The institution complies with the policies of the Commission on Colleges.
|
Judgment of Compliance
|
Narrative
Sam Houston State University (SHSU) has included a review of its distance learning programs in the applicable standards within this Fifth-year Compliance Certification. The following table provides a brief synopsis of how SHSU has addressed the distance learning programs within its Fifth-year Compliance Certification Report, with links to the full-text narratives for each standard.
Standard And Brief Synopsis of Distance Learning Narrative |
| The university does not employ a separate faculty for its online programs. The faculty who are responsible for ensuring the quality and integrity of the academic programs offered via an online modality are the same faculty who ensure the quality and integrity of face-to-face academic programs. Within each academic discipline, the full-time faculty, regardless of instructional modality, are responsible for a wide variety of activities such as advising, mentoring, student organization sponsorship, curriculum oversight, committee service, professional development, community outreach, and peer review. Although all full-time faculty are responsible for the shared governance and service aspects of the academy, not all faculty teach an online course in any given semester. The evidentiary tables provided in Core Requirement 2.8 provide evidence of an adequate number of full-time faculty with online instructional responsibilities for the most recently completed semester. Institution-wide, an overwhelming majority (83.9%) of the full-time faculty equivalents teaching online courses in the fall 2014 were full time. |
| SHSU provides student support programs, services, and activities consistent with its mission to face-to-face students and distance education students alike. Provided within the narrative for Core Requirement 2.10 is a discussion of these support programs, services, and activities with descriptions of how these services are made available to distance learners. Furthermore, the Distance Education and Learning Technologies for Academics (DELTA) Center provides a wide range of services aimed at promoting student learning and success. The center adheres to the assumptions expressed in the Principles of Good Practice for Academic Degree and Certificate Programs Offered Electronically, published by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), which articulates a number of measures aimed at ensuring the highest possible quality in the practices of providing student services. The DELTA Center is fully committed to the success of all SHSU students, including distance, correspondence, and on-campus learners who enroll in online and/or hybrid courses. |
Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1.1 Distance education programs conduct and document their annual programmatic assessment efforts in the same manner as their traditional face-to-face counterparts. As theory and practice regarding distance education assessment has evolved, the Office of Academic Planning and Assessment has endeavored to create guidelines for these programs that align with generally recognized best practices. Beginning with the 2013-2014 assessment cycle, SHSU refocused its approach for documenting the assessment of online programs, especially for those programs that employ a hybrid model in which students can complete a degree through either distance education or face-to-face modalities. As is highlighted within “Best Practices for Documenting Assessment of Online and Distance Education Programs,” these hybrid programs are asked to disaggregate assessment results for online and face-to-face students and to use the results from both groups in the formulation of their actions for improvement. As fully online programs lack any face-to-face components, these programs have no need to disaggregate by modality. |
| Responsibility for program coordination is assigned to qualified individuals who assume responsibility for programs across all modalities (e.g., face-to-face and online). To support the department chair or program coordinators in ensuring that faculty teaching online courses have the appropriate training, the DELTA Center provides training and technical support to faculty to facilitate their ability to deliver the curricular content. As part of its mission, the DELTA Center offers high-quality course development services for faculty, year-round technical support, and professional development opportunities. |
|
SHSU manages and supports a sophisticated and scalable technological infrastructure in order to make adequate and suitable provisions for the purposes of delivering quality distance and face-to-face education. The various technology solutions and services managed and/or administered by SHSU are appropriate to the nature and objectives of the university’s academic education programs and courses delivered via a fully face-to-face, a fully online, or a hybrid modality. Some prominent components of the technological infrastructure include: (a) the Learning Management System (LMS); (b) university-wide proctoring solutions; (c) various web/video conferencing options, including Blue Jeans, Blackboard Collaborate, Go to Meeting, and Go to Assist, as well as iTV, Kaltura, and Tegrity; (d) a recording studio; and (e) a host of third-party applications that augment the online and face-to-face teaching and learning environment by providing rich options for engagement, learning, and assessment in educational programs. |
|
All degrees at SHSU, regardless of modality, are developed in accordance with Chapter 5, Subchapter C, Section 5.45 of the Texas Administrative Code (TAC), which mandates that “the program must be within the existing role and mission of the institution as indicated by its table of programs or the Board must make the determination that the program is appropriate for the mission of the institution.” As part of the annual curriculum cycle, curricular content of all proposed degrees is developed by the departmental faculty and subsequently reviewed internally, with accompanying recommendations by departmental, college, and university curriculum committees; the Academic Affairs Council; the Provost; and the President. Proposals are then reviewed externally for approval or denial by The Texas State University System Board of Regents and the THECB. All degree proposals require thorough descriptions of the program and curricula, as well as documentation of student demand, market need, and institutional resources. Additionally, the THECB must review and approve online program proposals. All online degree program proposals are reviewed internally by DELTA, a unit to support students, faculty, and staff in distance education and learning technologies, and externally by the THECB’s Learning Technology Advisory Committee. THECB approval requires that the curriculum be “up-to-date and consistent with current educational theory.” |
| SHSU makes available to all students, regardless of modality, current and future academic calendars, grading policies, and refund policies. Current and projected academic calendars and current refund policies are published on the SHSU website. Grading policies are communicated to students through the academic catalogs published online and within each course syllabus. |
| SHSU has developed and maintains curricula for each of its educational programs, regardless of modality, that are appropriate in length and content. All undergraduate programs at SHSU require a minimum of 120 semester credit hours as mandated by the THECB in the “Standards for Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programs” and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Comprehensive Standard 2.7.1. All graduate programs at SHSU require at least 30 semester credit hours as required by the SACSCOC Comprehensive Standard 2.7.1. Doctoral programs range in length from 58 to 108 semester credit hours, depending upon discipline norms and expectations. |
| SHSU is committed to fostering an educational environment that promotes the highest level of learning and personal development of all students, regardless of learning modality. To support this commitment, SHSU strives to ensure all students are treated equitably and in accordance with university policies. When a student asserts that SHSU has not followed university policies, that student is afforded the opportunity to file a formal student complaint with the institution. Policies and procedures for written student complaints do not differ for face-to-face and online students. All students, regardless of modality, are afforded the opportunity to submit written student complaints via in-person delivery, hard copy mail, e-mail, or fax. |
| SHSU’s recruitment materials and presentations accurately represent the university’s practices and policies for all potential students and degree programs, regardless of the method of delivery (e.g., face-to-face, online). All recruitment pieces are updated regularly (biennially for catalogs, annually for other printed materials, and frequently throughout the year for online information), ensuring that materials and presentations accurately represent the institution’s practices and policies. |
| SHSU ensures that the student who registers in a distance or correspondence education course or program is the same student who participates in and completes the course or program and receives the credit. Student identity is verified through use of a secure login and passcode, as well as by proctored examinations. |
| SHSU’s written policy for protecting the privacy of students enrolled in distance and correspondence education courses and programs is expressed in Academic Policy Statement 810806, Student Educational Records. Academic Policy Statement 810806 fully supports the rules and regulations set forth by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and establishes protocols for its safekeeping. Academic Policy Statement 810806 applies to all students at SHSU, regardless of course modality. The FERPA campus official at SHSU is the University Registrar. SHSU policies supporting FERPA are outlined in the privacy rights documentation posted on the Registrar’s website. |
| SHSU does not require distance education or correspondence education students to utilize identity verification services for which they are required to pay an additional charge or fee. Instead, the university makes available to its distance and correspondence education students a number of free identity verification options. |
| All SHSU courses taught via distance education, whether delivery is synchronous or asynchronous, adhere consistently to the THECB’s definition of a credit hour, in which a 3-credit-hour course must have a minimum of 45 contact hours. All syllabi, as well as course rigor, course content, and course textbooks for distance education courses also follow the same policies as the face-to-face courses. Credit hours awarded for synchronous distance learning courses use the same guidelines as traditionally delivered courses. Credit hours awarded for asynchronous courses match those for synchronous courses and face-to-face courses based upon equivalent content. A comparison of syllabi for courses offered in both face-to-face and online modalities documents similar content and expectations for both, providing evidence that the online classes are making similar demands and require similar amounts of work to earn the credit hours awarded. |