Discipline Committees/Workforce Program Chairs are responsible for establishing overall quality standards of all distance education courses.  They are responsible for ensuring both the appropriateness of distance education modality to course content and integrity of course content for all courses offered via distance education.  Courses must meet the same basic criteria for other courses offered throughout HCCS and the course must be suitable for the media selected.

However, it is the responsibility of the Distance Education Department to provide input to Discipline Committees/ Workforce Program Chairs for this suitability.  DE does this in the form of a checklist.  Therefore, in addition to requirements for on-campus course offerings, the following criteria are recommended by the DE Department for all distance education-delivered courses:

• The plan for the distance education course is coherent and complete.
• Preferably, an on-campus (in-classroom) version of the course is offered at HCCS (although a new distance education course can also be offered even if it is not a current on-campus offering).
• If used in on-campus courses, an appropriate departmental final should also be administered for distance education courses.
• The course provides for appropriate faculty/student and student/student interaction.
• The academic standards for this distance education course are the same as those for the equivalent course offered elsewhere at HCCS.  The course is comparable to traditionally-delivered courses in rigor, depth, and breadth.
• Student outcomes and learning objectives for the distance education course are the same or comparable to student learning in the equivalent course offered elsewhere at HCCS.
• The technologies used in the distance education course provide for faculty accessibility, support, student interaction, and instruction.  On weekdays, faculty should be able to respond to student inquiries within 24 hours.
• Course and faculty evaluation will be performed as prescribed by HCCS to ensure educational effectiveness.  Revisions will be documented and reviewed to ensure course standards are met.
• Support services such as instructions on the use of the technology, accessing library services, student services, and information on instructor availability should be made available in the course.

Additionally:

• Discipline Committee/Workforce Programs are responsible for reviewing all distance education courses created by groups or faculty other than HCCS.  (e.g., publisher-produced courses).
• Workforce courses must meet all Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM) requirements.
• The Discipline Committee/Workforce Program must identify how to assess the effectiveness of distance education courses compared to their on-campus versions.
• This, and other information regarding Discipline Committees and Workforce Program Chairs is available in the Distance Education Operating Plan.