Wiki Page, WCC DE Faculty Handbook: Introduction to Distance Education-2

Wiki Page
2016-08-20T18:33:09-06:00

In its truest form, distance education is where a course is offered fully online and students and instructors never meet face-to-face. In a broader sense, distance education has evolved to mean courses where students and instructors may meet face-to-face occasionally or in a virtual environment for office hours or tutoring sessions. Some courses require students to come to campus for an initial meeting or the proctoring of exams. Hyrbid courses take a mixed approach where students come to campus for some sessions and work while the rest of the course happens in a virtual space. In addition, many traditional, on campus courses take a web-enhanced approach and utilize technology, including the college's learning management system, to deliver content and resources to students.

Woodland Community College has clearly defined parameters for how courses are categorized, and as both the federal government and state also have guidelines for these categories, it is import for WCC faculty to understand the differences in the type of courses being offered to students and the expectations associated with each. There are serious consequences for students if a course fails to meet specific requirements, which will be discussed in the "Federal and State Guidelines for Distance Education" section of this course.

The following definitions from the Board of Trustee's Administrative Procedure 4105 guide distance education at COD, which governs distance education offerings at Woodland Community College:

Definition: Distance education means instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology.

COURSE CATEGORIES

Online: A course that uses web-based tools and in which 100% of the instruction and interaction between instructor and student is done online (proctored exams still allowed for this classification)

Hybrid: A course that replaces some, but not all, face-to-face class time with web-based tools

Web Enhanced: A face-to-face course that does not replace any face-to-face seat time but requires access to web-based tools.