semester (especially proximate to breaks) and should provide wide windows of time in which to complete them and, if timed, additional time for completion.