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1 Page 1 of 5 FOCUSED REPORT August 2012 for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges FEDERAL REQUIREMENT 4.9: The institution has policies and procedures for determining the credit hours awarded for courses and programs that (1) conform to commonly accepted practice in higher education and (2) to Commission policy. (See Commission policy " Credit Hours") (Definition of credit hours) OFF-SITE COMMITTEE: NON-COMPLIANCE Southeastern Technical College publishes policies and procedures for determining the credit hours awarded for courses and programs. These policies and procedures conform to commonly accepted practices in higher education and Commission policy. Specifically, Southeastern Technical College follows the Technical College System of Georgia s Standard Number that defines one semester as a minimum of seventy-five days. One contact hour equals a minimum of fifty clock minutes of instruction. For contact hours, one contact hour for a semester is one semester hour (1:1). Two contact hours of demonstration laboratory per week is one semester hour (2:1). Three contact hours of performance laboratory or occupation-based instruction per week equals one semester hour (3:1). However, no mention was made on how credit for online coursework is determined where the above contact and clock hours may not apply. SOUTHEASTERN TECHNICAL COLLEGE RESPONSE: The Technical College System (TCSG) Policy IV. H. Structure of Associate Degree, Diploma, and Technical Certificate of Credit Programs has been revised to include the following statement: One distance learning or hybrid course credit is defined as an equivalent amount of instruction and student work leading to equivalent learning outcomes, as required for a traditional class. In addition, Southeastern Technical College developed the following procedure to provide guidelines for the assignment of credit hours to hybrid and online courses and show consistency with traditional or lectured-based courses. Online and Hybrid Course Credit Hour Assignment Procedure Southeastern Technical College conforms to the commonly accepted practice in higher education for determining credit hour awards for courses and programs. The credit hour policy for distance education is consistent with the standards of courses offered through face-to-face instruction, although some or all of the content, and faculty to student interaction, occurs at a distance. 1. PURPOSE The purpose of this procedure is to provide guidelines for the assignment of credit hours to hybrid and online courses and to show the process is consistent with traditional or lectured-based courses.

2 Page 2 of 5 2. DEFINITIONS Online: refers to students who complete 100% of the required contact hours completely online except for proctored events or required class meetings. Hybrid: requires students to complete a minimum of 60% of the required contact hours traditionally by attending classes on campus while completing the remaining portion through distance education means at the student s convenience with respect to the instructor s requirements. Georgia Virtual Technical Connection (GVTC): a statewide consortium of technical colleges. GVTC brings together the resources of 26 technical colleges, providing support to instructors and working together to keep costs of high quality online instruction down by sharing the burden equally. Master Review Team: a team comprised of instructors, deans, vice presidents, and directors who review online courses to determine if the course meets all requirements as outlined on the Master Review Form. Master Shell: a template that instructors import into their Angel courses which includes a variety of tabs, folders, and content that are required to be present in all hybrid and online courses. This ensures that courses are structured similarly and that students have access to all necessary resources. Angel: the platform that GVTC and STC utilize for the development, adoption, and implementation of online courses. IRP Committee: a committee comprised of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA), Deans of Academic Affairs (DOAA), and the Online Academic Activities Coordinator/GVTC Coordinator. The committee must approve the IRP form before the course is eligible to be offered online or hybrid. Institutional Review Process Form (IRP): a form that faculty must complete and submit for new online and hybrid courses and for online and hybrid courses they had not previously offered, even if the courses were previously offered by another faculty member. The instructor must have a reason for offering the course online (i.e. student demand, instructor interest) and note any special hardware/software needs/requirements. Instructional Process Evaluation Instrument Form (IPEI): a form that the Deans of Academic Affairs use to evaluate various online courses. Instructor Self-Review Online Course Form: a detailed feedback form completed by each instructor to provide reflection on the personal experience with an online course. The purpose of the self-review is to help instructors pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in method and delivery. The ratings (good or bad) will not be used to penalize the instructor in any manner. STC requires that online instructors select one online course per semester to review. A different course per semester is evaluated. The completed form is given to the Dean immediately following each semester. The Dean signs the form and a copy of the form is stored on the S Drive. 3. PROCEDURES A. General i. Instructors are required to utilize the approved online or hybrid syllabus template, which includes the course competencies. ii. Institutional syllabi for hybrid and online courses are posted on the S Drive for deans to assess and review. iii. As applicable, the Dean will compare the hybrid or online course syllabus to the same course taught face-to-face to ensure course competencies are the same and activities/assignments are comparable for the courses. iv. The Dean will request additional information from the instructor of the course as needed. v. The Dean will confirm the course meets the credit hours required by the TCSG curriculum. vi. Instructors are required to utilize the approved online or hybrid master shell template when creating courses. B. Philosophy i. TCSG and/or STC courses are developed to be implemented through various

3 Page 3 of 5 C. Criteria modalities. The standard method is traditional face-to-face. The choice of modality is determined by the College. ii. Hybrid and online courses differ from lecture-based or traditional face-to-face courses in the way instructional time is interpreted. Hybrid and online courses must incorporate sufficient academic engagement at a distance in order to meet the same competencies and student learning outcomes expected in traditional courses. iii. For purposes of this procedure, categories of course approval will be assigned as follows: a. Online b. Hybrid iv. Best Practices i. Online a. STC requires that all online courses include a minimum of 10 discussion forum assignments where students respond to questions or scenarios posted by their instructor. Students are also required to respond to other students responses to ensure both student-to-instructor and student-to-student interaction. b. These discussion assignments employ the use of a grading rubric and are incorporated into the grading system of the student s overall grade. a. Before an instructor can offer an online course, he/she must submit an Institutional Review Process Form (IRP) to the Online Academic Activities Coordinator who forwards the form to a review committee comprised of key administrators familiar with online courses. Online courses must be approved by the Institutional Review Process (IRP) committee in advance of the semester in which they are to be offered. b. The course will be assigned a reviewer from The Master Review Team, who will review the course to ensure that all requirements are met as outlined on the Master Review Form. c. When confirming credit hours to an approved course that has been taught face-to-face and will now be taught online or as hybrid, the Dean will review syllabi to ensure course content and expected course competencies remain the same. d. The Dean will review instructor-to-student and student-to-student interaction to ensure learning is not taking place in isolation and that students are academically engaged. e. Examples of activities which promote student academic engagement may include but are not limited to the following: submitting an assignment, taking an examination, performing proctored events, completing an interactive tutorial, utilizing computer-assisted instruction, reading, conducting research, participating in group activities, contributing to an academic online discussion, and initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course. f. During the semester, the Deans will evaluate various online courses by completing the Instructional Process Evaluation Instrument (IPEI).

4 Page 4 of 5 ii. Hybrid 4. RESPONSIBILITY a. STC requires that hybrid courses meet a minimum of 60% in the classroom. b. Before an instructor can offer a hybrid course, he/she must submit an Institutional Review Process Form to the Online Academic Activities Coordinator who forwards the form to a review committee comprised of key administrators familiar with online courses. Online courses must be approved by the Institutional Review Process (IRP) committee in advance of the semester in which they are to be offered. c. The Dean will review the syllabi and lesson plan to ensure that a minimum of 60% of the course is taught traditionally. The instructor must indicate clearly which activities are performed traditionally and which activities are performed online. The activities taking place online should ensure that students are sufficiently academically engaged. d. Examples of activities which promote student academic engagement may include but are not limited to the following: submitting an assignment, taking an examination, performing proctored events, completing an interactive tutorial, utilizing computer-assisted instruction, reading, conducting research, participating in group activities, contributing to an academic online discussion, and initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course. A. The course instructor is responsible for an accurate and articulate institutional course syllabus. B. The Dean is responsible for reviewing and examining the hybrid or online course syllabus to confirm that the assignments are comparable to the face-to-face course and course competencies are the same. C. The course instructor is responsible for performing the Instructor Self-Review of Online Courses form for one online class at the end of the semester it was taught. D. Beginning in FY 2013, instructors will be responsible for documenting and assessing student learning outcomes for courses that are offered face-to-face and online. The documentation is listed in SPIRIT, the web based strategic/annual planning system. 5. INSTITUTIONALLY DEVELOPED COURSE A process is followed on the rare occasion that STC creates a course, that is not at the time, a TCSG approved course. In this instance, Southeastern Technical College adheres to The Technical College System of Georgia s Policy IV.H., Structure of Associate Degree, Diploma, and Technical Certificate of Credit Programs. This policy delineates the minimum/maximum number of semester credit hours allowed for each program. When a need for a new course is determined, a committee is formed by the appropriate dean. The committee researches internal data and literature. A list of competencies is identified and appropriate instructional minutes are assigned to each competency. The minutes are added to determine the total contact hours for the course. Credit hours are determined as defined by the U.S. Department of Education and followed by the TCSG Policy IV.H., Structure of Associate Degree, Diploma, and Technical Certificate of Credit Programs. The new course must receive approval from Faculty Council, Executive Council, and the Technical College System of Georgia. Back to Menu Page

5 Page 5 of 5 If you encounter problems with the Compliance Web Pages, please contact Gail Ware, Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness.