Distance Learning Standards
Wanda Barker
NCCCS Director of Distance Learning
November 14, 2010
Session Description
What are the minimum DL standards that you and
your college's faculty/staff can agree to meet? In
this session, we will discuss the base standards
that we all agree to and are required to meet
because of regulatory requirements. What about
the low-hanging fruit for best practices? Join us
to provide feedback for best practices that you
use and what the recommendations should be
for the NCCCS distance learning programs.
Overview
Standards – a BIG topic
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Who, When, Where, Why, How
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Regulatory Requirements
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SACS
 ADA
VLC Standards
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Other Best Practices (Quality Matters Rubric)
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What are the standards on your campus?
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Standards
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So many things to consider!
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Online Programs and Courses
Course Evaluations (Students, peers, committees)
Learning Objects and Other Resources
Technology Procurement
Business Requirements
Websites
Student Services
Online Faculty Certification
Network Architecture
Who? Stakeholders
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Distance Learning Administrators
CE DL Administrators
Instructional Officers and Academic Deans
Student Services Officers
Faculty representatives
Librarians
Student Information Systems Administrators
IT Directors
other Senior Leadership
When?
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NOW
Look at growth charts
Imagine the size and scope of your program
next year, in five years, in ten years!
Look at System-wide numbers
Some practices can be implemented without
additional expenses
Budgets are tight now, but when you do get
money how will you use it?
The Facts
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Growth is up and budgets are down
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Students want more online classes
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It's all about them! Their schedule, their
responsibilities, their choices, their needs
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Saturation of technology in ALL classes
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Legal requirements to meet ADA standards
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Accreditation standards of SACS/COC
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Sharing of resources across our system
Where do we look for standards?
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SACS/COC
ADA Section 508 and Senate Bill 866
Southern Regional Education Board
E-Learning Commission
Commission on Learning Technologies
(COLT)
Virtual Learning Community
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VLC Philosophy
Steps for Course Development
Course Development Guide
Why?
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The Facts
E-Learning Commission is working on statewide standards
Help us provide guidance to the state so that
community college needs are met
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COLT also working on DL standards
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State-wide tracking system for students
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Requires a unique identifier of a student that can be linked
from system to system and mapped to individual students
throughout their education and career
Longitudinal Data System
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Have you ever wondered how well your college’s transfer
students do when they go to a university to complete a
bachelor’s degree?
Have you ever wondered what the retention rates for DL
students are at your college?
Have you ever wondered how much of the knowledge is
retained after graduation?
Have you ever wondered how well your students perform
on the job after graduation?
Have you ever wondered how many of your students get a
job in their degree field?
Have you ever wondered how students from your college
perform compared to other colleges?
Performance Measures
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How do you want your college to perform on these
measures?
Do you think that enforcing some standards for elearning across the system will help?
Have you seen some examples of very good and
very bad courses on your campus?
Have you seen examples of very good online
faculty and some who are not as proficient as
others?
What do you think can be done to improve
distance learning on your campus?
How?
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System-wide DL Course Standards
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Sharing of Best Practices
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Online Instructor Certification
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Sharing and Collaboration on Training
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By Recommendation of COLT
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By Recommendation of E-learning Commission
Regulatory
Requirements
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SACS/COC
ADA Section 508
Senate Bill 866
SACS/COC
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http://sacscoc.org/principles.asp
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Core Requirements
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Comprehensive Standards
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Federal Requirements
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Substantive Change Reporting Requirements
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July 2010 Updates
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Where to find info. about your college?
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http://sacscoc.org/search.asp
ADA Section 508
NC Vital (http://www.ncvital.info/)
 Dept. of Justice Standards for Accessible
Design
http://www.ada.gov/stdspdf.htm
 http://www.section508.gov/
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Senate Bill 866
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General Assembly 2001
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/20
01/Bills/Senate/pdf/S866v3.pdf
VLC Course Philosophy
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See Philosophical Overview and All Content
folders in VLC template
Objectives based, collaborative
assignments, ILAs, easily adapted, modular,
equivalent to F2F, unified team design,
include free digital resources, ADA
compliant, original work, and meet the CCL
description
VLC Courses meet SACS, ADA, and Quality
Matters standards
VLC Helpful Documents
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Student Learning Objectives Chart
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Step by Step Course Development Guide
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Standards for VLC Courses Folder
Philosophical Overview
The Syllabus
All Content
Resources
Announcements
Discussion Form
Modules
Accessibility
Start Here
Quality Matters Rubric
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Rubric for 2008-10 developed by Maryland
Online
http://qminstitute.org/home/Public%20Libra
ry/About%20QM/RubricStandards20082010.pdf
Must answer “Yes” to all of the 3-point value
questions
Must have an overall score of 72 points or
higher
Hope Opportunity Jobs
Online Course
Best Practices
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Relevance
Quality content
• Collaborative
• Interactive
• Immediate
Feedback
• Problem based
learning
• Critical thinking skills
• Learner-centered
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Goals and Objectives
(CCL)
Structure
Instructional Design
Interactivity
Universal Design and
ADA compliance
Hope Opportunity Jobs
What are the standards at your college
and what do you think should be
included in system-wide and/or
state-wide standards?
Hope Opportunity Jobs
Questions?
Thank you!
Hope Opportunity Jobs
Contact Information
Wanda Barker
Director of Distance Learning
NC Community College System
barkerw@nccommunitycolleges.edu
11/06/10
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