Mt. San Antonio College
DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE AMENDMENT FORM – approved Fall 2010

Course Title		__________________________________________________________________________

Subject/Course Number ______________________ Course Approval/Review Date_____________________

Faculty Developer	______________________________________  		Date_______________________

E-mail			______________________________________		Ext_________________________

Department		__________________________________________________________________________	

This Form is to be used to obtain approval for development of all Mt. SAC Distance Learning (DL) courses.  Faculty are responsible for completing this Form and obtaining approval at all steps.  

Steps for approval of a Distance Learning Course:

1.	Obtain an electronic version (*.rtf) of the Distance Learning Course Amendment Form at http://elearn.mtsac.edu/olsc/dstlearn/ . 

2.	Submit draft of completed Form to the Distance Learning Faculty Coordinator for review and feedback.  Make revisions as necessary.  Coordinator to submit revised draft to DLC for subsequent review and revision until approval is granted.  Hard copy of approved Form will be sent to course developer for further approval steps.  Modifications to the DLC-approved Form are not allowed without notifying DLC of those modifications.

3.	Obtain the approved, signed hard copy of this DL Course Amendment Form from DLC to obtain approval from course developer’s Department.  Obtain Department Chair’s signature on hard copy of Form.

4.	Obtain the approved, signed hard copy of this DL Course Amendment Form from Department to obtain approval from course developer’s Division Dean.  Obtain Dean’s signature on hard copy of Form.

5.	Obtain the approved, signed hard copy of this DL Course Amendment Form from Division and submit to Educational Design Committee (EDC) for their review and approval.  

6.	EDC will notify course developer when Form has been approved, or whether revisions are needed.  EDC to coordinate with DLC on revisions.  When Form is EDC-approved, the electronic version of the approved Form is placed online for all faculty, chairs and deans to download and use when orienting new DL faculty to teaching the course, or for conducting faculty Classroom Visitation evaluations.  EDC-approved DL Forms may be found at http://elearn.mtsac.edu/olsc/dstlearn/ .

7.	EDC submits approval information to DLC and Instruction Office.  Special DL “designators” are placed on the course in Banner, for proper scheduling and assignment.

Course Content:
The rigor and content of a Distance Learning course must match the approved curricula (lecture topics and lab topics, measurable objectives) currently on file for that course in WebCMS.  Obtain official course information by accessing Web CMS at http://webcms.mtsac.edu/webcms.  Click on the Public Access link, enter the existing course subject and number, and click on the Search button.  Then click on the course link created in order to view the official course information.  Last approved/reviewed date of course information must not be more than 4 years old, or all course information must be officially reviewed and approved by Department, Division and Educational Design Committee before DL course adaptation occurs.

The faculty developer submitting this amendment and his/her Department faculty are responsible for reviewing the Distance Learning course content to see if the course outline and measurable objectives may be achieved in a Distance Learning mode.  Official course outlines (lecture and lab, if applicable) are to be inserted in Table 2, Column 2 in the Distance Learning Course Amendment Form.

Mode(s) of Delivery:
Mt. SAC supports two different modes of Distance Learning delivery - online and hybrid.  Online courses have no required on-campus meetings and hybrid courses have required on-campus meetings.  Approved Distance Learning courses may be offered in either mode, and must have all required meetings scheduled in Banner at time of faculty assignment, to appear in the Mt. SAC Schedule of Classes.

Designing the DL Course:
Mt. SAC’s Distance Learning courses are courses that have regularly scheduled replacement of seat time, are scheduled in Banner, and are published accordingly in the Mt. SAC Schedule of Classes.  Distance Learning courses are primarily delivered through the use of Banner-authenticated processes, which requires the use of a Mt. SAC-approved course management system (i.e. currently Blackboard or Course Studio) and Mt. SAC email.  Other course delivery methods may be used for supplemental learning, but required course activities contributing to the course grade must be conducted using authenticated methods.  

All required Distance Learning course content and delivery methods must be accessible to all students, including those students with disabilities. A good design rule is to create course content using Universal Design Principles.  If required audio and video course components are used in any course, they should be captioned, or at minimum, a transcript posted.  For information on Universal Design Principles or to obtain aid in developing accessible course materials, contact Disabled Students Programs and Services.

Some course measurable objectives may not be feasible in the DL mode, and the developer may then plan for a hybrid delivery instead of a fully online delivery mode.  The Distance Learning Faculty Coordinator or the Assistant Distance Learning Faculty Coordinator can offer suggestions for the adaptation of traditional course components for online delivery. A well-developed DL course may include the following:

•	Course outline – lecture and lab (if applicable)
•	Learning objectives/outcomes (course measurable objectives, course SLOs)
•	Syllabus 
o	Course Reference Number (CRN), name and ID
o	Class times and locations
o	Schedule of activities (assignments and deadlines)
o	Professor contact information and office hours
o	Grading policy
o	Attendance/interaction policy
o	Make-up policy for missed work
o	Campus policies – add/drop, academic dishonesty, repeating courses
o	College’s policy on email usage (Mt. SAC email only)
•	Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 
•	Student and Professor expectations
•	Good web design principles that address accessibility/accommodations for disabled students, especially with audio and video components
•	A variety of web-based learning materials
•	Discussion forum 
•	Interactive and relevant links to assignments or activities
•	Content organized by themes or chunks of information (topics, chapters, weeks)
•	Assessments

DL Course Components and Delivery Methods:
Title 5 Regulations, and the California Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges, require that course quality standards are met (same as applied to traditional courses) and that “regular, effective contact between the student and instructor” are included in the design of the course.  

In order to approve a course for DL delivery with attention to Title 5 regulations, it is necessary for the faculty developer of the DL course to describe each envisioned component and delivery method of the DL course.  Please complete the following table, being as descriptive and specific as possible about the Mechanics and Pedagogy envisioned for each component and delivery.  For any online assignment that is in purely audio or video format, include information on the alternative learning modes that will also be available to disabled students. For each instruction method listed in the table, include:

1.	unique abbreviation of the method (to be used later in Table 2 - Course Weekly Schedule of Activities).  Some examples of abbreviations that can be used in the table are:
•	A = Announcements
•	AU = Audio components
•	C = Communication between Professor and students (office hours, email, phone, other)
•	CO = Course Orientation (first contact by Professor + orientation to DL course)
•	DF = Discussion Forum
•	E = Essay papers
•	F2F = on-campus classroom meetings/activities (for hybrid courses or course orientation meetings)
•	G = Group work
•	H = Homework assignments
•	LA = Lab activities 
•	LEC = Lecture content delivery (written notes, PowerPoint presentations, outline)
•	PA = Practice Assessments
•	PM = Publisher’s provided materials
•	Q = Quizzes
•	R = Research papers or projects
•	S = Study guides or sessions
•	T = Tests
•	TR = Textbook Readings
•	VI = Video components
•	Other short abbreviations may be used if not found on this list

2.	how the method will work (Mechanics) 

•	how the method’s interaction is initiated (by Professor or student) – give specifics of assignments, if necessary for clarification
•	how the activity is conducted (by the student alone, with other students, or with the Professor), and how submitted to the Professor
•	how feedback (grade or comments) are given to the student at the end of each activity

3.	how the method will help students to learn the course material (Pedagogy)

Table 1.  DL Course Components and Delivery Methods

Include methods that may be used by any faculty who teaches this course.  Methods envisioned by the developer of the course do not prohibit the use of other methods by other faculty who may subsequently teach this DL course. 

Method
Abbreviation	Mechanics of Method/Activity
(how does the method work?)	Pedagogy of Method/Activity
(how will students learn through this method?)	

			

			

			

			

			

			

			

			

DL Course Weekly Schedule of Activities
Complete the following table, by entering the official WebCMS information for this course, the current methods used in the traditional offering of this course, and use the abbreviations from Table 1 for the DL delivery of the course.   Estimate a student’s time on task expected for each DL abbreviation activity listed.   

Table 2.  DL Course Weekly Schedule of Activities 
All methods listed in Table 1 must be listed below.  Use a 16-week format, even if shorter versions of the course are offered.

1	2	3	4	5	

Week	Course Outline
Lecture and/or Lab
 (from WebCMS)	Traditional Course
(use brief descriptions)	DL Course
(use abbreviations
from Table 1)	Estimated time on task 
(hrs)	
1
					
2
					
3
					
4
					
5
					
6
					
7
					
8
					
9
					
10
					
11
					
12
					
13
					
14
					
15
					
16

Teaching the DL Course:
All faculty wishing to teach a DL course at Mt. SAC must complete the Skills and Pedagogy for Online Teaching (SPOT) process before being assigned to teach that course.  Prerequisites for SPOT include completion of Blackboard Basics training and active use of Mt. SAC email.  The SPOT process is facilitated during Fall and Spring semesters only.  To learn more about SPOT, go to http://spot.mtsac.edu.  

For additional mentoring on DL course design and development, take a DL-related Professional & Organizational Development (POD) workshop or contact the Online Learning Faculty Coordinator or Assistant Online Learning Faculty Coordinator.

Evaluations of DL Faculty
Distance Learning faculty are evaluated using different evaluation forms than faculty teaching traditional courses.  The evaluation forms to be used in evaluating DL faculty are:

•	Student Evaluation of Distance Learning Faculty (Form H.2.e  STUDENT - DL)
•	Classroom Visitation of Distance Learning Faculty (Form H.4.c  CLASSROOM  - DL) 
Consult the current Faculty Agreement (contract) for these evaluation forms.  Consult Distance Learning Program web site (http://www.mtsac.edu/instruction/learning/distlearn/) for details on these evaluation processes.  

Resources for DL Faculty and Students
Campus resources that are available for Distance Learning faculty and students are:

Distance Learning/Online Learning Support Center faculty support:
•	Distance Learning Program website – http://www.mtsac.edu/instruction/learning/distlearn/ 
•	Dean, Library & Learning Resources – Meghan Chen, x5658, mchen@mtsac.edu 
•	Online Learning Resource Center (OLSC) -  located in LTC-262
•	Distance Learning Faculty Coordinator – LTC 262
•	Assistant Distance Learning Faculty Coordinator – LTC 262
•	Distance Learning/Electronic Reference Librarian – LTC -262, Paul Kittle, x4258, pkittle@mtsac.edu 
•	Teaching & Learning Technology Specialist - Carol Webster, x5016, cwebster@mtsac.edu 
•	IT Help Desk – 909-594-5611, x4357 or HelpDesk@mtsac.edu 

Faculty development resources:
•	Professional & Organizational Development (POD) for Blackboard Basics training – http://pod.mtsac.edu 
•	Blackboard Basics Manual – http://bbbasics.mtsac.edu 
•	Skills & Pedagogy for Online Teaching (SPOT) – http://spot.mtsac.edu 

Student resources:
•	Disabled Students Program & Services  - http://dsps.mtsac.edu 
•	Online Counseling - https://my.mtsac.edu/OnlineCounseling/Welcome.aspx 
•	SOLAR:  Skills for Online Learning – Assessment of Readiness - http://elearn.mtsac.edu/olsc/readiness
•	Mt. SAC Library – http://library.mtsac.edu 
•	Learning Assistance Center – http://lac.mtsac.edu 
o	Tutorial Services – http://ts.mtsac.edu 
o	Testing Center – Learning Assistance Center, LTC lower level
•	Placement Tests (English, Reading, Math, Chemistry) - http://www.mtsac.edu/students/assessment/info.html 

DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE AMENDMENT FORM
Verification of Approval

The following steps must be approved and signed in this order.  It is the developer’s responsibility to obtain an approval signature at each step of this process.  Any questions, contact Meghan Chen, Dean of Library & Learning Resources at (909) 274-5658.

Course:  _________
1.  Distance Learning Committee 

DLC Co-chair Signature:_______________________________________ Date__________________

DLC Co-chair, Dean, Library and Learning Resources

Signature:__________________________________________________ Date__________________

2.  Faculty Developer 
Note to Developer:  Faculty must complete SPOT certification process before being assigned to teach a DL course.  SPOT process is facilitated during Fall and Spring semesters only. Developer understands that the content, rigor, interaction, authentication and accessibility of the DL course must adhere to various regulations in the development and delivery of the DL course.

Faculty Developer Signature:___________________________________ Date__________________

3.  Department 		
Note to Department Chairs:  Faculty must complete SPOT certification process before being assigned to teach a DL course.  SPOT process is facilitated during Fall and Spring semesters only.  To check faculty eligibility to teach a DL course or to view Forms of approved DL courses, go to http://elearn.mtsac.edu/olsc/dstlearn/ .

Chair Signature(s)___________________________________________ Date__________________

4.  Division	    
Note to Division Deans:  Faculty must complete SPOT certification process before being assigned to teach a DL course.  SPOT process is facilitated during Fall and Spring semesters only. To check faculty eligibility to teach a DL course or to view Forms of approved DL courses, go to http://elearn.mtsac.edu/olsc/dstlearn/ .

Dean’s Signature____________________________________________ Date__________________

5.  Educational Design Committee  
Note to EDC:  Any modifications to this Form must be coordinated with the DLC.  Notify DLC when this Form has been approved.  Regular review and/or changes to official course outline(s) do not require subsequent review by DLC.  Only substantial changes to course delivery need additional DLC review and approval.

EDC Co-Chair Signature_______________________________________ Date__________________

6.  Date Received in Instruction Office   ______________________