The University of Iowa

In planning assignments for a course, an instructor should be aware of the traditional guideline that each semester hour of class time normally, over the course of the semester, should entail around two hours each week of outside preparation for the average student.

For a 3 semester hour course, students should expect (on average) 6 additional hours of outside work per week or a total around 9 hours per course if classroom time is included. A student taking 5 courses (3 s.h. each) should expect to spend around 45 hours a week on academic work.

It is important to impress upon students the time and dedication required to become successful at The University of Iowa.

The Registrar uses time within the classroom to assign credit hours to a course, with 750 minutes of instructional time per semester equal to 1 semester hour of credit. (Courses worth 3 s.h. thus meet for 2250 minutes per semester.)

When planning outside workload for students, instructors should take into consideration both the credit hours of the course and the ratio of the classroom time to preparatory work performed by students.

New students are often unaware of University traditions and expectations, and it can be helpful to inform them of the credit hour to workload ratio.