Academic Policies & Procedures

Traditional Lecture and Seminar Courses
Belmont Abbey College uses the Carnegie Unit as the minimum standard for assigning credit hours. One credit hour therefore requires at least 50 minutes of classroom instruction (recitation, lecture, discussion, testing or evaluation, seminar or colloquium) and two hours of student preparation outside the classroom each week for a fifteen-week semester.

Nontraditional Lecture and Seminar Courses
Lecture and seminar courses offered in nontraditional formats require the same competencies and learning outcomes as those offered in a traditional fifteen-week semester and an equivalent of forty-five hours of work for each unit of credit. Students enrolled in nontraditional courses should expect substantial amounts of work outside the classroom to meet the same competencies and learning outcomes as those required in a traditional course.

Online / Hybrid courses
Courses offered in other modes (such as fully online or mixed hybrids of online and seated work) that do not maintain the same number of contact hours award equivalent credit so long as one of the following criteria is
met:

  • The course covers the same material in the same depth as a seated version of the same course; or
  • The course has been evaluated by the department and by the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) for content and rigor, and both the department and the AAC have approved the award of credit. Approval must be received and documented prior to the start of the term in which the course is offered.

Laboratory Courses
One laboratory credit is defined as a minimum of two hours of work a week in a laboratory under the supervision of a lab supervisor/instructor and an expectation of at least one hour of additional student work each week for a fifteen-week semester.

Student Teaching
Students obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education are required to complete nine credit hours of student teaching. This equates to 600 hours of supervised work in a classroom for a fifteen-week semester. Students are also required to complete a three-credit seminar in student teaching that meets two hours a week with a college instructor and one hour a week with a classroom supervisor.

Internship/Practicum
One internship/practicum credit is defined as a minimum of 40 hours of supervised work in a field placement for a fifteen-week semester. Some programs also require additional seminar attendance and/or a paper assignment as part of the internship or practicum experience.

Thesis/Independent Study
A minimum of three hours of student work per week for a fifteen-week semester is required for each credit hour of thesis or independent study credit awarded.

Credit for Prior Learning
Qualified students may obtain course credit for experiential learning as acquired through employment and military experience. See the “Credit for Prior Learning” policy posted elsewhere in the Academic Catalog.

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Policy

Traditional/Individual/Aesthetic Products. This term refers to work reflecting research and/or creativity, normally considered as evidence of professional advancement and scholarship. It includes scholarly publications, journal articles, speeches, reports (contracted or otherwise), research bulletins, monographs, books, plays, software, and works of art. Such products are protected by traditional copyright and solely belong to the author(s). Unless specifically stipulated by the categories below, all intellectual property produced by faculty, staff, or students belongs to its creator.

  • Sponsored Research. This term refers to products in which faculty or staff has received additional research funding or support. If Belmont Abbey College sponsors the research it may assert ownership with the creator, but only with a written agreement authorizing the sponsored research; Belmont Abbey College cannot at a later date claim ownership. If a body other than Belmont Abbey College is sponsoring research, then Belmont Abbey College should ensure that any external sponsorship written agreements are explicit about ownership issues for the creator and for Belmont Abbey College. In the absence of any written agreements regarding ownership of results of the sponsored research, the intellectual property will belong to the creator.
  • Online or Digitized Course Material. Ownership of online or digitalized course materials remains with creator. Faculty, staff and students shall not license, sell, or grant third parties a right to use online materials they have created, own, and that is technologically mediated by Belmont Abbey College when the material contains the imprint of Belmont Abbey College without the prior approval of the Vice President for Academic Affairs or his/her designee.
  • Work for Hire. This term refers to intellectual property created by Belmont Abbey College faculty, staff or students assigned as part of their normal paid employment or specially commissioned to produce defined works of intellectual property in which the creator knows property will be used by Belmont Abbey College to improve its operations or to further its stated mission and objectives. In cases in which the parties have agreed that ownership will not be on a work for hire basis, said ownership must be governed by a separate written agreement that is (a) signed by employer and employee at the commencement of employment or when the work is commissioned and (b) explicit about ownership of intellectual property.

Definitions

  • Course Content refers to the expression of intellectual content of the course as taught at or through Belmont Abbey College.
  • Creator is used to describe the author(s) of a copyrightable work or the inventor(s) of a patentable invention. The creator may be any faculty, staff, or student at Belmont Abbey College.
  • Imprint is the pattern, design, or mark to indicate origin.
  • Intellectual property includes works eligible for copyright protection and inventions eligible for patent protection under U.S. and international law.
  • Ownership is legal title coupled with exclusive legal right to possession.
  • Sponsored Research refers to intellectual property created as a result of work conducted under an agreement between an external sponsor and the College, or between the College and employee (faculty, staff, and/or student), that specifies the ownership of such intellectual property shall be owned as specified in said agreement. within in the scope of his/her employment, or a work specially ordered or commissioned by Belmont Abbey College.
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