Institutional Plan for Distance Education and Off-Campus Instruction

Texas A&M University

College Station, Texas

Background  

                Texas A&M University has been active in distance education for approximately three decades.  Prior to 1990, distance efforts occurred in off-campus, face-to-face format.  In 1991, the Texas A&M University System Plan for Instructional Telecommunications was submitted and approved.  Since 1991, TAMU has been offering distance education under the direction outlined by this 1991 plan.  The main delivery mechanism has been interactive video, transmitted by the Trans Texas Video Network (TTVN), owned by the Texas A&M University System. Since 1998, however, courses have been delivered via TTVN and WWW or some other combination, such as TTVN + WWW + occasional face-to-face meetings.   TAMU still offers a large number of off-campus, face-to-face courses.  The current plan, presented below, supplants the 1991 plan and focuses solely on distance education at Texas A&M University

Current Distance Education and Off-Campus Program

Offerings and Modes

Degree Programs Approved as of  July 2002: 

•        Master of Science in Engineering Systems Management
•        Master of Science--Industrial Engineering
•        Master of Petroleum Engineering--US delivery
•        Master of Petroleum Engineering--delivery to Venezuela, Centro Internacional de  Educacion of Petroleos de Venezuela--Launched February 2000

•   Master in Industrial Distribution

•   Master of Education in Educational Technology

•      Master of Science in Educational Human Resource Development

•      Master of Agriculture--all 19 programs:  Current programs active in offering the M.Agr. by distance: 

-          Master of Agriculture in Plant Sciences

-          Master of Agriculture in Natural Resource Development

-          Master of Agriculture in Wildlife and Fisheries

•     Ed. D. in Agricultural Education, a cooperative degree between TAMU and Texas Tech
•    Master of  Science--Mathematics (Teaching Track)

Programs in Development: 

•   Master of Science—Statistics.  A four-course certificate is currently in development.
•   Four additional programs to be delivered under the Master of Agriculture rubric:

 - Master of Agriculture in Agricultural Development

- Master of Agriculture in Entomology

- Master of Agriculture in Poultry Science

- Master of Agriculture in Animal Science—Therapeutic Riding  

•    Master’s Program in International Affairs (entire degree + a certificate)
•    M.Ed./M.S (non-thesis)  in Educational Psycholog
•    M.Ed./M.S. (non-thesis) Educational Administration   
   Web-Based Business Certificate Program (serving Non-Business Graduate 

              Students)   

   Graduate Certificate in Bilingual Education   
•    Ph.D.--Hispanic Studies--Collaborative Doctorate offered by TAMU and TAMU--   Kingsville, TAMU --Corpus Christi, and Texas A&M International at Laredo.

Institutional Issues

Section 1

 ___Ö___1.  The institution affirms compliance with The Principles of Good Practice for Electronically Offered Academic Degree and Certificate Programs.

                Prior to the development of this institutional plan, TAMU followed the Standards and Criteria for Distance Education and Off-Campus Instruction as defined in Subchapter H: 

(a)                Instruction must meet the quality standards which an institution requires of similar instruction offered on-campus to regularly enrolled students.

(b)                Courses which offer either regular college credit or Continuing Education Units must do so in accordance with the standards of the Commission on colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

(c)                Students must satisfy the same requirements for admission to the Institution, to the program of which the course is a part, and to the class/section itself, as are required of on-campus students.

(d)                Faculty must be selected and evaluated by the same standards, review, and approval procedures used by the institution to select and evaluate faculty responsible for on-campus instruction.  Institutions must provide training and support to enhance the added skills required of faculty teaching classes via instructional telecommunications.

(e)                The instructor of record must participate in the delivery of instruction and evaluation of student progress.

(f)                 Providers of graduate-level instruction must be approved by the graduate faculty of the institution.

(g)                All instruction must be administered under the authority of the same office or person administering the corresponding on-campus instruction.  The supervision, monitoring, and evaluation processes for instructors must be comparable to those for on-campus instruction.

(h)                Students must be provided academic support services – including academic advising, counseling, library and other learning resources, tutoring services, and financial aid – that are comparable to those available for on-campus students.

(i)                  Facilities (other than homes as instructional telecommunications reception sites) must be adequate for the purpose of delivering instruction which is comparable in quality to on-campus instruction.

TAMU is now attempting to comply with the revised criteria, based on the items listed in the 1997/1999 criteria stated in the SREB Principles of Good Practice, which have been adopted by THECB.  When a department/college decides to offer an existing degree program by distance, the Office of Distance Education and the Assistant Provost work with representatives and faculty from the program to develop a proposal.  Each proposal is developed about the Principles of Good Practice, along with other information needed to describe the program.   The example proposals (see Attachments) in the Guide to Distance Education at Texas A&M University illustrate how TAMU distance proposals are developed to respond to Principles of Good Practice. 

TAMU publishes the Guide to Distance Education at Texas A&M University, available on the Office of Distance Education web site (http://vpr-zope.tamu.edu/distance.tamu.edu) and in hard copy.  (See Attachment 1.)  The Guide is distributed to all colleges and departments on campus.  Material behind Tab 2 in the Guide, Launching DE Courses and Programs, contains a section “Developing Degree Programs for Distance Delivery.” This section explains the program approval procedure in detail. 

Once the proposal is complete, an approval sheet is signed; and the draft of the proposal, along with the approval sheet, is sent to the Office of the Provost for final review.  The draft includes a specific statement of how that specific program adheres to the Principles of Good Practice.  Please see Attachment 2, taken from the proposal to offer the MS-Mathematics by distance, which illustrates a response to Principles of Good Practice. 

The Office of Distance Education communicates regularly with all programs and assists in resolving issues that may affect the quality of programs, ensuring specifically that DE courses have the same content and support structures as on-campus courses.  The University Distance Education Advisory Committee includes representatives from units involved in providing services to DE students.  (See Attachment 3.)   However, at TAMU, academic quality controls are systemic.  At TAMU, no distinction is made between DE/resident faculty and between DE/resident students.  For example, distance education students are not segregated by any code and are admitted and processed along with all other students who apply to a graduate program.  The TAMU catalog contains no specific rules or academic specifications for distance students. 

Each academic department has a curriculum committee, which must approve any decision to offer a program in a distance format.  Each college also has a curriculum committee which monitors all program offerings.  All new programs must be approved by the department, the college, the university graduate instructional committee, the Faculty Senate, the Provost, and the President.  At each level, the quality of the program is considered paramount.  At any point in the approval process, the proposal can be stopped because of quality concerns.  Approval of new programs is NOT automatic. 

       Ö   2.  The distance education program is consistent with the institution's education mission.  Please explain how it is consistent and attach appropriate mission statement or goals, if pertinent.

                As the State's only land-grant university, Texas A&M has long established its commitment to disseminating knowledge, much of it based on its research, in many and diverse academic and professional fields.  The university continues to fulfill its land grant/sea grant/space grant mission while using distance education as yet another tool to do so.  Distance education assists the university in expanding its role to meet the changing needs of state, national, and international communities. As is stated on the TAMU Home page, http://www.tamu.edu/home/aboutam/index.html,

               
General Information

Texas A&M University is a land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant institution located in College Station, Texas. The university is centrally located, approximately equidistant from three of the 10 largest cities in the United States (Houston, Dallas and San Antonio) and the state capitol (Austin). The university’s enrollment includes approximately 44,000 students studying for degrees in 10 academic colleges.

Our Mission

Texas A&M University is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge in a wide range of academic and professional fields. Its mission of providing the highest quality undergraduate and graduate programs is inseparable from its mission of developing new understandings through research and creativity. It prepares students to assume roles of leadership, responsibility, and service to society. Texas A&M assumes as its historic trust the maintenance of freedom of inquiry and an intellectual environment nurturing the human mind and spirit. It welcomes and seeks to serve persons of all racial, ethnic, and geographic groups, women and men alike, as it addresses the needs of an increasingly diverse population and a global economy. In the twenty-first century, Texas A&M University seeks to assume a place of preeminence among public universities while respecting its history and traditions.

Our Statement of Vision and Values

People are Texas A&M University's most valuable asset. The University strives to maintain an environment which encourages all employees to achieve their personal and professional goals and aspirations as we work toward achieving the University's mission. In this environment, each person's individuality and contributions are respected.

Texas A&M University recognizes that all people have rights at work, including the right to be treated with respect and dignity, the right to be recognized and rewarded fairly for performance, and the right to a work environment free from discrimination and harassment. The University is committed to these rights. All people at Texas A&M University are expected to treat each other in accordance with these rights.

Texas A&M University recognizes that people have needs at work. We need adequate facilities, equipment and resources to perform our jobs. We need training and development to allow us to make effective decisions, and to grow personally and professionally. We need understanding with regard to our family-related responsibilities. The University is committed to strive for a work environment where these needs are met.

 Texas A&M University recognizes the importance of communication, and is committed to an environment which stresses open sharing of information and ideas, and values input from all people. Texas A&M University will strive for a work environment in which all people accept responsibility to contribute to the success of the University, and are empowered to do so. Finally, for this vision to become reality and endure, it must be continually communicated, supported and upheld.

                  In 1997, TAMU conducted a year-long study of distance education.  The committee, composed of six working groups, decided to focus only on delivery of graduate-level programs, particularly master’s programs critical to workforce development in Texas.  Each program currently offered for distance delivery responds to the needs of adult learners in the Texas workforce who cannot quit jobs and return to school.  The Master’s in Agriculture—Wildlife/Fisheries and the MS—Mathematics (Teaching Track) were developed to help resolve the critical shortage of science and mathematics teachers in Texas.  

  ___Ö__3.  The institution has assessed that a market exists for distance education to be delivered by the institution, particularly when delivering complete degree and certificate programs.  What are the market factors that caused your institution to engage in distance learning? Please explain the results of this assessment. 

                 During the 1997 study of distance education. the National/International Dimensions Working Group of the task force concluded that focusing on master's programs, particularly those important to the professional development of adults in the workforce, was the best focus for distance education efforts at TAMU.   This group, like the other five working groups, researched their issue and based recommendations on the research available at that time.  (See Attachment 4.)

                Since the 1997 study, various departments have developed graduate distance programs that respond to the concepts outlined in that report.  By 1998, three master's programs had been approved for distance delivery.  By 1999, three additional programs had been approved for delivery.  By 2001, four more were added.  The MS-Mathematics was approved by the Board of Regents in March 2002 and the THECB in April 2002. 

 Each of these graduate programs has developed from demand from public school teachers who are time- and place- bound, from engineers, business people, and military personnel who cannot drive to College Station for coursework, and from extension agents who cannot leave the field to pursue doctoral study.  The cooperative doctorate in agricultural education with Texas Tech evolved from requests from extension agents who cannot return to campus and the decision to avoid duplication of courses.  Combining the curricula of each program allows cooperative delivery of this degree and eliminates the need for creating numerous new courses. 

The Master in Industrial Distribution, the first master’s program for the Department of Engineering Technology, was launched as a result of specific requests, along with funding supporting these requests, from industrial distributors in Texas.  These requests and promise of financial support were critical in the decision to proposal the Master in Industrial Distribution, which is available only by distance and not on campus for resident students. 

 The graduate business certificate program resulted from the demand for business courses by graduate students who want a background in business to complement their graduate program.  The bi-lingual certificate is being developed to help supply the growing need for certified bilingual teachers in Texas.  The statistics certificate is being developed because of many distance programs that require statistics and because of requests from business organizations for statistics courses.   

 In addition to direct requests from teachers and engineers, a statewide email survey was conducted by the College of Education to determine the need for a master's in educational technology delivered by distance.  The survey yielded a 38% response rate, with 90% of the respondents supporting the need for more educational technologists in Texas.  The decision by the College of Education to offer a graduate bi-lingual certificate emerged as a result of an email survey to determine school district’s response to this proposed offering.  The MS-Mathematics was converted to distance delivery to attempt to alleviate the shortage of qualified math teachers in Texas, a problem targeted by Governor Perry. 

 The petroleum engineering program with its state and international emphasis has created political good will for Texas and the US in petroleum-rich Latin American countries. The industrial engineering programs have gained international attention from countries within the Pacific Rim as well as military bases in Texas.    

                Grants made available by the University to assist graduate programs in converting courses to distance format have been available in both 1999 and 2001.  One of the main criteria of each RFP has been that the program requesting funding clearly define the market for the proposal.  (See, for example, the 2001 RFP, Attachment 5.)

                Over $1 million in support has been given to programs to aid in conversion since 1999.  Every program which has received funds has had to define the market for their degree program and explain how faculty determined this market.  No program has received funds that has not provided a convincing market assessment.

                 In short, the programs that TAMU currently has approved for distance delivery are programs for which a market survey has been done or for which demand has come from potential students and/or corporations interested in supporting the programs. 

 ___Ö__ 4.  The institution evaluates the overall effectiveness of distance education courses and programs (such as student learning, student retention, the effectiveness of the utilized technology, mechanisms to provide student feedback during the course, and comparability with campus-based programs) and the evaluation process is incorporated into overall institutional effectiveness efforts.  Please summarize the process, recent data collection and their analysis, and remedial actions taken. 

 Texas A&M requires teaching evaluations in all classes every semester.  Each college requires specific questions in addition to five questions required by the student senate.  Evaluations differ among colleges but usually have 20 questions.  Faculty may select additional questions from the evaluation question bank.  The value of this method is that the evaluation has standard elements, but faculty can still customize evaluations for their specific courses. 

 In September 1998, 20 questions, prepared by distance education faculty who are also experienced in assessment, were added to the item bank.  Thus, faculty teaching distance classes may customize student questionnaires for distance courses by selecting questions from this group and including these on their teaching evaluations.  (See Attachment 6 for the DE item bank ).  For a description of the measurement process, please see:  

http://www.tamu.edu/mars/ratings/index.htm and then http://www.tamu.edu/marshome/ratings/itembank.html

MARS Item Categories are as follows: 

     STUDENT DEVELOPMENT 

        Knowledge and Skills

        Interests and Curiosity

        Social Skills and Attitudes

        Self-concept

        Vocational Skills and Attitudes

     INSTRUCTOR RATINGS 

        Instructor Skill

        Rapport

        Interaction

        Feedback

        Organization

        Difficulty

        Recitation Section

        Written Assignments

        Reading Assignments

        Laboratory Assignments

        Textbook

        Media

        Exams

        Grading

     STUDENT PERFORMANCE 

        Student Performance

        Studio Assignments

     GENERAL ITEMS

    STUDENT SENATE ITEMS

    STUDENT DESCRIPTION OF TEACHING (CENTER FOR TEACHING   EXCELLENCE)

    DISTANCE EDUCATION, VIDEO CONFERENCING, WWW CLASSES.

Each college at Texas A&M evaluates its faculty annually for effectiveness in teaching, research, and service.  Each college has its own methods of evaluating teaching, as well as research and service, but distance courses are evaluated along with resident courses and are subject to the same level of scrutiny.

Texas A&M is also developing a way to allow online evaluation for all distance learners, rather than requiring students to complete paper evaluations which are sent to the Measurement and Research Service.  The online teaching evaluations for distance students will be ready for use by the spring semester of 2003.

 Since approximately one-third of the 23 questions in the DE item bank require students to evaluate in some way the technology used in the distance class, feedback from student evaluations is used in subsequent semesters to alter/improve delivery format.  On the instructor’s evaluation report, each DE class is compared with three other course groupings:  (1) with the resident section, (2) with other graduate classes in the same academic area, and (3) with all courses taught by the instructor’s department.  These statistical comparisons allow faculty to see how their DE courses compare with resident courses.  (See Attachment 7). 

                During Spring 2000, the Office of Institutional Studies launched an institutional effectiveness plan designed to meet planning and assessment requirement of SACS.  As a result of this initiative, every office and program develops an annual effectiveness plan and provides supporting documents for each goal achieved.  Attachment 8 includes the institutional effectiveness record for five graduate programs approved for distance delivery.   These programs offer both on-campus and distance graduate programs.  Note that expectations of distance programs show no difference from expectations for resident programs in these disciplines. 

                 Records on student retention are now being tracked by the Office of Institutional Studies and Planning at TAMU.  OPIR began tracking retention of DE for 2000-2001, but current figures are not representative or complete.  Thus, these records will become valuable in the future but can be found at   http://www.tamu.edu/opir/reports/student/Semester_FA00_01.pdf   Based on enrollment information reported to the Office of Distance Education, DE courses offered each semester do not reflect significant withdrawals as would be evident from financial reports.   The amount of fees billed each term closely matches the amount actually paid, which suggests that early withdrawals in DE courses are not substantial.   Fee reports from the Student Information Management System (SIMS) reflected only 11 withdrawals as of the end of February 2002 for the spring semester of 2002. 

                WebCT is the course management tool supported by Computing Information Services at TAMU.  WebCT offers, via the course email system, anonymous course evaluations which can be submitted and then returned to the instructor.  Students’ email addresses are not identified, a feature of WebCT which allows faculty to track students’ perspectives on the effectiveness of the course throughout the semester without students feeling compromised.   Some faculty using WebCT use normative and summative evaluations, in addition to formal class evaluations conducted at the end of each term.    

                 Because many faculty teach to students both on campus and at a distance, faculty regularly compare the work of resident and distance students.  As revealed in a study conducted by Dr. Jane Magill, Professor of Plant Pathology, Microbiology, and Genetics, distance students often do better than students in the resident version of the course.  (See Attachment 9, Dr. Magill’s presentation to a recent TTVN conference.)

              Faculty involved in the collaborative distance education doctorate in agricultural education have been prolific in examining effectiveness of DE.  The following articles exemplify some of the research on distance education published by faculty who are teaching in distance programs:

 Dooley, K. E., & Lindner, J. R.  (2002).  Competencies for the distance education professional: A self-assessment to document professional growth.  Journal of Agricultural Education, 43(1), 24-35. Findings:  Developed competency-based behavioral anchors as authentication tools in adult learning theory, technological knowledge, instructional design, communication skills, graphic design, and administrative issues to document distance education competencies.

Lindner, J. R., Dooley, K. E., & Kelsey, K. D.  (2002).  All for one and one for all: Relationships in a distance education program.  Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 5(1).  This study represents the type of assessment done by the faculty in the Department of Agricultural Education, which hosts the collaborative doctorate and the Master’s in Agricultural Development and Agricultural Education.  Findings:  The use of an overall cohort framework in delivering a doctoral degree at a distance increased student satisfaction with the program and faculty.  The ideal number of sub-cohorts at individual sites should include at least three students.  The cohort framework may inhibit student autonomy within the program.  (See Attachment 9.)

The principle developers of the MS-Mathematics, Dr. Donald Allen and Dr. Michael Pilant of the TAMU Department of Mathematics, have written about their work in developing and tracking the effectiveness of the program.  (See in Attachment 9, a paper delivered to the American Mathematical Association.)  As the MS-Math program develops, teaching evaluations, along with exam results, are considered important indicators of course effectiveness. 

 The Department of Petroleum Engineering, which has master’s students on campus, in Venezuela, and in Houston, requires the same work of all students in the Master of Engineering program.  The final project report allows faculty teaching in the master’s program to assess each student’s ability to apply technical concepts to the solution of a petroleum engineering problem.  Faculty thus have students on campus and students via distance and can compare the work of both groups.  According to Dr. John Lee, the distance students in petroleum engineering perform better than the resident students. 

The Master’s in Educational Technology, most of which is online, is supported by research in effective course design.   Assessment and effectiveness are integral to this  research.   For example: 

Willis, J. & Cifuentes, L. (Mar. 2002). Training Teachers to Integrate Technology into the Classroom Curriculum: Online Versus Face-to-Face Course Delivery. Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education, 13th International Conference, Nashville, TN.  Findings:  Dr. Cifuentes and her graduate student, Jana Willis, looked at specific course outcomes, compared them, and found that face-to-face facilitated some types of learning better than online and that online facilitated other types of learning better than face-to-face. The authors then recommended ways to compensate for the challenges of each delivery system.

Murphy, K. L., Mahoney, S. E., & Harvell, T. J. (2000). Role of contracts in enhancing community building in Web courses. Educational Technology & Society, 3(3), 409-421. [Online] http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2000/e03.html  http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2000/e03.pdf  (See attachment 9)

Murphy, K. L., & Gazi, Y. (in press). Role plays, panel discussions, and simulations: Project-based learning in a Web-based course. Educational Media International.

 Dr. Cifuentes and colleague Dr. Karen Murphy also have collaborated on research in online learning.  See, for example,

  Murphy, K. L., & Cifuentes, L. (2001). Using Web tools, collaborating, and learning online. Distance Education, 22(2),    285-305.  (See Attachment 9.)

 Cifuentes, L., Murphy, K. L., Segur, R., & Kodali, S. (1997). Design considerations for computer conferences. Journal of Research on Computing in Education. 30(2), 177-201.

         Cifuentes, L., & Murphy, K. L. (2000). Images of Texan and Mexican cultures shared in a telecommunications partnership. Distance Education, 21(2), 300-322.

         Cifuentes, L., & Murphy, K. L. (2000). Cultural Connections: A model for eliminating boundaries and crossing borders. Quarterly Review of Distance Education 1(1), 17-30.

        Cifuentes, L., & Murphy, K. L. (2000). Promoting multicultural understanding and positive self-concept through a distance learning community: Cultural Connections. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(1), 69-83.

 ___Ö__  5.  The institution has an officer responsible for distance learning in a position that is appropriate for the institution and the size of the distance education program. Describe the placement of the officer in the institution's organization; attach an organization chart; and explain how this provides the appropriate oversight of programs and faculty and student support.  Also identify the contact person or office at the institution where questions are answered for distance learners and for others. 

 One of the primary results of TAMU's 1997 task force on distance education was the establishment of the Office of Distance Education, launched June 1, 1998.  This office, which reports to the Associate Provost for Information Technology, was given three initial goals by the Provost:  (1)  nurture existing distance education; (2) nurture the development of new distance education initiatives; and (3) represent TAMU in State and national distance education activities.  

                                                    Organization Chart

The Office of Distance Education, in cooperation with the Office of the Provost, assists faculty in planning distance education efforts particularly in preparing degree program proposals, developing procedures that allow effective use of consortia, assisting faculty in integrating technology into their courses (resident or distance), and in designing and managing distance education infrastructure issues, such as pricing, marketing, formula funding, and selection of technology.  ODE and the Assistant Provost work with faculty sponsoring the proposal to ensure compliance with THECB rules.  

 The Director of Distance Education wrote the university position statement on distance education, which was passed by the Faculty Senate during January 1999 and signed by the President of the university in October 1999.  This position statement articulates the university's guidelines on how distance education will be conducted.  (See Attachment 10.)  ODE has also been responsible for ensuring that necessary distance education regulations are in place and enforced.  These rules include the  rules on Technology-Mediated Instruction and the new general rule governing distance education. (See Attachment 11.)   ODE also developed a rule for borrowing distance education courses from other institutions, if such a need ever occurs. (See Attachment 12.)    ODE writes and maintains the Guide to Distance Education at Texas A&M (Attchment 1), working with the various technology-support units on campus to recommend and select new software, offer technical demonstrations, and assist in developing collaborative efforts on and off campus.  The Office of Distance Education was one of the three co-founders of the annual assessment conference held each spring at TAMU.   

 ODE has three advisory committees:  The University DE Advisory Committee (See Attachment 3), the DE Coordinators (one from each college), and the DE Faculty Advisory Committee, composed of one faculty member for each college.  The DE Coordinators are operations people in each college who are responsible for the daily operations of technology-mediated instruction.  The current list of advisory members can be seen on the ODE web page:  http://www.tamu.edu/ode.

 With assistance from the Assistant Provost—Finance and the Assistant Vice-President for Finance, ODE has developed a template for pricing both in-state and out-of-state/country distance courses/programs and a simple contract which provides payment when TAMU teaches students at other schools who are not TAMU students.  All out-of-state pricing must be approved by the DE Fiscal Advisory Committee.  Annual pricing of all DE courses is monitored by this committee which assists programs considering offering distance education to students outside the State and/or the US to determine pricing. 

 All grants offered by the university for DE course conversions are managed by the Office of Distance Education and the Associate Provost for Information Technology.  Departments and colleges receiving development grants must assure ODE and the Office of the Provost that the courses converted will be academically sound, that they fill a need in the State (a market exists), that the programs will be assessed for effectiveness, and that conversion will occur in a timely fashion.  Attachment 5 shows the last RFP issued in Fall of 2001.    

ODE is involved in all activities surrounding distance education—technical, financial, and academic.  ODE is also now involved in fostering the use of technology-mediated instruction in resident courses.  The System Administrator for WebCT is located in ODE and works with the Director of Distance Education to ensure that faculty receive effective training in how to use WebCT tools. 

 ODE also works directly with the Instructional Technology Services to recommend any needed training to faculty.  For example, ODE assists the University Writing Center in developing its web site with virtual support for both faculty and students.  ODE has also sponsored the integration of technology into the first-year Spanish courses.  Based on The Spanish Project at University of Illinois-Urbana-Champagne (UIUC), the bulk of the workbook and daily exercises will be placed online; class attendance will be reduced 50%, and graduate students will use class time for oral fluency.  Exams will be graded by teams of faculty and graduate students.  The result, as in the UIUC model, should enable TAMU to increase enrollment in required undergraduate Spanish courses, reduce the number of classrooms required, and avoid increasing the number of faculty needed to handle more students.  ODE has also arranged for the Measurement and Research Service to assess the Spanish project once it begins in Fall 2002 to compare students in the technology-based courses with those in the traditional sections.    

 ODE also arranges and supports workshops for faculty to demonstrate software used in the development of web-based courses and works with programs considering the use of technology in the types of technology available. 

TAMU has a person in the Office of Student Affairs who is responsible for student services for distance students. These services are described on the TAMU distance education information page,  http://www.tamu.edu/ode/disted.  The Director of the Office of Distance Education works with Dr. Kevin Jackson of the Office of Student Affairs to assess student services.  ODE also works with the distance education librarian and the book store to ensure timely access to books and instructional materials are available.  As indicated on the distance education information page and the ODE home page, students may contact ODE either by email or by phone.    

 ODE works closely with the Coordinators for Distance Education in each college, the Office of Graduate Studies, the Vice President for Research, Office of Student Financial Services, and TTVN to monitor and resolve issues that affect courses offered in distance programs.  ODE also assists the Executive Associate Provost in representing TAMU at The University Center at The Woodlands.  Distance education students work directly with their departments and colleges and may contact the Office of Distance Education for additional information.  However, the departments and colleges offering distance education work closely with the Office of Distance Education to resolve any issues that arise.    

 ____√__  6.  The institution has established requirements for admissions, satisfactory student progress, and graduation requirements for distance education.  Please summarize requirements.  Please explain in more detail and attach relevant policies if these requirements differ if requirements differ from those of traditional students.

 Distance education students are given no special academic status at TAMU.  Only students properly enrolled at TAMU may take TAMU classes.  Thus, students who wish to take distance education courses must be enrolled at TAMU before they may register.  Admission requirements for all students who wish to take classes, either distance or traditional, are the same:  (1) a student may apply for admission as a post-baccalaureate, non-degree seeking student, or (2) a student may apply for full admission into a graduate program.  No differences in admission policy exist for distance programs or distance students. All distance classes have the same requirements and grading standards as on-campus courses, and graduation requirements for all degrees are the same.  The graduate catalog and the university procedures’ manual make abundantly clear that the university gives no special treatment to any group of students, distance or resident. 

 ____Ö___  7.  Policies relevant to transcription, grading, and transfer credentials are in place.  Please explain if they are different from on-campus classes. 

 No differences exist in the treatment of distance education courses by the Office of the Registrar.  Prior to 1999, TAMU designated with an asterisk (*) any course taught off-campus.  These courses were given section 650 numbers to designate their off-campus status.  However, since 1999, all distance courses are transcripted the same way as on-campus courses.  The section 650 designation is no longer in use for any courses defined as “distance” by Chapter 5, Subchapter H.    

 ____Ö___ 8.  The institution has a process in place to address the needs of distance learners who fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act  (ADA).  Please explain how ADA compliance for distance education is handled at your institution. 

 TAMU has an Office of Adaptive Technology Services which reports to the Vice President for Student Services. The Program Coordinator for Adaptive Technology Services reports to the Coordinator for Students with Disabilities, who reports to the Dean of Student Life. 

 Adaptive Technology Services (ATS)  provides adaptive technologies for students with disabilities: 

•       alternative formats of learning materials,
•       assessment services to determine what type of adaptive technology or services is needed by a student,
•        equipment, such as adaptive software,
•        laptop computers which have special programs,
•        hardware (needed by visually impaired students to access web pages, and wheelchairs).
•        online ADA request page for students with web-page access problems:  http://rules.tamu.edu/ada/.  Click on “access,”
•        guidelines for faculty members who deal with ADA students: http://rules.tamu.edu/ada/adaquick.htm.  Click on “ADA Quick Reference,”   
•        useful ADA links for students and faculty: http://rules.tamu.edu/ada/adalinks.htm

Attachment 13 provides some of the information and services available for students with disabilities: http://studentlife.tamu.edu/ssd/

ATS, through TAMU, is also a member of the Texas Text Exchange, a digital library for disabled students which offers a range of electronic formats that can be changed to braille or text shifted to speech. 

 Students may refer themselves to ATS, or they may be referred by instructors.  All syllabi at TAMU are required to have an ADA compliance statement. 

 ATS compiles statistics on the number of students using ATS services, the types of services used by students, and any requests.  The Program Coordinator provides a semester report to the Academic Operations Committee.  Attachments illustrate the range of services offered. 

 The Office of Distance Education, in cooperation with ATS has offered four workshops to faculty and webmasters about requirements for ADA compliant web pages.  ATS is now responsible for checking web sites for compliance with ADA regulations.  In June 2002, ATS offered a workshop, sponsored by ODE, to illustrate to those responsible for web pages the compliance problems discovered by the ADA Compliance Committee.  The Director of the Officer of Student Adaptive Technologies provides direct help to faculty and departments who have questions in creating accessible formats for technology-mediated courses, both on-campus and for students at a distance. 

___Ö___  9.  SACS and other professional credentialing agencies have been notified, as appropriate.  Please explain the status of these notifications. 

 Attachment 14 provides recent documents of TAMU's  reports to SACS about programs approved for distance delivery.  SACS has been notified about all programs approved by the TAMUS Board of Regents and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. 

____Ö___ 10.  The institution has sufficient financial resources to initiate quality distance learning courses and programs and a financial plan to maintain them.  Please describe how the capital and operating budgets for distance education infrastructure and support services are set.

 Trans Texas Videoconference and Data Network (TTVN) -- TTVN is the Internet Service Provider for the Texas A&M University System and jointly with the University of Texas operates a high-speed backbone network for the two systems and their customers. TTVN also operates a statewide videoconference network that was used to teach more than 200 academic courses during the 2001-2002 academic year. The budget for TTVN is recommended to the System each year and is made up of individual assessments to the System parts. In addition to covering operations costs of the network, a portion of the assessment goes toward a capital equipment fund. In FY2000 and FY2001 recurring rate increases of 8% were dedicated to the TTVN capital equipment fund. In addition, TTVN has received more than $1.5 million in

TIFB Discovery Grants to modernize the network.

 Office of Distance Education (ODE) -- ODE provides administrative support for distance education, assistance to departments starting up distance education programs, and marketing support. ODE has funding for salary and operations from the Office of the Provost. In addition, ODE receives $40 per semester credit hour in distance education fees, which allows its services to scale. ODE does not fund capital purchases on a regular basis.

 Computing and Information Services (CIS) -- CIS provides academic and administrative computing, is responsible for the campus network, offers courses in multimedia software to faculty and staff, and provides 24 X 7 Help Desk services. It operates the WebCT course development system, academic web server, campus-wide email system, LDAP directory server, and Virtual Private Network server that support both distance and on-campus students. Funding for operating these services comes from both Computer Access/Instructional Technology fees and E&G funds. Increases in student fees are recommended by the Associate Provost for Information Technology through the Provost to the President. Graduate and undergraduate student government representatives are consulted on all requests for a fee increase. The capital equipment budget supporting this infrastructure comes from both student fees and the $2.25 million IT capital equipment budget. In addition, the university has received $2.25 million in Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Higher Education Grants that has been devoted to infrastructure such as the large Unix servers running WebCT and the email systems.

 Instructional Technology Services (ITS) --  ITS provides one-on-one instructional technology support for faculty in person, on the telephone, via email, and through their web site. ITS also offers many faculty workshops focusing on WebCT and instructional design. Funding for ITS comes exclusively from the Computer Access/Instructional Technology Fee.  Increases in student fees are recommended by the Associate Provost for IT through the Provost to the President. Graduate and undergraduate student government representatives are consulted on all requests for a fee increase. It is our plan to request modest fee increases over the next few years to keep up with what we see as an increased demand for these services. ITS has an adequate capital budget to support refreshing their technology on a regular basis.

Colleges and Departments -- The Office of the Provost has funded two rounds of program development grants totaling approximately $1 million to support the development of distance education Masters degrees and graduate certificate programs. For continuing operations, departments are able to charge Instructional Enhancement fees on a course-by-course basis. These

are variable fees which can run between $0 and $1,500 per course. These fees provide the basis for sustainable distance education programs in the departments and colleges.

 ____Ö___11.  There is a financial plan for maintaining the support systems needed for the activities, including upgrading of systems currently being used. 

 Each of the support units described in question 10 above are funded at a level that provides for maintaining current services. Each organization that has a hardware and software infrastructure that needs to be refreshed and upgraded periodically has a capital budget. The colleges and departments have Instructional Enhancement fees to maintain their support systems and infrastructure.

 The Associate Provost for Information Technology, with input from Computing and  Information Services and the Colleges developed a strategic plan for maintenance and development of the University’s information systems.  Attachment 18 provides the most recent strategic plan for information resources. 

Educational Programs

Section 2

___ Ö____ 1.  The institution has procedures in place for planning, development, approval and review of quality distance education programs.  Please explain the process for programs. 

                In 1998, the Office of Distance Education finalized a procedure for approving existing degree programs for distance delivery. New degree programs designed for distance delivery only or for distance and residential delivery are covered in the process.  The faculty/department(s) proposing the degree will be responsible for the following approval process:

1.       Notify the Office of Distance Education about plans to offer the program via distance.

 If the program is part of TAMU's approved degree inventory, proceed to Step 2.  If the degree is a new degree, then you need to contact Jeanette Phariss, Assistant Provost, Office of the Provost, 845-4016, and discuss your proposed degree with her.  Any new degree program must be approved by the department and the college sponsoring the degree, the Graduate Council, the Faculty Senate, the Provost, the President, the Board of Regents, and then the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. 

2.       Develop a proposal according to the plan given at the end of this section.  The Office of Distance Education will work with departments and faculty to help develop the proposal.  Both the Coordinating Board and the Southern Association of College and Schools require that all distance education courses and programs meet specific criteria.  In addition to describing the program you wish to convert for distance delivery,  the Texas  Higher Education Coordinating Board requires the following criteria be met:

·         Instruction must meet the quality standards which an institution requires of similar instruction offered on-campus to regularly enrolled students.

 ·         Courses which offer either regular college credit or Continuing Education Units must do so in accordance with the standards of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

 ·         Students must satisfy the same requirements for admission to the Institution, to the program of which the course is a part, and to the class/section itself, as are required of on-campus students.

 ·         Faculty must be selected and evaluated by the same standards, review, and approval procedures used by the institution to select and evaluate faculty responsible for on-campus instruction.  Institutions must provide training and support to enhance the added skills required of faculty teaching classes via instructional telecommunications.

·         The instructor of record must participate in the delivery of instruction and evaluation of student progress.

·         Providers of graduate-level instruction must be approved by the graduate faculty of the institution.

 ·         All instruction must be administered under the authority of the same office or person administering the corresponding on-campus instruction.  The supervision, monitoring, and evaluation processes for instructors must be comparable to those for on-campus instruction.

 ·         Students must be provided academic support services--including academic advising, counseling, library and other learning resources, tutoring services, and financial aid--that are comparable to those available for on-campus students.

 ·         Facilities (other than homes as instructional telecommunications reception sites) must be adequate for the purpose of delivering instruction which is comparable in quality to on-campus instruction.

 Submit the draft of the degree program proposal to the Office of Distance Education.  The Office of Distance Education has a standing committee which examines all degree program proposals:  Committee members: 

 Jeanette Phariss, Assistant Provost, Office of the Provost, Chair

Elizabeth Tebeaux, Office of Distance Education

Pierce Cantrell, Office of Associate Provost for Information Technology 

Linda Lacey, Office of Admissions

Richard Giardino, Office of Graduate Studies

Joyce Thornton, Library

Kevin Jackson, Student Affairs

Representatives from the dean's office of the College submitting the proposal

4.       Once complete and approved by the college, the Graduate Council, and the Faculty Senate, the proposal should be sent to Jeanette Phariss.  Items required by the Board of Regents will be prepared by the Provost and the Office of Distance Education.   The proposal, with attachments, will then be forwarded to the Chancellor for presentation to the Board of Regents.

 5.       Once the program is approved by the Board of Regents, the proposal will be returned to the Office of the Provost, which will send the required segments of the proposal to the Coordinating Board.  A letter will be attached that states that the Board of Regents has approved the program for distance delivery.

Throughout the process, the Office of Distance Education works with the program leaders and faculty to ensure the quality of the courses.

 Attachment 15 shows the approval process for new degree programs at TAMU.  The Director of Distance Education works closely with the Assistant Provost throughout the process.  The Master of Industrial Distribution, a distance master’s program hosted by the Department of Engineering Technology, was the first new master’s program designed solely for distance delivery.  It was also the first master’s program developed by the Department of Engineering Technology.  As a result, the program required nearly two years for approval at Texas A&M with emphasis on marketing analysis, course design, planned assessment, and carefully designed syllabi.  The collaborative Ed.D. with Texas Tech required three years for approval. 

New degree programs, once approved, are subject to the same quality control measures applied to existing programs.  As stipulated by the Position Statement on Distance Education (Attachment 11), quality of all programs rests with the faculty.  Once launched, distance courses are subject to the same scrutiny as residential courses.  Teaching evaluations are sent to the faculty member and to department heads.  If student complaints are filed, the department head discusses these with the faculty member. 

Assignment of any graduate class is not automatic and occurs only if the faculty member has been admitted to the graduate faculty.  Attachment 16 gives the procedure for admission to the graduate faculty at Texas A&M.  Complaints from students that come to both the Office of Graduate Studies and the Office of Distance Education are referred to the head of the appropriate department.     

___ Ö____2.  The institution has plans for assessing student learning outcomes, student  retention, and student satisfaction in its distance education programs.  Please explain any differences in procedures compared to traditional on-campus format.  You are encouraged to submit existing summaries of meaningful conclusion drawn from data, as you would provide to SACS. 

                 The University has established an annual outcomes assessment plan for every degree program and department on campus.  Many of these plans are shown in Attachment 8.  These concepts are discussed under Institutional Issues, #4. 

 Basically, TAMU makes no distinction between distance and resident students.  Results of student work are monitored, and the format of the teaching evaluations, which allows comparisons among different courses in a program and department, allows the effectiveness of distance courses to be tracked, as illustrated in Attachment 9.  As shown in the PowerPoint presentation given by Dr. Jane Magill, Professor of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, and Genetics,  (Attachment 9)  assessment is systemic to the teaching process.  Faculty involved in distance education or technology-mediated course delivery have an impressive record of presentations documenting their experience with distance education outcomes.  Performance is included in research and presentations.  Faculty teaching via distance have found that DE students do as well or perhaps better than traditional students.  Assessment is used to improve distance courses. 

 ___Ö___ 3.  Explain procedures that are in place to evaluate all instructional materials developed by other organizations or institutions prior to use in distance education.

            In November of 1999, the Faculty Senate passed, without amendment or dissent, guidelines for "Approval of Non-TAMU Courses for Inclusion in TAMU Distance Degree Programs.”  These guidelines were then approved by President Bowen in January 2000.  These guidelines, which appear as Attachment 12, will be used if any TAMU department or degree program wishes to use distance courses from another institution as part of the degree requirements or course offerings in a TAMU distance degree program. 

Faculty

Section 3

       Ö   1.   The qualifications for distance education faculty are the same as faculty teaching the same courses in a traditional on-campus format. 

             Any faculty member who teaches a graduate course at Texas A&M must be a member of the graduate faculty.  No special category exists for distance education faculty.  Thus, any faculty member who wishes to teach a graduate distance education course must meet normal graduate faculty requirements.  (See Appendix 16.) TAMU does not hire adjunct faculty for its distance graduate programs. 

 ____Ö___ 2.  The institution provides orientation and training for faculty involved in distance education programs.  Please describe the faculty training activities.

                  During the summer of 1998, Texas A&M launched its first support center for faculty needing assistance in preparing course materials for Web delivery.  This center, the Cognitive and Instructional Technology Laboratory (CITL , housed near the Office of Distance Education), emerged as an extension of the original CITL research group housed in the College of Education.  This unit was launched to design and test web-based tools for teaching and research.  From Summer 1998-August 2000, this group worked with faculty to design high-quality web modules for courses and programs.  For example, CITL-Blocker developed the web-based courses of the Master's in Educational Technology and provided assistance to faculty in other programs--graduate, undergraduate, and professional.  During this time, CITL-Blocker employed one Educational Psychology faculty member, a specialist in online design, an assistant director, one full-time staff person and approximately one dozen graduate and undergraduate students.  CITL-Blocker not only assisted faculty in course redesign but also designed, developed, and tested software to complement WebCT, the template purchased by the Office of Distance Education for use by all faculty. 

             Prior to the establishment of CITL, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Education both provided extensive support units within their colleges to assist faculty with training in technology, such as delivery of courses via TTVN,  and development of web pages. 

                In late summer of 2000, the Learning Online Team was launched to replace the CITL.  Its sole purpose was to provide help to any faculty member who wished to incorporate technology into the delivery of course materials.   In 2001, the LOT was reconfigured to become Instructional Technology Services (ITS).   The ITS staff assists faculty with questions regarding WebCT problems, gives workshops on how to use WebCT features, works with ODE in helping programs plan the best technology for the kinds of courses/programs delivered by a particular department, and assists ODE and faculty with technical problems that arise.  There is no charge for use of ITS.   

                 The center is partially supported by $.25 per semester credit hours of the fee charged each student.  Additional funding is provided by the Office of Distance Education, the Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies, and the Associate Provost for Computing Technology.  The Director of ITS reports to the Associate Provost for Information Technology, as shown in the organization chart, #5 under Institutional Issues. 

                 In addition to Instructional Technology Services, TAMU faculty have access to other technical support resources:

ü      College of Science Information Technology Laboratory

ü      Technology Assisted Learning Laboratory

ü      Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies

ü      Computer Information Services

ü      Trans Texas Data and Videoconference Network (TTVN)

ü      Center for Distance Learning Research

                The College of Science Information Technology Laboratory, and the Technology Assisted Learning Laboratory, sponsored by the College of Agriculture and Life Science, work with their faculties and with any other faculty member who wishes to integrate technology into their courses.  Both have an range of software and hardware useful for advanced techniques in delivery course materials.  The Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies (AATLT) provides streaming media service to faculty who wish to stream and/or archive their courses.  The Trans Texas Video Network (TTVN) will instruct faculty in effective techniques for interactive video classes. 

             The university’s Computing Information Services (CIS) provides free courses in how to use various types of technologies and coordinates their instructional activities with Instructional Technology Services.

             The Center for Distance Learning Research provides design and development help for programs, but because CDLR is a joint effort of both TAMU and Verizon, the CDLR must charge for its services. 

            For a complete description of the services offered by each of these unites, please see the Guide to Distance Education at Texas A&M (Attachment 1) under Tab 1—Support Services.        

 The Bush School, the College of Architecture, and the Mays College of Business have extensive technical support groups that work exclusively with faculty in those colleges.  All colleges and many departments have technical experts available to help faculty with specific technical issues.  Departments which utilize instructional technology employ one or more full-time staff to assist faculty.  The Office of Distance Education works with departments needing assistance to locate individuals who can work with faculty in designing distance courses and implementing the appropriate technology.

College support units, each of which has a distance education coordinator, inform the Office of Distance Education of developmental activities.  The DE Faculty Advisory Committee and the DE University Advisory Committee provide support and input to the Office of Distance Education on policy matters and faculty development needs.  The Director of Distance Education thus works with the College Coordinators and the Director of Instructional Technology Services, who chairs the campus-wide Instructional Technology Council, charged with defining and meeting faculty needs. 

A WebCT users group, chaired by the Director of Distance Education of the Bush School, meets regularly to discuss problems and uses of various WebCT features. 

                Faculty who wish to teach via interactive video are trained by two of the college coordinators, education, and agriculture, and from TTVN as needed.  Instruction in interactive video is provided on demand. 

 ___Ö__  3.  Procedures are in place for appropriate evaluation of faculty involved in the distance education program (such as procedures that evaluate faculty-student interaction).  Please describe procedures and attach instruments. 

                 Because Texas A&M offers only graduate-level distance programs, faculty teaching those courses are members of the regular graduate faculty.  TAMU hires no adjunct distance education faculty.  Course evaluations are the main assessment tool—See Institutional Issues, #4—although more faculty are now taking advantage of the assessment tools available on WebCT for informal evaluations prior to formal assessment via the main Measurement and Research Tool.  Attachment 6 provides the list of questions from which DE faculty may choose for teaching evaluations.  Note that the distance education questions deal with faculty-student interaction.  As stated in Section 1, #4, each college has its own assessment methods for teaching, research, and service.  Faculty teaching via technology are evaluated with the same process as faculty teaching traditional courses.  Department/college committees look for quality courses, whatever delivery method is used. 

 ____Ö___4.  A policy exists that addresses faculty teaching load for those involved in distance education.  Please attach the policy and explain rationale.

              At TAMU, faculty are expected to carry a nine-semester credit hour load, which may be compiled from various responsibilities that produce “equivalent teaching credits.”  See Attachment 17, Faculty Workload Policy Statement—Texas A&M University.  Distance courses are given the same value as resident courses.  Distance classes may receive additional credit based on size and/or development time required.  Faculty may receive up to three-credit hours in any semester for new course preparation or development.   Distance courses and resident courses are covered by the same workload policies.    For example, graduate courses receive 1.5 sch credit vs. 1.0 credit for undergraduate classes.  Thus, a three-hour graduate course would equal 4 sch credit on an individual faculty member’s workload report. 

                 According to University Rule 17.99.99.M1- Distance Education Credit Courses and Programs, faculty teach distance education courses as part of their regular teaching load.  According to Section 3.4 of this rule,

                Departments that are heavily involved in distance education often provide additional support to faculty who are developing/redesigning distance education courses.  Support may include release time from teaching or service activities, graduate students assigned to aid in conversion activities, and purchase of special hardware and/or software needed.  Departments who are hiring faculty members who are expected to become heavily involved in distance education usually include this expectation in both the job ad and the teaching offer letter or contract letter. 

____Ö___ 5  A process exists for evaluating the credentials of faculty employed by other institutions who are teaching courses for which your institution is awarding credit.  

 Texas A&M deals with this issue in its approved procedures—Approval of Non-TAMU Courses for Inclusion in TAMU Distance Degree Programs (See Attachment 12)—and by the current rules of Graduate Faculty Membership (See Attachment 16).  Faculty from other universities may teach courses for which TAMU gives graduate credit if the faculty member receives a special appointment.  According to university policies and practices,

 The [special] appointments are accomplished by a letter of request from the head of an Academic department in College Station to the Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies with the individual’s resume attached.  In the letter of request, the department head should indicate if the Special Appointment status is to be limited to the one specified committee, to one specified teaching assignment, or to a fixed length of time.

In short, any faculty member who teaches a course for which TAMU gives graduate credit must be approved by TAMU procedures.  Both the course and the faculty member must be approved.

 ___Ö____  6.  The institution has policies on intellectual property, faculty compensation, copyright guidelines, and the distribution of revenue (if applicable) that are appropriate for distance education. 

 Texas A&M has two rules that supplement System Regulation, 17.02.02 Technology-Mediated Instruction:  17.02.02.M1 – Technology Mediated Materials and Instruction and 17.02.02.M1.01 – Procedures for Technology Mediated Instructional Material. (See Attachment 11.)  These rules were written to comply with the TAMU System’s directive in Spring 2000 for all System schools to provide rules that would complement System Regulation 17.02.02, also included in Attachment 11.   

 17.02.02.M1 states that intellectual property, defined as technology-mediated materials, belongs to the faculty member.  If the product is developed with substantial support from the university, the developer has the responsibility of reporting to the university any decision to commercialize the product.  In such a situation, the university may wish to receive a portion of royalties to recoup its investment.  However, in any case, the faculty member/creator will receive no less than 50% of any royalties received through site licensing to other universities or sale to a commercial publisher.  Faculty may use all internal support systems, such as Computer Information Services and the Instructional Technology Services without use of these facilities being deemed “significant development support.”  Significant support generally implies course load reductions, student help, major purchases of software and hardware to develop the technology-mediated product. 

 17.02.02.M1.01 provides procedures for executing the intellectual property rule.  Basically, the faculty creator should notify his/her department head about a TMI product in development and to determine if resources needed are going to be substantial.  The department has the responsibility to document all support given a creator who is developing a product. 

TAMU reserves the right to use TMI products without charge for use in teaching at the university.

Student Support Services

Section 4

 ___Ö____  1.  The institution provides distance learners access to appropriate student services.  Please describe the support services to distance education students in each of the following areas and how they are evaluated:  admissions, registration, academic advising, remedial services, placement services, testing and assessment, orientation, computing departments, financial aid offices, counseling, and help desk/hot line.

Admissions:  Distance students must apply to Texas A&M through the same process as any other student.  Student seeking graduate admission may submit their application online.  Students seeking admission as post-baccalaureate, non-degree seeking students should download that application, complete it, and mail it to the admissions office, as described on the application.  All students must follow the same application procedures. 

 Registration:  Once accepted, all students may register either by phone or online.  When they receive notice of acceptance from the Admissions Office, they are told when they may register and where to find instructions for registration.  Advisors of the various programs also answer questions about registration and deal directly with students who have questions about registration for specific courses.  As of Fall 2002, students may also pay online. 

 Academic Advising:  The Office of Distance Education maintains the distance education information page, available directly from the TAMU home page, which lists all approved degree programs, a description of the program, and the name of an individual to contact about the program.  For all students, queries about admissions and degree requirements should be directed to the department housing the program, although the Office of Distance Education can provide direction to students who need assistance in locating information about other issues.  Every college/department is responsible for its own academic advising for all graduate students in its programs.

Remedial Services:  TAMU provides no remedial services for distance students or resident students.  Students who are accepted into the master’s program must meet all English proficiency requirements.  Students on campus may be required to attend the English Language Institute to gain required proficiency.  Distance students who need to develop English proficiency are expected to do so before they are admitted to any graduate programs.  International students who are interested in pursuing a graduate degree may be enrolled as a G6 (post-baccalaureate, non-degree seeking) student to determine if the student has the English competencies needed for full admission to graduate work.  Students who do not have the required English competence will be advised on how to gain the required competence, or they will not be allowed to take further courses.  

Placement Services:  All TAMU students may use the university’s career placement services.  Distance students may begin contact with the career placement services at

http://careercenter.tamu.edu/Bulletins/CSCEmp.shtml.  Students will be required to come to campus for interviews or arrange off-campus interviews with employers. 

 Testing and Assessment: TAMU was one of the schools that helped develop the online testing consortium, which allows distance students to take examinations at any of the 31 Texas schools involved in the consortium.  The Office of Distance Education also arranges testing sites for out-of-state students enrolled in any of TAMU’s distance courses.

Orientation:  Departments and colleges hosting distance degree programs are responsible for providing orientation and contact individuals to distance students.  The Office of Graduate Studies provides graduate orientation.  All new graduate students—distance or resident—are invited to attend.   The Office of Graduate Studies and the Office of Distance Education plan to develop an online version of the graduate student orientation.  This material will be available from the distance education information page and from the Office of Graduate Studies home page. 

Computing Support:  Texas A&M offers a full range of computing support services, available to both distance and resident students.   Attachment 18 shows the documentation for question 18 of the Certification of Compliance for Distance Education:   Because distance education requires extensive use of technology, the university provides a range of resources to faculty as well as students.  These technology resources--personnel as well as equipment--support TAMU's use of technology in instruction, both on and off campus.  Attachment 18 also includes the most recent Information Resources Strategic Plan.

 Attachment 19 shows the response, prepared by the Associate Provost for Information Technologies, to the question in the Certification of Compliance for technology support for TAMU’s SACS compliance report.    

Financial Aid:  Texas A&M provides financial aid to any student to can meet its criteria.  Graduate students must be enrolled for 4.5 semester hours to be eligible for some type of financial aid.  The type has to be determined by the Office of Financial Aid, which bases its decision on the student’s individual financial and educational circumstances.  Thus, any distance education student enrolled for 4.5 semester hours/semester is eligible for financial aid consideration. 

This office interfaces with students at a distance through telephone, on-line advice using email, and by providing forms and information through its web pages. Video technology--both desk top video conferencing and prerecorded tape--have been used to provide scholarship and awards counseling and to assist in answering questions. Further, grant and scholarship information is accessible by computer. Future plans include greater use of web-based technology for student use in completing and submitting forms on-line and for tracking awards and scholarship information. Web site: http://faid.tamu.edu/

A memorandum of agreement between Texas Tech and Texas A&M governs the financial aid arrangements for the collaborative doctorate in Agricultural Education.  A student admitted this program is admitted to both universities but selects a “home” school for financial aid purposes.  Students in this program can take a total of 4.5 hours, usually six hours total, without regard to the student’s home school, and be eligible for financial aid.  Thus, a student whose “home” school is Tech may be taking one class at TAMU and one class at Tech and still be eligible for financial aid.

Office of Student Affairs for Texas A&M University

Within the Division of Student Affairs, several support services are currently available to distance learners. These services include:

·         Financial aid advisement, forms and instructional materials, and grant and scholarship information as well as access to other resources are available either through telephone, email, or web-based applications.       

·         Psychoeducational information, including personal, academic, and career counseling self-help information is available through the Student Counseling Services web site. Other self-help materials are accessible through the CounseLine telephone call-in service.

·         Internet access to course materials in an alternative format for students requiring assistance relative to a disability is available through the Services for Students with Disabilities Office.  Other adaptive technology assistance is available depending on the need of the student and the availability of the specific resources to meet that need.

·         An Office of Adult and Graduate Student Services that provides on-line and call-in resources on university contact information, graduate student organizations, an adult student listserv, and an adult and graduate student resource handbook.

·         Access to a licensed attorney and legal assistant who can provide legal information and advice on a variety of legal matters including consumer protection, auto accidents, and family, business, and counsel law.

·         Campus event information is available through the Memorial Student Center’s web site and the MSC Box Office has a toll-free telephone number for ordering tickets. Students can also access graduation information as well as order graduation announcements from this site.

·         Appointment of a staff member to serve as a special assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs in charge of leading the division in developing programs and services that meet the needs of distance learners. 

·         Staff assistance is available from any of the 13 departments within the division to assist a student in resolving a problem, understanding a university policy or procedure, or locating an appropriate resource.

The Division of Student Affairs will continue to assess the needs of an ever-changing Texas A&M student population—including students at a distance—and will expand services and programs to meet those needs as resources and university priorities allow.

Counseling: This group is presently addressing distant student services by providing psychoeducational information on its www.scs.tamu.edu Internet site. This web site includes information about TAMU-College Station student counseling services along with personal, academic (study skills), and career counseling self-help information intended for web browser use.

Included in these self-help resources are the printed transcripts (www.scs.tamu.edu/self-help/) for the CounseLine telephone call-in service (979-845-2958). The academic and career component of the SCS is currently pursuing the use of audio and video streaming as well as audio and video technologies to provide instructional materials to students via the Internet.

Standards regarding non face-to-face individual and group counseling of students at a distance are currently being studied by the American Psychological Association. Pending the direction and directives this governing agency dictates for "distant" counseling situations, the Student Counseling Services is also considering the possibility of implementing individual, group, and crisis intervention services in a variety of communications mediums. The Student Counseling Service will continue to facilitate reasonable requests for off-campus psychological and psychoeducational presentations, on a variety of counseling issues, to various affiliated student and parent organizations.

Help Desk/Hot Line:   Students have computing support for any computer-based questions.  Students may contact the Computer Information Services help desk seven days a week, 24-hours a day if they have problems with access to websites. 

____Ö___  2.   Distance learners have access to library resources of an appropriate breadth and quality for the distance education programs offered.  Please provide on-line address and describe resources, including any difference in service for off-campus and for instructional telecommunications students. 

                Attachment 20 provides pages from the TAMU library resources for distance students and faculty teaching distance courses.  The library makes available brochures for both faculty and students and updates these as frequently as possible.  Distance students may assess the library services for distant students through the TAMU home page:  http://library.tamu.edu/dels/index.html .  This page provides a description of all library services.  (See Attachment 20).   Distance students may order material from the distance librarian, who will collect and mail them to the student as expeditiously as possible. 

                In addition, any enrolled TAMU student may access the TAMU’s library databases, many of which are full-text databases. 

Distance Education Facilities and Support Services

Section 5

___Ö___  1.  The institution has available the facilities and equipment necessary to delivery its distance learning program.  Please describe, in brief, current infrastructure and procedures for evaluating its effectiveness. 

 Attachments 19 and 20 provide documentation of the types of technical support services for distance education.  Instructional support is discussed in #2 under Faculty. 

___Ö__ 2.  Arrangements have been made for off-campus delivery of required laboratories, clinical placement sites, workshops, seminars, etc. associated with distance learning activities. 

             When TAMU distance course require laboratories, arrangements are made to provide laboratory experiences in concentrated time spans that allow students to attend campus during weekends or specific time periods.  TAMU uses no one method of distance delivery, and many courses are delivered in combination formats:  TTVN, Web, and occasional face-to-face meetings with students.  Faculty may meet students at TTVN sites, or students may come to campus for periodic sessions.  The Master in Industrial Distribution and the collaborative doctorate in Agricultural Education both have students attend campus for periodical face-to-face meetings.  Students from Venezuela, who were enrolled in the Master of Petroleum Engineering, spent one summer session in College Station.  Faculty adjust delivery methods to ensure that student needs are addressed and that the course requirements, as defined by the catalog, are met.