Steps for the Approval of Distance Education Courses

There are several stages in developing an online class.

  • Review with Cluster Technical Review Committee (CTRC) for distance education delivery compatibility between assignments and assessments with online delivery;
  • If changes are necessary to the Course Outline of Record (COR), submit Changes to Existing Course to Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) adhering to CRC guidelines;
  • Respond to Distance Education Advisory Committee (DEAC) feedback;
  • If changes are not necessary, obtainCRC approval for Distance Education method of delivery for the course, with appropriate coding per Title 5 in the COR;
  • Create the online class itself;
  • Gain approval for accessibility compliance for the class, after it is created from the Distance Education department;
  • If the class was developed as part of the Online College Project, obtain final approval to offer the class from the department chair, cluster dean, and designated personnel from the Distance Education department, currently Instructional Systems Designer.

This document covers the steps the submitter should follow for the first stage, gaining approval from the Curriculum Review Committee for the online delivery.

  1. Review the course with Cluster Technical Review Committee (CTRC). The committee should review the Course Outline of Record (COR) focusing on any necessary updates required to make the delivery of the information, assignments, and assessments compatible for online learning.
  2. For example, in strictly online delivery courses field trips and role playing are not possible. The format for any group project or presentation must be explicitly described in a strictly online course since technology does exist to accommodate these assignments.
  3. If the course is to be delivered in multiple formats (face-to-face, online, hybrid), the assignments and assessments should reflect all delivery options.
  1. Update the COR and accompanying forms if needed. Use the “Changes to Existing Course” cover form from the Curriculum Website if the course needs to be revised. The course will not need revision if:
  1. It is current within its review cycle (full review required every 6 years for most courses, 5 years for UC transfer courses)

AND

  1. No changes need to be made in the COR to reflect online delivery.
  1. The code denoting online delivery is entered by the Curriculum Office, not the submitter, after the course is approved for Distance Education, so a course outline does not need to be revised if that is the only change required.
  1. After any recommendations by CTRC have been taken care of, the supervising administrator will forward the course to the Curriculum Office.
  1. Through the curriculum module in SIS (Student Information System), complete the Distance Education Proposal Form for that course. Save and print out a version to accompany the course revision and/or to submit for signatures. Do not use previous versions of the form since the process has been recently revised. If you do not have access to the SIS curriculum module, complete a draft version of the Distance Education (DE) Proposal form and give it to your department chair to input into the curriculum module. The MS Word version of the DE course proposal will be available on the curriculum website and online learning website for download to use for draft purposes.
  1. Obtain required signatures and submit to the Curriculum Office. The signature of the submitter, department chair, and supervising administrator are required on the hard copy of the completed DE Proposal form and any forms associated with the Course Outline revision, if the course has been revised. The supervising administrator’s office will forward hard copies to Curriculum Office.
  1. Respond to Cluster Technical Review Committee (CTRC) comments, if necessary. The course will go through CTRC if revisions have been made to the course outline.
  2. After any recommendations by CTRC are completed, the supervising administrator will forward the course to the Curriculum Office.
  3. The Curriculum Office will forward the hard copy of the DE proposal to the designated Distance Education Department personnel currently the Instructional Systems Designer for a signature regarding the course impact on SRJC resources.

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  1. Respond to Distance Education Advisory Committee (DEAC) comments, as necessary. When all aspects of the Course Outline have beenaddressed, the Curriculum Office will send the electronic copy of the DE Proposal to the administrative co-chair of the DEAC. DEAC is a group of faculty members with distance education experience who review DE proposals to make sure that the online version of the course will be able to meet the SLOs and objectives of the course.
  1. The proposal is reviewed via email by the DEAC members, who may make suggestions for changes to the submitter before voting.
  2. DEAC members vote whether or not to recommend the course to the Curriculum Review Committee that the course be approved for distance education delivery.
  3. DEAC recommendation means that the course as described in the proposal appears to be appropriate for online delivery. However, a vote of approval does not guarantee that the online class itself, once it is created, will necessarily be approved for accessibility, technical components, system aspects, or be scheduled.
  1. Await notification from the Curriculum Office concerning CRC approval for Distance Education delivery. After DEAC approval, the course (if being revised) and the recommendation from DEAC are placed on the next available CRC agenda.
  2. DEAC recommendations are placed on the Consent Agenda, which means that they are voted upon without discussion, and the submitter does not need to be present unless he/she needs to attend the meeting for the course revision approval.
  3. Upon approval, the Curriculum Office will inform the submitter and then enter the correct Distance Education coding (usually 72) in the Methods of Instruction area of the Course Outline of Record.
  1. At this point, the instructor who is creating the class should review the procedures, best practices, and accessibility compliance regarding online classes through the Online Learning website ( and carry on from there.

Resources

Resource / Contact / Website/Email
Online Learning website /
Curriculum Website /
Instructional Systems Designer / Bill Stone /
PC Trainer for Accessibility Compliance / Corrine Haverinen /
Curriculum Technician / Kathy Matthies /
DEAC Faculty Co-Chair / Wanda Burzycki /
Distance Education Advisory Committee (DEAC) Administrative Co-Chair / Cherry Li-Bugg, Dean, Learning Resources and Educational Technology
Judy Kay, AA /

DEAC Members / Linda Hemenway
Scott Rosen
Denise Beeson
Jennifer Royal /



11/3/18