Distance Education Process and Procedure

Earlham College and the Earlham School of Religion (collectively referred to herein as “Earlham”) recognize the value of distance education as a means of furthering the institution’s educational mission and reaching a diverse population of learners. Earlham is committed to ensuring that distance education courses and programs maintain the same academic rigor, quality, and standards as their in-person counterparts.

These procedures establish the framework for the development, approval, delivery, and oversight of distance education at Earlham. All distance education offerings must comply with the requirements of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), applicable federal regulations, state authorization requirements, and Earlham’s institutional policies.

These procedures apply to all distance education courses and programs offered by Earlham College and the Earlham School of Religion. It applies to all faculty, staff, and students involved in the delivery or enrollment of distance education offerings.

A. Distance Education:

As defined by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), consistent with the federal definition, distance education is education that uses one or more of the following technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor or instructors and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor or instructors, either synchronously or asynchronously:

1. The internet;
2. One-way and two-way transmissions through open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, broadband lines, fiber optics, satellite, or wireless communications devices;
3. Audio conference; or
4. Other media used in a course in conjunction with any of the technologies listed in items 1–3 above.

For purposes of this definition, an instructor is an individual responsible for delivering course content and who meets the qualifications for instruction established by the Higher Learning Commission.

B. Distance Education Course

As defined by the HLC, a distance education course is a course in which at least 75% of the instruction and interaction occurs using one or more of the technologies listed in the definition of distance education, with the faculty and one or more students physically separated from each other. (Note that synchronous courses where students can choose to attend in person or via video conferencing are considered Distance Education Courses.)

C. Distance Education Program

As defined by the HLC, a distance education program is a certificate or degree program in which 50% or more of the courses may be taken as distance education courses.

D. Regular and Substantive Interaction

Consistent with HLC and federal requirements, Earlham ensures regular and substantive interaction between students and instructors in all distance education offerings. An institution ensures regular interaction between a student and an instructor or instructors by, prior to the student’s completion of a course or competency:

1. Providing the opportunity for substantive interactions with the student on a predictable and scheduled basis commensurate with the length of time and the amount of content in the course or competency; and
2. Monitoring the student’s academic engagement and success and ensuring that an instructor is responsible for promptly and proactively engaging in substantive interaction with the student when needed on the basis of such monitoring, or upon request by the student.

Substantive interaction is engaging students in teaching, learning, and assessment, consistent with the content under discussion, and also includes at least two of the following:

1. Providing direct instruction;
2. Assessing or providing feedback on a student’s coursework;
3. Providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency;
4. Facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency; or
5. Other instructional activities approved by the HLC or the program’s accrediting agency.

A. Curricular Approval

Before a course may be considered for distance delivery, it must first be approved as a course through the standard curricular approval process.

B. Distance Modality Approval

Once a course has received curricular approval, it is then separately reviewed and approved for distance delivery by the Distance Education Oversight Subcommittee, a joint subcommittee of the Program Review & Assessment Committee and the Curricular Policy Committee.

C. Proposal and Review Process

Faculty submit a distance course proposal form to the Distance Education Oversight Subcommittee. The subcommittee reviews proposals to ensure predictable and scheduled substantive interaction, monitoring of academic engagement and success, responsive substantive interaction, and the presence of at least two substantive interaction types. The subcommittee maintains a process for regularly evaluating equivalency when courses are offered in more than one modality.

All distance education courses must provide academic rigor, quality, and assessment of student learning outcomes consistent with the equivalent in-person courses offered by Earlham. Instructors must hold distance education students to the same academic standards as students in face-to-face instruction.

Course syllabi, learning outcomes, and evaluations of course effectiveness for distance education courses will be evaluated according to standards consistent with those used for in-person courses.

All distance education courses must use Earlham’s learning management system, Moodle. For synchronous courses, substantial course content will be delivered synchronously via video conferencing or other distance software. Additional external websites and tools may be employed at the instructor’s discretion, but the structure of the course must be accessible through Moodle.

All distance education instructors must comply with federal copyright law and Earlham’s Intellectual Property Policy in the preparation and delivery of course materials. For details, see Earlham’s Intellectual Property Policy.

Instructors and staff must take the same care with distance education students’ education records as they do with students in face-to-face settings, in accordance with FERPA and Earlham’s Confidentiality of Educational Records Policy.

Earlham must authenticate the identity of all students enrolled in distance education courses in compliance with federal requirements under the Higher Education Act.

A. Registration and Course Access

All Earlham programs—undergraduate and graduate—use the Ellucian Cloud solution to manage course registrations. Students register for courses by logging into the Ellucian Experience campus dashboard using their Earlham ID and password. Distance education courses are delivered through Moodle, which requires authentication with the student’s unique Earlham credentials.

B. In-Person Registration Verification

When registering in person, students are required to present their Earlham ID for verification.

C. Remote Registration Verification

Students who are unable to register in person or through Ellucian may communicate with the Registrar’s Office. To verify identity, they must provide a student ID number and college email address. When communicating via email, they must use their Earlham email address.

Sharing usernames and passwords is a violation of this policy.

Distance education students are held to the same standards of academic integrity as students in face-to-face courses. The academic integrity policies of Earlham College and the Earlham School of Religion apply equally to all courses regardless of modality.

Earlham is committed to providing equal access to distance education courses for students with disabilities, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Reasonable efforts must be made to ensure that all distance education course content is accessible to persons with disabilities.

Students who need accommodations must register with Disability and Accessibility Services (DAS). DAS provides accommodations for students of the undergraduate college, the Graduate Programs in Education, and the Earlham School of Religion. For more information, contact:

Jennifer James
Director of Disability and Accessibility Services
ADA & Section 504 Coordinator
Lilly Library, Room 230
Phone: 765.983.1390
Email: [email protected]

Also see the full Accommodation of Students with Disabilities policy.

Students enrolled in distance education courses must have access to a computer meeting the recommended specifications below and a high-speed internet connection.

A. Recommended Computer Specifications

Mac:

• M2 Apple Air laptop or better

Windows:

• 11th Gen i5 processor or better
• Windows 11
• 16 GB RAM or better
• 256 GB SSD storage or better

B. Videoconferencing

Some distance education courses may require attendance via video conferencing. Synchronous courses will typically require attendance video conferencing and some primarily asynchronous courses may have occasional video conferencing requirements. Professors will provide information about the method of video conferencing (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams).

C. Technology Support

For help with passwords, university email, Moodle, or other technology issues, students should contact the Earlham College Help Desk:

Email: [email protected]
Website: https://earlham.edu/information-technology-services/

Distance education students have access to the same academic support services as on-campus students, including library resources, tutoring, writing support, and academic advising. Students are encouraged to contact the relevant academic support offices for assistance.

Earlham is a member of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). Distance education courses may only be offered to students who are physically located in states that participate in NC-SARA. Earlham may not offer distance education courses to students located in non-SARA states or territories unless separate state authorization has been obtained.

It is the student’s responsibility to confirm that they are located in a SARA-participating state at the time of enrollment in a distance education course. Students who relocate to a non-SARA state during the term should notify the Registrar’s Office immediately.

The creation, ownership, and use of course materials developed for distance education courses are governed by Earlham’s Intellectual Property Policy. In general, pedagogical materials such as syllabi and assessments are owned by the faculty member who authored them; however, the institution and its personnel are permitted to use or modify such materials for internal educational and administrative purposes, including reporting to accreditation agencies. Faculty with questions about intellectual property and distance education course materials should consult the Intellectual Property Policy.

All distance education programs and courses must comply with the standards and expectations of the Higher Learning Commission. In the event that a program-specific accrediting body imposes additional requirements regarding distance education, those requirements supersede this policy to the extent of any conflict.

Further information on HLC definitions and expectations for distance education can be found in the HLC Glossary at https://www.hlcommission.org/glossary/.

These procedures will be reviewed periodically by the Provost in consultation with the Distance Education Oversight Subcommittee to ensure continued compliance with HLC standards, federal regulations, and NC-SARA requirements. Amendments to this policy require approval by the appropriate institutional governance bodies.