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[dinosaurversusrobot]

Hello Everyone,

I recently accepted a position as Department Head, Art Department, at a small, private, all-women's Christian college in the Southeast.  It is a terrific, small college, but there are several substantial changes that I am in the process of enacting.  The change that I am having the most difficulty validating to Academic Council is to increase the duration of studio classes; at my current institution a 3 credit hour studio class only meets for 3 hours weekly.  At every university that I attended as a student, and every university that I taught as a professor, 3 credit hour studio courses met for 5 to 6 contact hours each week.  I can justify this in any number of ways (from length of time for demos, to the need to oversee self-directed work), but I need to find the precedent at other institutions to validate the time increase.  Does anyone out there know how 3 credit hour classes meeting for 6 hours weekly is justified at their institutions?

FYI, I know that CIVA is working on a report that involves this topic, but they have not yet released the report.

[digger]

Our studios meet 2 x 2.5 hours. We also calculate FTEs to allow a 3 class load rather than 4 (our norm for for lecture classes). Have you looked at NASAD standards?

[dinosaurversusrobot]

I have looked at the NASAD standards (and if I remember correctly 5-6 hours contact hours are necessary for 3 credit hour courses for accreditation), but this small institution has not yet pursued NASAD accreditation (right now we only offer a BA).  As we are a growing department, I will pursue accreditation in the future, but I am trying to take on one headache at a time, and getting us as close as possible to the requirements before beginning that dialogue with the dean.

[aandsdean]

I have looked at the NASAD standards (and if I remember correctly 5-6 hours contact hours are necessary for 3 credit hour courses for accreditation), but this small institution has not yet pursued NASAD accreditation (right now we only offer a BA).  As we are a growing department, I will pursue accreditation in the future, but I am trying to take on one headache at a time, and getting us as close as possible to the requirements before beginning that dialogue with the dean.

I'd just use NASAD standards as the rationale--this is the industry standard, and even if you're not going to pursue accreditation, you want to adhere to an agreed-upon "best practice."

Everyplace I've been, studio courses meet extra time; I've always assumed this was for the reasons you articulate (as much as anything, student artists need supervision in the studio, which is a different thing from reading the book...).

I looked through our paperwork, and I can't find anything about this issue, and our art courses meet 5 hours/week for 3 hours' credit.  I gather we've just always done it this way.  Surely, though, the NASAD standards have some rationale?

[msparticularity]

The rationale probably relates to whether the time is considered "instructional" or "laboratory." This division is common in many fields, including the sciences, the arts, and some teaching methods classes. It is not uncommon in the arts and education for one credit hour to be considered instructional (which is generally pretty true) and then the other two to be lab hours, which must be at least x2 to equate to instructional hours for accreditation purposes. In the sciences it generally takes 3 contact lab hours for a single credit hour--thus 3 hours of lecture plus 3 hours of lab for a 4-credit course.

[postmodern]

I have looked at the NASAD standards (and if I remember correctly 5-6 hours contact hours are necessary for 3 credit hour courses for accreditation), but this small institution has not yet pursued NASAD accreditation (right now we only offer a BA).  As we are a growing department, I will pursue accreditation in the future, but I am trying to take on one headache at a time, and getting us as close as possible to the requirements before beginning that dialogue with the dean.

My institution has not pursued NASAD accreditation either, but plan on the possibility in the future. So, I suspect it is a similar situation to yours. (We currently have 4 contact hours a week for a 3 credit hour class, which isn't ideal but a start.) I second the opinion that this extension of contact hours be compared with laboratory hours when presenting to the dean. You could also research similarly sized art programs in the region, which probably have greater than 3 contact hours per week, and use this to back up your proposal.