What is a credit?

Saturn uses a formula to calculate how many average hours of student effort that a lesson or course requires. Of course, effort hours differ among different students, but our calculation is a good average. The easiest way to understand the convoluted world of educational credit is to explore some definitions.

Some informative defintions

  • One effort hour: 60 minutes or student effort.
  • One contact hour: one effort hour of contact with an instructor.
  • One college credit: 15 contact hours and 30 effort hours of homework or individual study, for a total of 45 effort hours per college credit.
  • Continuing education unit (CEU): Either 1 effort hour (more common) or 10 effort hours (less common).
  • Professional and continuing education (PCE): specific professional education. One PCE sometimes means the same as one CEU.
  • Accreditation agency: An organization that accredits educational institutions by auditing their curricula and teaching methods.

We can justify our calculated effort hours to any of the many accreditation agencies.

More information at our website

We’re developing an all new selection of lessons and courses that we’ll make available in February. You can sample a number of lessons and see a list of lessons with their effort hours. Take the time to drive around our website if you’re interested in publishing and education.