A comparison of the defining characteristics of college-level course work between and among English and mathematics faculty at a community college and a university

The lack of a working definition for college-level course work affects the transfer of credit which means that a community college transfer student may have to repeat one or more courses at the four-year institution or may have to take more than the required number of courses to obtain a baccalaureate degree. Community colleges need to ensure that every course designated as a transfer course will be transferable to a receiving institution. Four-year colleges and universities should expect that the courses they accept in transfer meet the same standards required within their own curricula. The defining characteristics of "college level" should be identified to facilitate equitable transfer of course credit and to insure that transfer students are prepared academically to continue their baccalaureate studies.

This study explored the defining characteristics of lower-level college course work in a Maryland community college and university, specifically in the disciplines of mathematics and English. Simultaneously, the characteristics of community college-level course work were compared with those of the university. The researcher analyzed the implications suggested by an in-depth content analysis of the data.

The data-gathering methodology utilized the qualitative research method of semi-structured elite-interviewing which allowed for in-depth exploration of the opinions of the knowledgeable individuals involved in the issue being studied. A set of broad, open-ended interview questions were designed to gather information from community college and university professors of mathematics and English. The analysis of the interviews included organizing the data into domains; generating categories, themes, and patterns; and comparing and contrasting the community college analysis with the university analysis and the disciplines against each other. There were more similarities than differences in the comments among and between the groups, and the analysis resulted in the identification of eight categories of characteristics defining college-level course work.