Course Proposal Form: pdf

• Course identification: course discipline and number, number of credits
• Instructor's name, phone number, available times to be reached for discussion/clarification of course content, assignments, etc. and address
• Learning resources/required texts (These will also be given in the Introductory Pages that the DL office distributes to students when they register.)
• Educational goals for the course
• Student learning objectives
• Requirements for course completion, including clear explanations of course assignments
• Due date(s) for completion of course requirements (These are usually in general terms, not in specific dates, since different students can be working on any particular section of the course at any time in the calendar year.)
• Process and address for submitting the course assignments
• Evaluation procedures and criteria for grading
• Quote the DL Academic Integrity statement
• Course evaluation (The DL office uses a standard course evaluation form and will provide these for students to complete.)

1. A minimum of 10 content-based instructional hours are required for each credit. These may be hours of instruction via videotape, audiocassette, reading, television broadcast, or live instruction transmitted via telecommunications medium. Instructional activities that are of a laboratory/workshop/experiential nature--such as site-visits, classroom observations, application activities, or group projects--will be calculated at a 2-to-1 ratio. Thus, two hours of such activities will equal one hour of more formalized content-based instruction.
2. In addition to the instructional hours required and specified in #1, all credit courses must include student products that can be evaluated by the instructor. These products must reflect students' learning and be of substantive nature for the amount of credit earned. The student products must provide an opportunity for individualized and unique synthesis and/or application of the ideas and information learned in the course.
3. Distance learning courses must comply with the university's policy requiring that a one-credit, two-credit, three-credit course must extend over a minimum of two, three, or five days, respectively. Students may not earn more than three credits in one week. Instructors of distance learning courses that are more than three credits must structure the course to assure that the course cannot be completed in less than one week.
4. Since coursework for a distance learning course is done independently, the assignments that are given must, in some way, ensure that students have actually completed the necessary work.
5. As with any academic course, cheating cannot be tolerated. In a distance learning course, it is not generally possible to observe whether or not students are completing their own work. Thus, safeguards against cheating--such as preventing the copying of other students' work or somehow "short-circuiting" course requirements--must be implemented when constructing a course.
6. It is preferred that courses have a mediated component; that is, some portion of the course's content should be transmitted via audiotape, videotape, computer-disk or Internet, satellite, cable-transmission, etc. Since most courses will also have a substantial portion transmitted via print (textbooks, study guide, professional journal articles), the mediated component helps facilitate the learning of students with different learning styles and provides for more diversity and interest in the delivery of course content.
7. Opportunity for interaction between the student and the instructor must be provided. For most year-long DL courses, which are self-paced and have little or no opportunity for face-to-face or limited opportunity for online interaction, the following two methods should be implemented:
   1. The instructor makes him/herself available for phone calls or email messages from students in the course. Phone numbers, email addresses and available times should be posted in the syllabus.
   2. Assignments that are submitted by students are returned with feedback/evaluation/comments. This feedback serves as a critical link between the student and instructor; thus, the more such opportunities that are provided, the better. A recommended number of feedback/evaluation opportunities is one per credit.
8. The letter grade only system is preferred and highly recommended for distance learning courses. This helps maintain the academic credibility of these courses. (If a pass/no credit grading option is provided, then all policies in this handbook related to academic grading must be met).

1. Evaluating all student coursework thoroughly and fairly and within three weeks of receipt of such work.
2. Grading student coursework according to the criteria established in the course study guide/syllabus.
3. Returning the work of all students who submit postage-paid envelopes for this purpose.
4. Handling administrative aspects of the course, including but not exclusive of, completing the grade report for all enrolled students at the end of a quarter, completing a change-of-grade form for each student finishing work after the quarter in which s/he registered, and responding to requests for extensions.
5. Responding to inquiries by students regarding the course (content, assignments, etc.).
6. Maintaining records on students' work?completion and evaluation. At the university's discretion, these records are to be made available for review by appropriate SPU personnel.
7. Supporting and adhering to the course requirements and activities, as outlined in the course study guide/syllabus and approved by SPU. The instructor shall use professional judgment to work with individual students, modifying particular assignments to meet students' unique situations. However, the amount, breadth, and depth of coursework, as designated in the course study guide/syllabus must still be maintained.
8. Informing SPU's Distance Learning office and providing a forwarding address in the event of the instructor will be absent from his/her permanent mailing address for a period greater than twenty (20) days and, thus, unable to perform the duties of this agreement in a timely manner.
9. When developing the course, obtaining permission from the author, agency, or copyright holder for the use of all borrowed materials which are to be included in recorded or printed course materials. The instructor must provide SPU with documentation of permission to use these previously copyrighted materials prior to the duplication of the syllabus or Course materials and must cite in the course materials all borrowed works.

Extensions are available to students who cannot complete distance learning coursework within the allotted time because of illness or other emergency beyond the control of the student. Extensions are granted for one additional quarter. Students must send a request for an extension in writing to the instructor before their final course deadline. The instructor then forwards a copy of the request to Kelli Knapp in Student Academic Services with a signed recommendation to grant or deny the request. SAS will send official notification to the student. If approved, the notification will include the new course deadline, which is the closing date of the next quarter. The instructor will receive a copy of the letter. A second extension may only be granted in extreme circumstances and must be petitioned, with documentation, in the same manner as the first. If granted, it will also be for one additional quarter.