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Distance Learning Initiative

There are thousands of adult learners in Texas who cannot access education services in the locations or at the times they are scheduled. For this reason, Texas LEARNS has participated in an initiative that will permit delivery of adult education services through distance delivery systems.

The Texas LEARNS initiative for distance learning is supported by of Project IDEAL, a national consortium of states supporting distance education delivery for adult learners.

Last year, the United States Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, approved policy and reporting requirements for adult learners enrolled in distance education programs, effective July 1, 2007.

In anticipation of this decision, Texas LEARNS formed a distance education committee with statewide representation to develop state policy that would provide guidance for distance education providers and comply with federal policy.

In brief, state policy:

1. Defines distance education as a formal learning activity where students and instructors are separated by geography, time or both for the majority of the instructional period.
2. Distinguishes between direct contact hours and proxy hours.
1. Direct contact hours are hours where the time and identify of the students can be verified through a sign-in sheets or similar documentation (e.g.—face-to-face instruction or a webinar).
2. Proxy hours are hours where exact time spent of various activities cannot be directly verified but are calculated, based on an approved distance education curriculum and a specific model for estimating time.

3. Requires that each student enrolled in a distance education curriculum have at least 12 direct contact hours to meet NRS requirements.
4. Requires use of an approved distance education curriculum.
5. Requires that assessments used for establishing baselines and post-tests be administered in person by an experienced proctor.
6. Requires teachers to follow the same assessment policy for distance education students as other students. Both direct contact hours and proxy hours can be counted toward assessment benchmarks.
7. Instructs instructors to set up distance classes separately in TEAMS so that both direct hours and proxy hours can be tracked.
8. Requires instructors and program administrators to complete DL 101, a course providing professional development for distance education, prior to implementation of distance classes.
9. Requires programs to input data for distance education students in TEAMS and also the Distance Student Tracker, a national database sponsored by Project IDEAL for distance education students.

For the full text of the policy developed by the Distance Education Committee, refer to State Policy Document for Distance Education.

Ready, Set, Go, is a PDF version of a Microsoft® Power Point® presentation describing the state distance education policy. [Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]. The text-only version of Ready, Set, Go! is available here.

DL 101, an online course providing professional development for teachers and administrators of distance education, is provided by the regional GREAT Centers.

The list of approved curriculum can be found here.

Online resources for planning, training, teaching, curriculum, evaluation and technology are available at the Project IDEAL website: www.projectideal.org

Resources for technology resources for adult education is available at www.adultedonline.org

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State Policy Document for Distance Education

1. Definition. Distance education is formal learning activity where students and instructors are separated by geography, time or both for the majority of the instructional period. Distance learning materials are in a variety of media including but not limited to print, audio recording, videotape, broadcasts, computer software, web-based programs and other online technology. Teachers support distance learners through the following to include but not limited to: communication via mail, telephone, e-mail, online technologies and software, or face to face instruction.

2. Requirement for Direct Contact Hours. Students in distance education must have at least 12 hours of direct contact with the program before they can be counted for federal reporting purposes. Direct contact hours involve interaction between the learner and program staff and can be a combination of direct face-to-face contact and contact through telephone, video, teleconference or online communication, in which the identity of the learner can be verified. Live online discussions, telephone conference calls and live video broadcast to remote locations are examples of direct contact hours that are countable under this definition.

3. Proxy Contact Hours. In addition to direct contact hours, programs may also report proxy hours to track time students spend on distance learning activities. Proxy hours differ from direct contact hours in that the identity of the learner and/or the exact amount of time spent on a learning activity cannot always be verified directly.

4. Distance Education Models. In order to determine a learner’s proxy hours a program must use an approved curriculum and one of the following models:

• Clock Time Model: Assigns proxy hours based on the time that a learner is connected to or engaged in an online or stand-alone software program that tracks time.
• Teacher Certification Model: Assigns a fixed number of proxy hours for each lesson in a distance curriculum based on teacher determination of the extent to which a learner engaged in or completed the assignment.
• Learner Mastery Model: Assigns a fixed number of proxy hours based on learner mastery of each lesson in the distance curriculum and passing a test with a high percentage (usually 70% to 80%) of correct answers.

5. Curriculum. Project IDEAL is a consortium of states working together to explore the potential of distance education to reach adult education learners and influence their educational outcomes. Member states within Project IDEAL have reviewed and documented successful outcomes for various curricula over a period of at least two years. Programs can use these approved curricula to assign proxy hours for distance education activities. A list of approved curricula and the associated model used for calculating proxy hours will be posted on the Literacy Resources page of the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) website.

Each curriculum employed for distance education delivery must be approved by the state office before using and before proxy hours can be reported.

Each new curriculum for which proxy hours potentially are to be calculated must be reviewed and approved by the state office and a committee consisting of no fewer than three instructors who have used it in situations where student time and outcomes are closely monitored. Reviews for curricula using the teacher certification and mastery models must identify recommendations for assigning proxy hours, based on actual experience, for specific activities assigned or units mastered. These recommendations may be reported as a range of hours, taking into account learning differences for different populations. Recommendations for proxy hours will be reviewed each year for at least two years after the curriculum has been implemented to verify that the original recommendations are in line with field experience.

Please note:

• Proxy hours calculated through the Clock Time Model must utilize curricula that electronically track time the student spends interacting with instructional material and disconnects after a preset period of inactivity.
• Proxy hours calculated through the Teacher Certification Model and the Learner Mastery Model must adhere to reasonable estimates of time necessary to complete assignments or lessons, as pre-determined by teachers or staff with knowledge of the curriculum.

6. Assessment. Students in distance education courses will be posttested after the same amount of instructional time, as other students, according to the approved state assessment policy. Both direct contact hours and proxy contact hours are counted to calculate the amount of instructional time. Students must appear in person at a proctored program site for baseline tests and any subsequent posttests. Assessments must be conducted through face-to-face interaction with a trained test administrator in a secure setting using only state and NRS approved assessments.

7. Registration and Assignment. All of the required NRS data elements will be recorded in TEAMS for distance education students. For data to be reported on Table IV, 12 or more direct hours including a baseline assessment are required. Any student who takes a distance education course for which any number of proxy hours is entered will be declared a Distance Education Student in the participant profiles section the state management information system (TEAMS). If a student is not declared as a Distance Education Student, proxy hours may not be counted.

Distance Education classes must be identified as such in TEAMS where direct contact hours and proxy contact hours will be recorded separately. When creating a Distance Education Class in TEAMS, it will be necessary to chose one of the models for calculating time.

Proxy hours in the Clock Time Model are tracked electronically. Additional direct instruction may be recorded and included in reported student time. If the Teacher Certification or Learner Mastery model is chosen, any direct contact hours that includes curriculum instruction may not be counted since total proxy hours have already been assigned to that curriculum. However, any direct contact hours for registration, orientation, assessment, or instruction that are not part of the curriculum may still be counted.

8. Reporting Hours. Programs will report distance education hours into the state data base (TEAMS) and into Distance Student Tracker (Project IDEAL). Though tracked separately, all hours, whether direct contact or proxy, will be reported and included in NRS Table IV. Table IV will also capture direct contact hours the participant has completed in non-distance courses during the program year.

9. Professional Development. Teachers and administrators planning to offer distance education for the first time will participate in professional development designed to ensure successful program implementation.

10. Required and Other Training

1. Distance Education 101—(required) provided by the regional GREAT Centers


2. Distance Student Tracker – (required) provided by Project IDEAL to learn processes for entering data


3. Other professional development activities for distance education teachers based on needs assessments – provided by GREAT Centers

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List of Approved Curriculum for Distance Education in Texas

English for All
GED Connection
GED Illinois
MHC-GED Online
Crossroads Cafe
Pre-GED Connection
Madison Heights/ Lifelines
PLATO
SkillsTutor
Workplace Essential Skills
Aztec

See the Project IDEAL webpage for a working paper providing detailed descriptions of these curricula:

Exploring Distance Education Curricula for Adult Learners (September, 2005) [PDF, download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]