Essays criticize use of credit hour system

The credit hour has long been a staple to the university system, but that stability has been challenged lately.\nIn a collection of essays entitled, "How the Student Credit Hour Shapes Higher Education," the validity and feasibility of the credit hour is being questioned as alternatives like "student assessments" are studied carefully.\n"We've looked at all the ways the credit hour measures things in the university comprehensively and we've decided that learning should be an outcome, not a measure of time," said Jane Wellman, a senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education. "We need to stop measuring learning in this way."\nWellman, who is co-editor of the essays with Thomas Ehrlich, said this issue has been gaining increasing attention in the last few years. \n"With students cross-transferring credits from high school, transfer students and distance learning, there has been more discussion on how the credit hour works," she said.\nThat discussion is centered on creating a different way of measuring a student's wealth of knowledge. Wellman said universities and education programs should be looking more at competency-based programs rather than depending on the credit hour.\n"Rather than defining a student's degree as a curriculum sequence of classes, it starts on the other end," Wellman said. "Rather than counting time, they award credits to competency levels."\nWhile many higher education systems and officials are in favor of a new "competency-based system," some students at IU have different opinions.\n"I don't think it's a very good idea at all," sophomore Heather Wilson said. "It would be harder for everybody because a lot of structure would be gone. If students are in a class where they are barely getting by, it seems like they wouldn't be competent enough to receive credit with this plan."\nOther students, like sophomore Elizabeth Gibson, agree with the idea.\n"Since I have been at Indiana University, I have never felt that credits were standards for how much students have learned. That is what we have letter grades for," she said. "I do, however, enjoy the structure of our current credit system. I think that credits, along with a proper GPA, are efficient standards of judgment to determine when a student is ready for graduation."\nWhile it looks like a new system like this would be a drastic change for both the students and the school, Wellman assures that it wouldn't have to be a huge change.\n"It would be like changing from credit hours to units," she said. "We're no longer going to pretend that three hours equals three units of credit. If you read the material, take the tests and do the work appropriately, then you are competent in that subject."\nWhile Wellman suggests that a change for the University can be big or small, she is certain on one thing.\n"It's a change in the way we're thinking, but I think it could be a very healthy change," she said.\n-- Contact staff writer Rachel Ward at raward@indiana.edu.