Course Components & Classifications

A course is designated a component and classification code to describe the mode of instruction (lecture, discussion, activity, laboratory, clinical, practicum), the number of students to be enrolled, and the Weighted Teaching Units (WTU) to be assigned to the instructor responsible for the course. See the SJSU Guidelines and Instructions for Reporting Faculty Assigned Time [pdf].

Non-Supervision Courses (C Classifications)

• Lectures (C1 to C4)

  • C1 Large Lecture
    Any discipline with more than 50 enrollments. Assigned one 1.0 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 1 hour per week per unit. Normal enrollment is unlimited. Enrollment is limited by size of facility or scheduling availability.

    C2 Lecture Discussion
    Any discipline where class participation is planned. Assigned one 1.0 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 1 hour per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 40 students per section. 

    C3 Lecture Composition, Counseling, or Case Study
    Normally used in Business, Education, English and Psychology courses with writing, counseling or case studies (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 1.0 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 1 hour per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 30 students per section.

    C4 Lecture Recitation
    Any discipline where discussion is primary activity. Assigned one 1.0 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 1 hour per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 25 students per section.

• Seminars (C5)

  • C5 Seminar
    Any discipline with seminar method. Assigned one 1.0 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 1 hour per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 15 graduate or upper division undergraduate or 25 lower division undergraduate students per section.

• Activities (C7 to C14)

  • C7 Fine Arts & Science Activity
    Normally Art, Anthropology and Science activities (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 1.3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 24 students per section.

    C8 Education & Social Science
    Method activities normally in Education and other subject areas. (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 1.3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 30 students per section. 

    C9 Music Activity
    Does not result in major public performance. Assigned one 1.3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 40 students per section. 

    C10 Music Activity
    Instrumental or Vocal instruction. Assigned one 1.3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 10 students per section. 

    C11 Physical Education, Recreation
    Gym or intramural sports for credit. Assigned one 1.3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 30 students per section. 

    C12 Speech, Drama Activities
    Debate, acting and publication - no public performances. Assigned one 1.3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 20 students per section. 

    C13 Technical Activities
    Use of business and other machines (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 1.3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 24 students per section. Enrollment is limited by size of facility or scheduling availability. 

• Laboratories (C15 to C16)

  • C15 Technical Laboratories
    Normally Art, Foreign Languages, Nutrition, Technology, Kinesiology, Speech Pathology, Mathematics, Cartography, Library and Information Science and Political Science (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 1.5 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 3 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 24 students per section. Enrollment is limited by size of facility or scheduling availability.

    C16 Science Laboratories
    Normally Natural Science, Life Science, Psychology, Natural Resources, Engineering, Meteorology and Photography (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 2 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 3 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 24 students per section. Enrollment is limited by size of facility or scheduling availability. 

• Clinical Seminar and Practicums (C6 and C17)

  • C6 Seminar Clinical Demonstration
    Normally used in Nursing and Psychology clinical process or education involving individual testing (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 1.0 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 1 hour per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 10 graduate or upper division undergraduate or 20 lower division undergraduate students per section.

    C17 Clinical Practice off-campus
    Normally Nursing and Social Work (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 2 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 3 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 8 students per section.

• Performance Production (C20 to C21)

  • C20 Performance Production
    Normally Art, Drama, Journalism, Music, Photography, Radio-TV, Debate – results in public performance, showing or distribution (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 3 or more hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 20 students per section. 

    C21 Performance Production
    Performance groups – normally orchestra, bands, and choruses (but not limited to these areas). Assigned one 3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 3 or more hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 40 students per section.

• Intercollegiate Sports and Specialized Use Cases (C14, C18-19)

  • C14 Remedial Instruction
    Students admitted as exceptions only. Assigned one 1.3 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 15 students per section. 

    C18 Major Intercollegiate Sports
    Football, Basketball, Baseball, etc. Assigned one 2 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 3 or more hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 20 students per section. 

    C19 Minor Intercollegiate Sports
    Other sports not listed as Athletics. Assigned one 2 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 3 or more hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 20 students per section. 
    
    C77 Peer-taught and ROTC
    Generate no workload – not state supported. Assigned one 0 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 0 or more hours per week per unit. No normal enrollment established.

    C78 Non-traditional
    Does not generate WTUs. State supported – credit by exam or non-traditional courses. Assigned one 0 WTU (K-Factor) per unit. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 0 or more hours per week per unit. No normal enrollment established.

Supervision Courses (S Classifications)

This category involves direct one-on-one faculty supervision of students for student teaching, field work experience, studio instruction, thesis and projects by arrangement. Workload credit is earned per student enrollment independent of the course’s unit value. The average amount of faculty time per student includes faculty preparation, evaluation, travel, and liaison with agencies when necessary. Courses are scheduled as TBA with no assigned facility.

• Supervision (S23)

  • S23 Supervision
    Graduate level supervision. Normally used for Social Work. Assigned one 1 WTU (K-Factor) per student. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 3 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 12 students per section.

• Practice Teaching, Thesis or Projects (S24 and S25)

  • S24 Practice Teaching
    Designed for undergraduate courses in all disciplines. Assigned one 0.66 WTU (K-Factor) per student. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 2 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 18 students per section. 

    S25 Practice Teaching, Thesis, Projects
    Designed for undergraduate practice teaching or any graduate disciplines.  Assigned one 0.48 WTU (K-Factor) per student. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 1.5 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 25 students per section. 

• Undergraduate Independent Study and Supervised Activities (S36 and S48)

  • S36 Independent Study, Field Work, Studio Instruction, Supervised Activities
    Undergraduate – all disciplines.  Assigned one 0.33 WTU (K-Factor) per student. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 1 hour per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 36 students per section.

    S48 Independent Study, Studio, Supervised Activities
    Undergraduate – all disciplines.  Assigned one 0.25 WTU (K-Factor) per student. Faculty-student contact in a regular 15-week semester is 0.75 hours per week per unit. Normal enrollment is 48 students per section.

Multiple Component Courses

A course may be assigned more than one component (e.g. lecture and laboratory). For more information on how to schedule courses, visit the Multiple Component Academic Scheduling webpage. To calculate WTUs for a course with multiple components, see the example: 

C4 (2 units)      2.0 WTUs
C7 (1 unit)       1.3 WTUs
Total WTUs      3.3

Please note you will need to identify one component to which the course grade will be assigned in PeopleSoft. Normally, the lecture or seminar is assigned the overall grade for the course.

Conversion of Common WTUs to Appointment Times

Reference: Course Classification C/S Definitions [pdf]; SJSU Guidelines and Instructions for Reporting Faculty Assigned Time [pdf].