Faculty Helps for Distance Learning Courses           

Distance Learning Mission Statement and Philosophy

The mission of Distance Learning is to develop and operate the College's Distance Learning programs by working with faculty and staff members to promote distance education, ensure delivery of quality courses, and provide necessary faculty and student support.

Distance education classes must be offered through the office of Distance Learning www.ncstatecollege.edu/online

Distance education is defined as a formal educational process in which the majority of the instruction occurs when student and instructor are not in the same place. Instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous. Distance education implies that various methods such as delivery via the Internet, prerecorded instructional programming, print-based materials, and videoconferencing may be used, either independently or in blended modalities, to serve students who may be off-campus.

General Policies, Administrative Rules and Procedures

North Central State College promotes the “one college concept.” Faculty members teaching Distance Learning (DL) courses follow the same College policies, procedures, and administrative rules as faculty members teaching on-campus courses. The following overview of general guidelines should help familiarize new instructors and serve as a “refresher” for experienced DL faculty members.

Standards for Distance Learning

Distance learning courses will be carefully planned to meet the needs of online learners through implementation of the seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education:

1.         Encourages contact between students and faculty

2.        Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students

3.        Encourages active learning

4.        Gives prompt feedback

5.        Emphasizes time on task

6.        Communicates high expectations

7.        Respects diverse talents and ways of learning

Consistent format for delivery across all online courses will reduce the time for orientation of students and frustration with learning how to take an online course

• Online education has the potential to be different than face-to-face instruction

• The creation of a learning community supports and encourages knowledge acquisition; therefore online learning should include interaction with both other students and instructor.

• Learning is an active cognitive undertaking in which the student and teacher reconstruct understanding and reasoning from the classroom subject matter; therefore online learning should be highly interactive with the content to be learned.

• Online lessons will be presented in easily manageable chunks to enable the student to be motivated by progress through a series of lessons.

o        require ½ to 1 hour (no more than 2) to complete

o        the student should be able to complete a “chunk” in one study session

o        traditional syllabi are not broken down into easily manageable chunks

• Course design will include a variety of elements to ensure student retention, e.g. feedback, monitoring student progress, deadlines for midterms, papers, quizzes, projects, and final exam.

• Course design will include methods to achieve the current course objectives, especially the development of critical thinking

• Information will include:

o        Course description - should be exactly the same as the traditional course and that found in the college catalog

o        Course objectives - should be exactly the same as the traditional course

o        Module objectives - similar to those of the traditional course unit objectives

•  the conceptual framework should be reflected in all courses, traditional and online

• the module objectives should be met

• online learning may require some modification of the presentation of the module objectives to meet the unique needs of online students

o        Learning activities - divided into five to six sections identified by a specific icon including

    Objective review (required)

         Reading assignments (required)

         Discussion board activities (optional)

         Digital drop box activities (optional)

         Practice exercises (optional)

         Objective review #2 (required)

         Module quiz (required)

o        To encourage time on task, some credit should be given for online activities (quizzes, exercises, case studies, etc.)

Online courses will include methods of assuring success of the students admitted to the online sequence while maintaining the standards for admission and promotion of the program.

·        Orientation to the online course will include help with how to be successful in an online environment.

·        Selection of students will be consistent with the selection criteria for the program and will include evidence that the expectation of success is high.

·        Methods of evaluation will ensure consistency with classroom courses

·        Module tests and final exams will be monitored in a proctored environment

·        Online learning students will experience connection to a community of learners.

Policies and Procedures for Compensation

The policies and procedures for assigning instructors, loading, and compensation are the same as those for on-campus instruction. Distance education faculty approval occurs through the Department Chair and is reported to the Academic Dean and the Director of Distance Learning.

Course Development and Approval Process

Below is the outline of the standardized process for updating an existing distance learning course:

Standardized Development for New Distance Learning Courses
Rev 11/06

Phase 1

1. Faculty member approaches Dean or Department chair or vice versa about creating a DL version of a course
2. Dean/Department chair & faculty member fill out New DL Course Worksheet #1
3. Initial contact with DL director- dean and/or program director and/or faculty member meet with DL Director with completed Worksheet #1 to discuss
4. DL Director consults with Dean and relevant Department chairs
5. DL director makes decision on whether to explore project further at this time:
   1. If no, project stops here
   2. If yes, DL Director provides faculty with New DL Course Worksheet # 2

Phase 2

1.       Faculty member completes Worksheet # 2

2.       Faculty sets up meeting with Instructional Design (I.D.) Team and brings completed worksheet.

3.       I.D. Team and Faculty complete Worksheet #3

Phase 3

1. I.D. Team meets with DL director and shares completed worksheets and recommendations
2. DL director makes decision on whether to proceed to prototyping
   1. If no, project stops here
   2. If yes, proceed to phase 4

Phase  4

1. I.D. team and faculty member develop prototype course per Worksheet #3 timeline
2. Faculty required to complete orientation in chosen medium.

Phase 5

1. I.D. team submits prototype course to appropriate medium (web, video, video conf) Peer Review Team
2. Relevant Peer Review Team & faculty member reviews prototype according to Worksheet #4
3. Peer review team schedules meeting with faculty member & either:
   1. Approves the course as is for production, proceed to Phase 6
   2. Or sends faculty member back to I.D. team with written recommendations for changes based upon Worksheet #4
   3. I.D. team and faculty member revamp course as needed and resubmit to peer review team. Repeat step 1 thru 3 above.

Phase 6

Faculty teaches class with the appropriate medium peer mentor for consultation.

Phase 7

Once the quarter ends, faculty member meets with appropriate Peer Review Team for a debriefing to discuss effectiveness of course and ideas for redevelopment/improvement.

Copyright Guidelines

Interpretation and application of the Copyright Law remains a highly controversial area in light of the Internet and the World Wide Web’s expanding presence, use, and changing laws. Faculty members must consider copyright rules when including duplication of print materials and periodical publications, video and broadcast programming, software materials, digital materials, music, and use of web-based materials in their courses.

North Central State Copyright Guidelines state:

• Employees of North Central State College shall adhere to the provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law (Title17, United States Code, Sec. 101. et. Seq.).

• Employees are prohibited from copying material not specifically allowed by

1.       copyright law

2.       fair use guidelines

3.       licenses or contractual agreements.

• North Central State  disapproves of unauthorized duplication in any form. Employees who willfully disregard these guidelines do so at their own risk and assume all liability.

• College staff members shall place appropriate copyright notices on or near all equipment capable of duplicating copyrighted materials.

• North Central State College shall keep copyright guidelines designed to inform employees of their rights and responsibilities under the copyright law.

Distance Learning Faculty Responsibilities

The primary responsibility of all faculty members is to provide quality instruction to their students. For DL instructors, providing access to quality instruction often presents unique challenges beyond those faced by traditional classroom instructors.

First, there usually isn’t a classroom. Communication with Distance Learning students is very critical and relies on meaningful educational activities assigned by responsive faculty members. Consequently, DL faculty members take on additional responsibilities that become essential to providing a creative, supportive learning environment.

Faculty-student communication is typically initiated by the course orientation. The orientation should provide students with immediate access to relevant course communications, resources, and a general overview of course components.

Both instructor and student have a strong, established support system available to them at North Central State It is up to the instructor to create an awareness of these varied resources in the orientation information and through the course materials.

Faculty teaching online courses are required to offer either an online orientation or several times for on-site orientations.

Faculty teaching online are required a 24 hour turn around for e-mail requests from students, excluding Weekends and Holidays. 

Students may initiate a grievance process against any D.L. Faculty that neglects communication with students.

Orientation Best Practices

The orientation process is critical to the student’s successful completion of the course. Faculty members should make every effort to ensure students receive the necessary “first day of class” information and support materials. Whether on-site or online, a well-structured orientation establishes the foundation and sets the tone for student instructor communication for the entire quarter. A good orientation session should be purposeful and interactive, and should establish the parameters of the class and state the expectations of the instructor.

• Welcome students to North Central and the Distance Learning course.

• Establish an instructional context by sharing your teaching background, particular interests in the discipline, or unique experiences relating to the field of study.

• Explain how student-instructor communication is expected to occur during the quarter.

• Express a desire to be responsive to students throughout the quarter. Explain 24 hour e-mail response policy. Please note above the exceptions to this policy.

• Provide established office hours on-site and/or online, contact information (phone, email etc.), and preferred method of contact.

• State the required elements of the course.

• Present course documents such as the syllabus and other orientation materials.

• Emphasize course grading criteria and academic and administrative rules affecting the course and students, including attendance policies and withdrawal from courses.

• Handout the Distance Learning Student Handbook (Copies will be mailed to you at the beginning of each quarter)

• Describe all instructional materials that are required for the course. Use specific terminology (e.g. ISBN #) when describing items that require student purchase.

• Highlight on campus computer Lab information and locations in the D.L. Student Handbook.

• Identify testing procedures as well as acceptable means of submitting assignments.

• Gather student contact details.

Distance Learning’s Early Intervention program

E-mail your faculty mentor or the Distance Learning department  if you need assistance in establishing a connection with students who don’t complete the mandatory orientation requirement. dl@ncstatecollege.edu   

Communicating with Your Students