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202 - Distance Learning

Responsible Office: Student Success
Responsible Officer: Vice President of Student Success
Related Minnesota State Board Policy:  3.36 Academic Programs
Related Minnesota State Board Operating Instruction:  3.36.1.2 Delivery Methods (PDF)

PURPOSE:  The purpose of this policy is to establish the procedure by which courses are developed and delivered through distance learning.

PART 1.  POLICY

Minnesota State College Southeast is committed to providing all students with learning options to meet diverse needs and preferences; this includes a range of synchronous and asynchronous educational opportunities, accessible through various modalities, including through distance learning (DL). Additionally, offering a variety of digital resources and support tools to enhance and enrich the learning experience for every student. To that end, Southeast promotes the development and delivery of accredited courses through DL within the constraints of technology and institutional budget. 

The individual responsible for coordinating the Learning Management System (e.g.D2L) manages the technical aspects of DL courses, programs, services, standards, and protocols in order for the Vice President of Student Success, Faculty, and other Southeast stakeholders to maintain the quality standards set forth by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and Minnesota State. The development, approval, delivery, and support of DL shall comply with the specific requirements and procedures below. 

The college seeks to provide students with synchronous and asynchronous educational options, as well as electronically available resources to supplement and enhance learning. To that end, the college promotes the development and delivery of accredited courses through distance learning (DL) within the constraints of technology and the institutional budget. The College seeks to provide high-school students, on-campus students, and working adults with synchronous and asynchronous educational options, as well as electronically available resources to supplement and enhance learning.

The individual responsible for coordinating the Learning Management System Learning Management System (e.g., D2L) supports DL courses, programs, services, standards, and protocols. They share the responsibility of maintaining the quality standards set forth by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and Minnesota State, with the Vice President of Student Success, Student Success staff, Administration, IT, Marketing, and Faculty. The development, approval, delivery and support of DL shall comply with the specific requirements and procedures below.

PART 2.  PROCEDURE

Administration 

  • Ensure that courses, certificates, diplomas, and degrees are authorized by Minnesota State and HLC in accordance with established institutional procedures and meet their quality standards at the time of implementation and on an on-going basis. 
  • Commit ongoing financial and technical support for the continuation of the program or course for a period of time reasonable and sufficient for students to complete the course or program. 
  • Support/provide faculty development/training. 
  • Provide periodic training and resources for faculty throughout the academic year to understand accreditation regulations and best practices in online design, delivery, and assessment. Training and resources may include courses or workshops within Quality Matters, WeTeach, Minnesota State, or in house.  The academic dean will ensure faculty who teach a DL course are familiar with these expectations prior to teaching the DL course.
  • The academic dean will review online courses as part of the instructor observation process.

Information Technology 

  • Provide adequate equipment, software, support, and communications access to faculty teaching via DL to support interaction with students, institutions, and other faculty. 
  • Provide support for access and use of Minnesota State e-services applications in accordance with Minnesota State guidelines.
  • Support campus access services by providing reasonable accommodations for students who have disabilities. Ensure data integrity and data privacy for students. 
  • Provide a secure testing environment. 
  • Establish email accounts for online students in a timely manner to facilitate communication between instructor and student. 
  • The individual responsible for coordinating the Learning Management System will help orient faculty using Learning Management System-enabled classroom for the first time. 

Faculty 

  • In collaboration with your Dean, schedule DL courses using Southeast's course scheduling procedure and the appropriate media codes as described in Minnesota State Operating Instruction 3.36.1.2 Delivery Methods (PDF). 
  • Demonstrate technological competence prior to the course offering.
  • Any faculty member who teaches online must be familiar with, prior to teaching online, the U.S. Department of Education's regulations that require all institutions who provide classes funded by financial aid to include regular and substantive interaction between students.
  • Agree to uphold the following standards for online courses: 
    • Ensure that the course is pedagogically sound.
    • Maintain rigor, support, and quality regardless of the modality.  
    • Engage in regular and substantive interactions with students.
    • Humanize the course by incorporating pedagogy/andragogy or instructional design that builds engagement, community and relationships with students (e.g., reaching out to students, using discussion threads, developing teams and/or group work).
    • Provide timely and constructive feedback to students' assignments and questions.
    • Include learning outcomes that are appropriate to the rigor and breadth of the award granted and are accurately and appropriately measured. 
    • The course is coherent and complete.
    • Learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner interaction (the latter when possible) is built into the curriculum. 
    • Monitor and report any suspicious fraudulent student activity.
    • Use the approved Online Course Evaluation Rubric to inform the course design to include quality. 

Approved: June 30, 2004
Reviewed: December 28, 2010; October 23, 2013; February-October 2024
Revised: September 29, 2008; February 7, 2011; October 16, 2024