Academic Programs

MAJOR PROGRAMS

Bloomfield College offers major programs in the following disciplinary areas:


BACHELOR OF ARTS (B.A.)	BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (B.S.)
Creative Arts & Technology	Accounting
Creative Writing	Medical Imaging Sciences
Criminology and Social Justice	Applied Mathematics
Education	Biology
English	Business Administration
History	Chemistry
Interdisciplinary Studies	Clinical Laboratory Sciences
Media Communication	Computer Science
Media Communication	Game Programming
Psychology	Nursing
Religion
Sociology

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (BBA)

Human Resource Management

MASTER OF ARTS (M.A.)

Early Childhood Education Special Education

MASTER OF FINE ARTS (M.F.A.)

Creative Arts and Technology

MASTER OF SCIENCE(M.S.)

Accounting

Some majors have defined courses which concentrate on one aspect of a discipline. Students should consult the detailed descriptions of major programs contained in the section entitled “Academic Programs and Courses” to see if a variation which falls within their interests has been defined.

Not all majors are offered totally in both day and evening sessions. Students may need to attend both day and evening classes to complete degree requirements. The following majors are available primarily in the day session only:

CAPSTONES

Capstone experiences are offered in students’ majors across the disciplines. Capstones require the demonstration of mastery of the competencies through formal and informal presentations or projects.

Creative Arts & Technology Education (some co-concentrations

and student teaching) Mathematics Network Engineering Nursing (Generic)

The following programs are available through the Accelerated Program:

Certificate in Network Engineering Certificate in Supply Chain

Management

Graduate Certificate in Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Education

The courses require students to demonstrate skills learned through their courses in General Education and their majors, most specifically their competencies in Critical Thinking, Communications Skills (oral and written) and Professional Skills.

CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS

Students may use two courses of transfer credit toward certificates and may earn two courses of credit through life/learning assessment toward certificates. Any Bloomfield College student who has completed the requirements for a certificate program in the course of his/her regular studies may apply to the Registrar for a certificate.

To receive credit toward a certificate in any course, a student must earn a minimum grade of “C.”

The following certificate programs are described in the section “Academic Programs and Majors:”

Digital Media

Diversity Training

Supply Chain Management

Network Engineering

CLASS STANDING

Class standing is determined by the number of course units (c.u.) successfully completed at Bloomfield College and elsewhere:


Freshman:	1–6.25 course units
Sophomore:	6.5–14 course units
Junior:	14.25–23 course units
Senior:	More than 23.25

CONCENTRATION

A concentration is an area of specialization within a major.

CO-CONCENTRATION (EDUCATION MAJOR)

The co-concentrations in the Education Major are liberal arts co-concentrations in these fields: Art, Biology, Chemistry (Physical Science), English, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Sociology, and Visual and Performing Arts. See the Education Major for details.

THE CONTRACT MAJOR

The Contract Major provides the opportunity to structure a cross-disciplinary set of major requirements to take the place of a traditional disciplinary major. Students may use any discipline or combination of disciplines which suits their academic needs to create the contract. Students earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.

Unless a contract specifically modifies existing college requirements, students must be in good academic standing and meet all graduation requirements stated elsewhere in this Catalog.

In order to structure a contract major, the student should speak to his/her academic advisor or to the Registrar who will suggest a faculty member to advise the student in establishing requirements. The Registrar will submit the requirements to the appropriate faculty committee for approval. The approved requirements will be consid-ered the student’s “major” requirements for graduation.

COURSE LOAD

A full-time course load is three course units (c.u.) or more per semester.

During the fall and spring semesters, students with a minimum GPA of 2.0 will be allowed to take a maximum of 5 course units (c.u.) per semester.

Students who are on probation will not be permitted to take more than 4.5 course units (c.u.s) per semester.

During the summer, the maximum number of course units (c.u.) for all students is four, including all courses taken in

the trimester, intensive, and seven-week sessions.

Students who seek to take more than the maximum number of courses, but not to exceed six(6) course units (c.u.) in fall or spring semester, must receive permission from t he Registrar. Permission is granted on the basis of academic and/or class standing.

For certification purposes, students in their final semester needing fewer than three course units to complete degree requirements will be considered full-time students even if they are taking fewer than three course units.

THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

COURSE VALUE

Each course carries a course value of

3, 2, 1.5, 1, .75, .5, or .25 c.u. For individuals whose transcripts will be evaluated by other institutions, the College recommends that triple courses worth 3 c.u. be considered the equivalent of 12 credits, double courses worth 2 c.u. be evaluated as the equivalent of 8 credits, courses carrying 1.5 c.u. as the equivalent of 6 credits, standard courses of 1 c.u. as the equivalent of 4 credits, half courses of .5 c.u. as the equivalent of 2 credits, and quarter courses of .25 c.u. as the equivalent of 1 credit.

DOUBLE MAJOR

A student may complete a double major by satisfying major requirements in both disciplines which must include at least three course units in the second major. Some courses required by one of the two disciplines may normally satisfy the General Education Elective requirements. Both majors must be completed prior to the awarding of the degree.

ELECTIVES

Electives are courses in the major field or in other disciplines which are not specifically required for completion of the major or general education.

MINOR

A minor is a set of related courses taken in a discipline or area other than the major discipline to provide an experience which goes substantially beyond the introductory level.

PREREQUISITE, COREQUISITE AND PRE/COREQUISITES

Prerequisite- you must take course A before course B.

Corequisite- you must take course A at the same time as course B.

Prerequisite/Corequisite- you must take course A either before, or at the same time as course B.

BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE POLICY ON COURSE UNITS

All courses offered for credit at Bloomfield College must comply with regulations and policies on credit hours established by the U.S. Federal Government, the State of New Jersey, and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. As described in these regulations, the College recognizes that a credit hour represents an amount of student work typically required to meet the learning outcomes of a course, learning experiences, or competencies for which credit is awarded. The College will allow maximum flexibility in determining course/credit-hour equivalencies afforded by federal, state, and accreditation regulations and policies.

Bloomfield College currently uses a Course Unit (CU) system where each CU is equivalent to 4 credits as described below.

Procedure

Bloomfield College bases its procedures for student course units (credit hours) on the following regulations, policies, and definitions:
- Federal regulations set forth that the amount of student work typically required to meet the stated learning outcomes of a course, learning experiences, or competencies approximates one hour of instruction or examination and two hours of student preparation every week throughout a fifteen-week semester for every credit hour that the student is
- The guidelines of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education provide conventional calculations for specific course types. Those calculations are reflected below.
- One clock hour consists of 60 minutes, while a credit hour consists of 50 minutes. The calculations below are based on a 60-minute clock
A face-to-face 1-CU (4-credit) lecture- or seminar-based undergraduate course typically meets the following criteria:
- A minimum of 15 weeks of instruction or examination per semester. If the course includes a final exam, the final exam will take place during week 15. If the course does not include a final exam, week 15 should be devoted to instruction or some other organized learning activity;
- A minimum of one day of instruction per week;
- A minimum of 200 minutes (4.0 credit hours) of classroom instruction or examination per week, and;
- A minimum of 400 minutes of out-of-class student preparation per
All other 1-CU (4-credit) undergraduate courses should meet the following criteria or their approximate equivalents:
- Online courses:
  - A minimum of 200 minutes of (online) instruction, examination, discussion, tutorial, or other appropriate learning activity, and;
  - A minimum of 400 minutes of out-of-class, off-line or student work preparation over a 15 week
- Hybrid courses:
  - Hybrid courses are courses that meet partially in the classroom and partially online.
  - Roughly 50% of the course is to be offered in the online format with the balance of the time spent in the
  - A minimum of 200 minutes will be spent delivering course material in the online environment and in the classroom which can include direct instruction, examination, discussion, tutorial or other appropriate learning
  - A minimum of 400 minutes is spent out of class, off-line or preparing for coursework over the 15 week
- Studio courses:
  - A minimum of 600 minutes of supervised and/or independent practice per week across 15
- Lecture courses linked to laboratories (which bear 0 credit for students):
  - A minimum of 200 minutes of lecture, and;
  - A minimum of 400 minutes of out-of-class student preparation per week across 15 weeks.
- Internships, co-ops, clinicals, field work, supervised teaching, and independent studies:
  - A minimum of 600 minutes of supervised and/or independent practice and/or work per week across 15 weeks. A portion of this time may be used for classroom instruction and/or out-of-class student
Undergraduate courses and credit-bearing lab courses bearing fewer than one course unit (4 credits) will adjust their meeting and preparation times accordingly. For instance, a 0.5- CU undergraduate course or lab should meet the following criteria:
- A minimum of 100 minutes a week for classroom instruction, learning activities or examination and;
- A minimum of 200 minutes of out-of-class student preparation per week across a 15- week
Graduate courses will conform to the undergraduate examples
Accelerated terms (e.g., summer and winter terms) should include the total number of minutes of instruction, examination, and preparation of a conventional 15-week term as noted in the examples above but in a more compressed format. For instance, a course meeting in the 7-week summer session should meet double the number of minutes per week to account for the shortened semester.
Upon a positive recommendation from the Committee on Academic Programs and/or the Academic Division, the Vice President for Academic Affairs will make exceptions to the examples above on a case-by-case basis. In all instances, exceptions will still uphold the general expectation that all credits awarded represent an approximate equivalent amount of student work represented in the calculations
Students who wish to receive Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) credit must demonstrate and provide evidence that they have met the learning outcomes of the relevant course(s). The student awarded PLA credit will receive the appropriate number of course units based on the academic work that a hypothetical student would typically perform to receive those credits in a conventional learning environment.

CREDIT HOUR DEFINITIONS

The Carnegie Unit and the Credit Hour (2015)

The standard Carnegie Unit is defined as 120 hours of contact time with an instructor, which translates into one hour of instruction on a particular subject per day, five days a week, for twenty-four weeks annually. Most public high schools award credit based on this 120-hour standard (one credit for a course that lasts all year; or half a credit for a semester course). And, while state and district coursework requirements for graduation vary, most states require a minimum number of units, typically expressed as "Carnegie Units." A typical high school student earns six to seven credits per year over a four-year program of high school.

In higher education, students receive "credit hours," a metric derived from the Carnegie Unit and based on the number of "contact hours" students spend in class per week in a given semester. A typical three-credit course, for example, meets for three hours per week over a fifteen-week semester. A student, then, might earn fifteen credit hours per semester (fifteen is standard full-time registration for a semester, thirty for an academic year) en route to a four-year bachelor's degree requiring a total of 120 credits.

Silva, E., White, T., & Toch, T. (2015). The Carnegie Unit: A Century-Old Standard in a Changing Educational Landscape.

Stanford, CA: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

NJAC 9A (2015)

"Semester credit hour" means 150 minutes of academic work each week for 15 weeks in one semester, which is typically accomplished by 50 minutes of face-to-face class activity each week complemented by at least 100 minutes each week of laboratory or outside assignments (or the equivalent thereof for semesters of different length) but may also be accomplished through an equivalent amount of academic work as established by an institution, which may include additional class time, laboratory work, internships, practical studio work, and other forms of academic work.

New Jersey Administrative Code Title 9A: Higher Education (December 2015)