Assessment / Assessment
- What courses or programs do you currently have in the area of DE?
- What could be considered “signature programs” for your college?
- What resources do you currently have toward supporting a distance education program?
- Funding for:
- Development of course content
- Faculty stipend/reassigned time?
- Instructional Design Staff Member
- FacultyDE Coordinator
- Infrastructure funding and staff support
- Staff Development funding
- Administration: Dean of DE? VP?
- Participatory or faculty governance committee to develop policy decisions
- Strengths of the college regarding new program acceptance and development
Mission Statement / Mission Statement
- Create a Mission/Vision
- Tie your thinking to the strategic plan goals, if you can
Philosophy / Philosophy
- Related Questions:
oWhat do we define as an online class?
Do students have to come to your college campus for any reason, if they are taking courses online?
Determine the definition of a partially online course.
Should we mandate ftf orientations or other specified visits?
Should we set up a proctoring guideline or policy? What would that be?
What is our stake and plan for Telecourses?
1 Description of course types: / Description of course types:- Once you know what philosophy you’ve adopted, you can then define the terminology you will use to define the different types of technology related education you are planning to implement. It’s really important to have a clear, agreed upon definition. See the SAMPLE below.
Fully Online / Courses that are completely online; they may have proctored testing set up according to needs of particular discipline areas, but students do not have to come to the college campus. / Requires Separate Approval
Hybrid (Blended) / Any course that substitutes face-to-face hours with online work and has some regularly scheduled class meetings. / Requires Separate Approval
Web Mediated / Face-to-face courses that require the student to access the Internet as part of the course work. / Notification to students via schedule and/or syllabus
Technology Enhanced / Courses which may use the web in face-to-face presentations, students may be asked to do online/library research, presentations may be digital. Access to technology by students is expected but not required. / None
Organizational Structure / Organizational Structure
>Decision: Create a DE support system that identifies the people who will do the work and take responsibility for the success of the program. Related Questions:
- Who will be responsible for the various parts of the program development and implementation?
- Participatory Governance
- Senate approval of training elements
- Committee of experts to develop policies and procedures
- Curriculum Committee role and responsibilities
- Faculty training personnel
- Course development assistance: Faculty resource coordinator? Instructional designer? Stipends for faculty to develop their own?
- Who will administer the program?
- Dean of ?
- Faculty Distance Education Coordinator?
- Technology Support Lead?
Tech Support – CCTI function
Policies / Policies
2.Institutional Support Standards / Institutional Support Standards
Decision> What does the institution (administration/district) agree to support? What is everyone willing to do and what is a reasonable expectation regarding institutional support? This area becomes the compact between all parties involved. You may want this before the organizational structure. See the sample below for ideas, this list may or may not be complete, it’s up to you.
Sample:
- The stability of the delivery infrastructure for the Distance Education Program will be ensured through appropriate funding allocation and assignment of sufficient personnel to manage that infrastructure, which includes web space and course management system access.
- Student support services at a distance will be established including library, counseling, bookstore, orientation and tutoring and enrollment services.
- Training for faculty, staff and administrators will be an integral part of the Distance Education Program.
- Procedures will be developed that ensure continual on-call monitoring of all technical systems related to online program delivery.
- Reasonable hardware and software needs for course developers and course implementation will be provided.
- Communication systems for informing and orienting students to distance learning will be developed and maintained.
- Schedule and catalog copy will be easily accessible online for students seeking distance learning opportunities.
- Support for course development will be available, particularly in the area of accessibility compliance.
- Negotiations among faculty organizations and the district will adopt a shared foundation of quality distance educational offerings, in all conversations and policy implementation.
3 DE course approval: Curriculum Addendum Form and REC Policy
Decision> What are your quality assurances going to be and how strongly will you support quality over FTE Generation?
- Does the curriculum committee have a criteria for approving courses for distance education?
- Do you have an addenda process and forms that reflect your definitions of DE and that note the changes in methods of instruction and methods of evaluation and adherence to the Title 5 regulations mandate for Regular Effective Contact.
- How do you define “Regular Effective Contact” Having a written policy about how you expect teachers to stay in communication with students will help when “teachers go missing” in courses (the #1 Student Complaint)
The Curriculum Committee will use the following criteria when determining whether a course will be approved for online delivery:
- Students will benefit from having access to the course via a distance offering.
- The Course Outline of Record has been approved or revised within the three years of DE addendum request for approval.
- A DE addendum has been submitted to the Curriculum Committee adequately designating the following:
- Sufficient consideration has been given to adaptations of methods of instruction and methods of evaluation to
2. Necessary technical requirements are available.
3. Accessibility is ensured as required by Section 508 guidelines.
- All Title 5 mandates have been met and followed.
- Class size as set by the curriculum committee be considered as the maximum size not to exceed 35 students. It is suggested that the first time a course is offered by a particular instructor, that the instructor be given the option to set the maximum at 20 students.
4 Teaching And Learning Standards
Make some decisions about what you think, as minimum quality standards, all students should be expected to do, what all courses should have, and what all instructors should do. See the sample below for ideas.
I.General Standards
- Distance education students will be given advance information about course requirements, expectations regarding course work standards, equipment needs and techniques for succeeding in a distance learning environment, as well as technical training and support throughout the course.
- Students will be required to be active learners in presenting, organizing, applying and constructing information, ideas and knowledge.
- All course objectives/outcomes and requirements will be clearly presented.
- Courses will maximize the opportunities for regular and ongoing interaction between teacher and students, among students, and between students and the learning environment (“regular effective contact”). Instructors and students will be held accountable for the communication activities within courses.
- The course will provide opportunities for active learning that allows students to engage and participate in activities and tasks that enhance comprehension, understanding, and knowledge.
- All student assignments and their due dates, as well as tests and test dates, will be explained and posted at the beginning of the course, or in a way to give reasonable preparation time for the student.
- Any special testing (i.e., proctoring) situation and arrangements will be clearly described to the student prior to the start of the course.
- A variety of content appropriate presentation methods will be used that address student multiple learning styles.
- Evaluation methods will be relevant to the activities, reading assignments and other learning materials presented in the course.
- Feedback to student assignments and questions will be constructive and provided in a timely manner. Instructor will commit him/herself to a clearly expressed turnaround time.
- The course documents will describe the functions of the course website to the student (e.g., how to post assignments, communicate with the instructor, etc.).
- The instructor will make frequent announcements regarding the progress and processing of the course.
- A policy for due date leniency due to institution-inflicted technical difficulties will be communicated in the syllabus or overview of the course.
- All external links and internal functionality of DE courses that are available when the class starts will be fully operational.
- The course content will be kept current term by term and will open by, and remain open at least until, the beginning and ending dates of the courses.
- Technology will be appropriate to the course andragogy.
- DE courses will provide accessibility with screen readers. Images and links contained in the course website must show alternate text upon cursor contact.
- Courses will provide ample written instructions for every task the student has to perform: taking tests or quizzes, posting contributions to the on-line discussion, downloading files/software, finding supplementary reading, returning to the website, etc.
- DE students will have access to sufficient library resources that may include a “virtual library” accessible through the World Wide Web.
- Academic counseling and advising will be available to distance learning students at the same level as it is for students in on-campus environments.
- To protect the integrity of the teaching/learning process in courses that do not feature a proctored test environment, the student must be required to formally acknowledge and pledge adherence to Student Conduct Board Policy and Acceptable Use Policy.
- Procedures will be in place to help ensure security of student work.
- Students will receive clear instructions to save and retain copies of all work submitted electronically.
7 Program Review Standards
Decision> Against what criteria or standard will you review your DE Program? See the sample below for ideas.
Program Review Standards
- An approved evaluation instrument will be provided with the course to ensure student feedback on the organization and content of the course and the instructor performance.
- Review of student learning outcomes will include assessment of student products and exams, as well as student evaluations of the course.
- Data on enrollment, costs, and successful/innovative uses of technology will be used when reviewing program effectiveness.
- Intended learning outcomes will be reviewed regularly to ensure clarity, utility, and appropriateness.
- Course will meet or exceed academic standards.
- Course will be reviewed on a regular basis. Instructional materials will be reviewed periodically to ensure they continue to meet program standards. Course evaluation will include: technical design, curriculum alignment, rigor, depth,breadth, student performance, and student participation and interaction.
- Peer Evaluation of the Instructor will be accomplished via approved methods as agreed to by the Academic Senate, Faculty Association and District.
- The instructor will be evaluated separate from the technology delivery platform and/or infrastructure
- The course adheres to the integrated Course Outline of Record.
- The course is offered with rigor, depth and breadth consistent with its FTF counterpart.
- It is the responsibility of the discipline/department to maintain the quality of delivery of all classes offered regardless of modality.
- Student learning meets the standards set within the discipline, especially in regard to sequenced and/or transfer courses.
Faculty Issues
Load
oRelated Questions: How will faculty load issues be addressed? Some colleges do not allow faculty to teach 100% of their load online, others have no restrictions to how many sections a faculty member can teach online. Still others make online courses overload only. If some policy can be established early on, it saves headaches down the road. Consider quality instruction in this discussion, not work environment issues. You can mention advisory information here and refer to union collaboration, but you should address the issue.
/ Faculty IssuesLoad
IP Rights: Refer to Union Agreements
Recruitment of Part Time Faculty
- Related Questions: How will faculty be recruited into teaching into the distance education program? Will particular discipline faculty be required to develop online courses or will they be allowed to come to it on their own? What goals will the college adopt regarding the hiring of new faculty and the recruitment of part time faculty for online instruction?
Recruitment of Part Time Faculty
Office Hours
- Related Questions: What is the college policy for office hours? Will the be synchronous, asynchronous, or both? Are there any restrictions or definitions? It is a good idea to mention them here so that everyone understands and students know what to expect from class to class. See the sample below.
- Sample : Office hours will be set according to district policies for regular courses except that online course hours will be held online via e-conferencing, email, or phone and may be done with the instructor off-campus. Office hours will be designated in the syllabus for the online course and posted in same. All office hours, whether face to face or online, will be open to all students for that instructor. Face to face students may take advantage of online office hours and online students may take advantage of face to face office hours.
.
Evaluation and Visitation Protocols
- How will administrators and observers be allowed to enter the class for observation and visitation. It varies from college to college, but if you were observing or visiting a face to face course, the instructor knows that you are in the room. Depending on the CMS, you may be able to visit an online course without detection. What is the agreed upon method? Will you notify the instructor first and how would that be done? How will you set up the protocols for observations for evaluation purposes?
6 Faculty Readiness
- Related Questions:Related Questions: Will you have a mandatory criteria for who teaches online? Title 5 only says that the discipline qualifications are all that it requires. Do you want teachers to have some kind of training first? Who will decide if a teacher is ready to teach online? See the sample below for readiness. You will need to determine who makes the decisions.
To ensure that distance education courses maintain a high standard of quality, and in recognition that experienced faculty tend to have lower attrition rates than faculty who have little experience and training, faculty who teach distance education courses will be expected to:
- Have completed the college’s basic training program as defined by the Educational Technology Committee; or
- Have a certificate of completion in online teaching from a reliable institution such as UCLA online teaching program or the Cerro Coso Online Educators certificate or through @ONE course offerings; or
- Be able to demonstrate having had a successful experience in teaching distance education at Columbia or another similar institution.
DE Program Implementation
Program Development Action Plan
5. Funding Priorities Criteria
- Related Questions: Prioritizing Online Offerings
- Which courses do we focus on
- Do we plan on having full degree programs online?
Sample: Funding priorities for course development funds When development funds are available, course development will be funded based on priorities as established below:
- Initial hybrid offerings will be developed into full time offerings
- Courses that have large waitlists in their face-to-face counterparts
- Courses that are needed for comprehensive program development for which no local faculty can be found
- Courses that complete patterns where some DE courses already exist.
- Courses that complete General Education requirements
Evaluation of Program Action Plan
Technical Action Plan
Institutional Support Action Plan
Plan for Scalability
Plan for Marketing / DE Program Implementation
Program Development Action Plan
Funding Priorities Criteria