Beam Reach: Comparable institutions' contact hours and accredited units

To establish how many credits should be received by students who complete the undergraduate program, we analyze comparable programs to discern how many hours of faculty/student contact are involved in each credit. We take this approach because the standard rule of 3 hours of student work per semester credit earned leads to an unreasonable number of credits when applied to most field science programs. Additionally, we believe that the Beam Reach curriculum will ultimately prove to be more rigorous than other boat-based undergraduate programs because it places greater emphasis on conducting science and devotes proportionally less time to sail training or cultural studies.

Comparable UG program Courses Estimated contact hours Credits hr/credit
(hr/wk) & total hours/program sem/qtr sem/qtr
Beam Reach
10 week undergraduate program		 On land (5wk @ 6:1 student:faculty)
Marine field research
Practicing sustainability science
At sea (5wk @ ~2:1):
Marine field research
Practicing sustainability science
Total		 175 (@7.0hr/d,5d/wk)

(18)
(15)

350 (@10hr/d,7d/wk)

(50)
(20)
525		  
6.7/10
5.3/8
 
6.7/10
5.3/8
12/18		  
 
 

 
 
43.8/29.2
Sea Education Association
12 week "Semester at Sea"		 On land (6wk, 8:1 student:faculty):
Oceanography
Maritime Studies
Nautical Science
At sea (6wk, ~3:1):
Practical Oceanography I
Practical Oceanography II
Total		 225 (@7.5hr/d,5d/wk)
(10?)
(10?)
(10?)
462 (@11hr/d,7d/wk)
(38.5)
(38.5)
687
  
(3/4.5)
(3/4.5)
(3/4.5)
 
(4/6)
(4/6)
17/25.5		 25.0/16.7
 
 
 
57.8/38.5
 
 
40.1/26.9
School for Field Studies
Their "semester program" is a 16 week semester compressed into a 14 week curriculum (average ~90 contact days)
Ecology
Resource management
Socio/econ/anthro course
Directed research
Total
(10?)
(10?)
(10?)
(10?)
720 (Assume 8 contact hr/d,7d/wk,90d)
(4/6)
(4/6)
(4/6)
(4/6)
16/24
 
 
 
 
45/30
Boston University Marine Program (BUMP)
1 semester divided into 4 blocks, each 3 weeks long 		Fall
Analysis in behavioral ecology
Molecular ecology and evolution
Ichthyology I
Ichthyology II (in Belize)

Total

 

(30) 90 [9-12a,1-4p,5d/wk,3wks]
(40) 160 [9-12a,1-6p,5d/wk,4wks]
(35?) 140? []
(35?) 140? [1wk WH +2Belize+1WH]

530

 

(4/6)
(4/6)
(4/6)
(4/6)

16/24

 

 
 
 
 

33.1/22.1
Williams Mystic semester
17 weeks, with 3 field seminars: 10d tall ship; 7d Pacific coast; 4d Nantucket		 Maritime history
Literature of the sea
Marine policy
Oceangraphy OR marine ecology

Total

(10)
(10)
(10)
(10)

680

4.5/6.75
4.5/6.75
4.5/6.75
4.5/6.75

18/27

 
 
 
 

37.7/25.2

University of Washington Oceanography senior research program
Sequence of 3 10-wk quarters
  • 442: Oceanog. Puget Sound
  • 443: Design Oceanog. Field Exp.
  • 444: Collect/Interpret Ocean Data

    Total

    		• (3) MWF 1h, 3d cruise
    (2.6) T/Th 1.3h
    (6) T/Th 3h, ~3d cruise

    116+ ~72 field contact = 188

    		(2/3)
    (1.3/2)
    (3.3/5)

    6.6/10

    		 
     
     

    28.5/18.8