George Mason University

In-Resident Training

In-residence training for undergraduate students consists of regularly scheduled standard class sessions (at least once every two weeks). The total number of hours of classroom instruction (based on 50 minutes of instruction per hour) must equal, or be greater than, the number of credit hours awarded for the course multiplied by the number of weeks in the term.

In-residence training for graduate students consists of at least two regularly scheduled standard class sessions, research (either on or off campus), or a combination of both.

Distance Learning

Distance learning consists of interaction between the student and the instructor (who is physically separated from the student) through the use of communications technology instead of regularly scheduled, conventional classroom or laboratory sessions. Communications technology includes mail, telephone, audio or videoconferencing, computer technology (on-line internet courses or email), or other electronic means such as one-way and two-way transmissions through open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, broadband lines, fiber optics, satellite, or wireless communications devices.

Any courses that consist of some interaction using communications technology and some weeks of standard class sessions but not meeting the requirements to be classified as in-residence training are considered independent study/distance learning.