Higher Learning Commission’s Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education (Distance education Learning)
“In their discussions of how their distance education programming fulfills their accreditor’s standards, institutions are asked to include evidence of
the extent to which they meet these hallmarks.” (http://www.ncahlc.org/Document-Libraries/alpha-document-list.html)
Nine Hallmarks of Quality for Distance Education
(Color Code: green = on track, orange = room for improvement, red = serious improvements needed)
Hallmark
1. Online learning is
appropriate to the
institution's mission
and purposes.
Evidence (Meets Hallmark
Opportunity for Improvement
Distance education directly
supports the College’s mission to
offer “accessible, high quality,
baccalaureate liberal arts education
to a diverse student population,
preparing citizens for the common
good in an increasingly complex
world.”
The College’s distance education
offerings support the College’s
strategic goal to “implement
pedagogically appropriate
technologies for the curriculum
and the population that the courses
are currently serving:
a. Develop and support
alternative curriculum and
instructional delivery
models including both
distance education courses
and hybrid courses.
b. Increase flexibility in
course models (e.g.,
evening, summer, cohort,
etc.).”
 Develop a mission statement for
distance education that explains the
role of distance education learning
within the range of the institution’s
programs and services.
 Develop statements of vision and
values that inform how the distance
education learning environment(s) is
created and supported.
 Articulate how recruitment and
admissions programs supporting the
distance education learning courses and
programs appropriately target the
student populations to be served.
Primary Ownership
 College
 Senior Administration
2. The institution's
plans for developing,
sustaining, and, if
appropriate,
expanding online
learning offerings are
integrated into its
regular planning and
evaluation processes.
Faculty Senate provides strategic
direction and planning over all
academic programs and courses.
3. Online learning is
incorporated into the
institution's systems
of governance and
academic oversight.
Faculty Senate provides strategic
direction and planning over all
academic programs and courses.
4. Curricula for the
institution's online
learning offerings are
coherent, cohesive,
and comparable in
academic rigor to
programs offered in
traditional
instructional
formats.
Sustainable funding for distance
education is linked to the annual
planning-achievement-budgeting
cycle including the College’s
annual fiscal allocation process.
Departments/programs, that seek
funding for distance education
initiatives are required to submit
an itemized budget request, as well
as a justification for those requests
tied to strategic plan goals and
objectives. All budget requests are
reviewed by the President’s
Budget Committee.
Faculty are responsible for the
design and implementation of
distance education courses.
 Document how the academic programs
delivering distance education are
responsible for the development and
ownership of their offerings
 Document the College’s and distance
education learning programs record of
conducting needs analysis and of
support of programs




 Develop an efficient process for
Faculty Senate to review and approve
distance courses and programs
 Develop a process to ensure the rigor
the courses and quality of instruction
 Develop a process and document the
evaluation of distance education
courses and programs
 Faculty Senate
Demonstrate the following:
 The curricular goals and course
objectives show that the institution or
program has knowledge of the best
uses of distance education learning in
different disciplines and settings.
 Curricula delivered through distance
education are benchmarked against onground courses and programs.
 The curriculum is coherent in its
Senior Administration
Faculty Senate
Budget
IT
 Faculty Senate
 eLearning Director






5. The institution
evaluates the
effectiveness of its
online learning
offerings, including
the extent to which
the online learning
goals are achieved,
and uses the results
Student Course evaluations are
provided to all students regardless
of delivery method


content and sequencing of courses and
is effectively defined in easily
available documents including
course syllabi and program
descriptions.
Scheduling of distance education
learning courses and programs provides
students with a dependable pathway to
ensure timely completion of degrees.
The institution or program has
established and enforces a policy on
distance education learning course
enrollments to ensure faculty
capacity to work appropriately with
students.
Expectations for any required face-toface, on-ground work (e.g., internships,
specialized laboratory work) are stated
clearly.
Course design and delivery supports
student-student and faculty-student
interaction.
Curriculum design and the course
management system enable active
faculty contribution to the learning
environment.
Course and program structures provide
schedule and support known to be
effective in helping online learning
students persist and succeed.
Develop a policy and process to
assess student learning in distance
education courses that follows the
processes used for face-to-face courses.
Develop a College assessment strategy
to evaluate the effectiveness of
academic and support services
provided to distance education
students.
 Faculty Senate
 Assessment Director
of its evaluations to
enhance the
attainment of the
goals.
6. Faculty responsible
for delivering the
online learning
curricula and
evaluating the
students' success in
achieve the online
learning goals are
appropriately
qualified and
effectively supported.
 Demonstrate the appropriate use of
technology to support its assessment
strategies.
 Document success in implementing
changes informed by its programs of
assessment and evaluation.
 Archive examples of student work and
student interactions among themselves
and with faculty.
Demonstrate the following:
 Distance education learning faculty are
carefully selected, appropriately
trained, frequently evaluated, and are
marked by an acceptable level of
turnover.
 The College's training program for
distance education learning faculty is
periodic, incorporates tested good
practices in distance education learning
pedagogy, and ensures competency
with the range of software products
used by the institution.
 Faculty are proficient and effectively
supported in using the course
management system.
 The office or persons responsible for
distance education learning training
programs are clearly identified and
have the competencies to accomplish
the tasks, including knowledge of the
specialized resources and technical
support available to support course
development and delivery.
 Faculty members engaged in distance
education learning share in the mission
and goals of the institution and its
programs and are provided the
opportunities to contribute to the
 Faculty Senate
 Department Chairs
 eLearning Director
7. The institution
provides effective
student and
academic services to
support students
enrolling in online
learning offerings.
Students are provided with
reasonable and cost-effective ways
to participate in the institution’s
system of student authentication.
Student complaint processes are
clearly defined and can be used
electronically.
broader activities of the institution.
 Students express satisfaction with the
quality of the instruction provided by
distance education learning faculty
members.
 Work with Enrollment Management,
Student Services and other Academic
Support units to develop/define
services for distance education
learners.
 Library
 Tutoring
 Writing Center
 ADA
 Test proctoring
 Book store
 Advising & registration
 Etc.
 eLearning Director
 Enrollment
Management
 Student Services
 Library
 Implement a 24/7 tech support service
Document the following:
 The institution prepares a multi-year
budget for distance education learning
that includes resources for assessment
of program demand, marketing,
appropriate levels of faculty and staff,
faculty and staff development, library
and information resources, and
technology infrastructure.
8. The institution
provides sufficient
resources to support
and, if appropriate,
expand its online
learning offerings.
9. The institution
assures the integrity
Distance Education Student
Verification through the College’s
 The institution provides evidence of a
multi-year technology plan that
addresses its goals for online learning
and includes provision for a robust and
scalable technical infrastructure.
 Provide training and assistance to
faculty to design courses that employ
 Senior Administration
 Budget
 IT
 Faculty Senate
 eLearning
of its online learning
offerings.
Central Authentication Service:
In any distance education course
reasonable steps are taken by the
College to assure that each student
who registers in the course is the
same student who participates in,
completes and receives credit for
the course.
(This is a federal requirement. All
institutions that offer distance
education programming
must demonstrate compliance with this
requirement.)
assignments and evaluations unique to
the course and that support academic
integrity.
 Include issues of academic integrity
during the orientation for distance
education students.
 Add explicit references to distance
education to academic integrity
policy