DIL Eligibility Framework

AR 5.0201.1 “Distance Learning Best Practices” and the accompanying Guideline set forth ACC’s policy and expectations concerning the quality and administration of distance learning sections. This document implements a framework for ensuring that sections are in compliance with this administrative rule and accompanying guideline.

Eligibility to teach distance learning sections is determined by instructional leaders at the department and the division level. This framework ensures that

• disciplines determine appropriate content, pedagogy, and training for distance learning courses, and
• divisions uphold the interests of the college in maintaining quality through best practices.

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Terms

• QM Training
  • The official QM training process, typically provided by the college, which includes training on QM rubrics and principles
• QM Certified Peer Reviewer
  • A Certified Peer Reviewer is someone who has successfully completed QM’s Peer Reviewer Certification training.
• QM Course Review
  • The process of reviewing a course according to QM rubrics and scoring by a QM review team. This is a formal process, administered by QM, leading to course certification.
• QM-Certified Course
  • A course that has undergone QM Course Review with a score of >=85% and has received QM course certification.
• QM-Ready
  • A professor is deemed QM-ready if they have successfully completed QM Training
• DIL Eligibility
  • A professor is eligible to teach DIL courses if:
    • They are either QM-Ready or have completed a comparable departmental training process approved by the dean; and
  • one of the following conditions applies:
    • The course is one of their own QM-certified courses.
    • The course implements a Blackboard “model course” from a QM-certified course or a Blackboard template developed according to QM the rubrics. (The model course or template need not have been designed by the professor who teaches the course.)
    • The  course implements a Blackboard shell/template approved for DIL by the department chair and the dean.

Process

DIL eligibility will be determined through a two-tier review process (in each division)

• Departmental Review ensures that
  • Faculty teaching DIL courses meet the eligibility requirements set forth above;
  • Discipline-specific content and pedagogical concerns are addressed for every DIL course.
• Division Review ensures that institutional interests and expectations stipulated in AR 5.0201.1 are satisfied by documenting that
  • Faculty teaching DIL courses have been reviewed and approved by the department;
  • Best practices for distance learning are embedded in distance learning courses, with particular reference to the QM framework.
• Review committees will review DIL eligibility annually. DIL courses will be reviewed every three years, coinciding with a professor’s third year portfolio.
  • Note that the result of this review/recommendation process is to establish internal eligibility for DIL courses and the professors who teach them. QM review and QM certification are important means of establishing internal eligibility.

Current “checklists” for various modalities are online here:  https://tled.austincc.edu/faculty-support/distance-education/teaching-online-at-acc/course-design-checklists/

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Discussion

There are a variety of ways eligibility to teach distance learning courses may be established. Some possibilities are captured in the definition of DIL Eligibility above, but there are others. For instance, a department might decide to adopt a standard Blackboard shell/template that meets the requirements for the modality (e.g., QM review/ certification for ONL courses). In that case, professors become eligible to teach such courses by taking the QM training or a department approved alternative and adopting that Blackboard template — not by redesigning their own unique course for QM review/certification. Departments might take a similar approach with DLS courses and the DIL Checklist. 

In any case, eligibility is based on two factors: the professor’s preparedness to teach distance learning, and the course design of the section. Because these factors are central to the student’s experience, distance learning eligibility requires review of both the professor’s level of expertise and the course design, and eligibility is determined with respect to both.

The aim of this review framework is to ensure that every DIL course is taught by a professor who is trained in DIL teaching and teaching a course designed around best practices for distance learning instruction.

Implementation

We will implement this framework during the fall, 2022 semester. We will begin this process by establishing departmental and division DIL Eligibility Review workgroups, which will include representative faculty with expertise in DIL instruction. Department workgroups will first define the criteria by which courses and professors will be reviewed.

To facilitate the development of specific criteria, I will establish a group of Distance Instruction Consultants, who are professors with documented expertise in DIL Instruction (e.g., professors who designed a QM-certified course, professors who have completed QM’s Peer Review Certification course, etc.). These consultants will be available to departmental Distance Instruction Eligibility workgroups as they establish criteria and begin the review.

There are many issues that must be addressed as we establish the framework, and the workgroup at the division level will be responsible for establishing additional guidelines for the division. The open-endedness of this framework is the result of my commitment to the disciplinarity of each discipline, which requires flexibility to accommodate the specific content and pedagogical concerns of disciplines.

As we build out the framework, I will document the process for our division in this Knowledge Base.