Distance Education Program and On-line Course Offerings

Introduction

Thank you for your interest in Texas College. We are pleased to invite you to participate in our Distance Education Program for the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Business Administration and On-line Course Offerings. The Distance Education (Business Administration) offering also has the option of being offered for hybrid and face-to face delivery modalities. The initiative aligns with the institution’s mission to support life-long learning with flexible course options. Moreover, the offerings assist with addressing the employment demands that students may face. It should be noted that all and course offerings are approved by faculty. Further the Distance education offering has been approved by the Board of Trustees of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges for the baccalaureate degree, Bachelor of Science for individual who complete degree requirements.

Academic Programs

The academic programs for the baccalaureate degrees, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Sciences, have a general core requirement that must be successfully completed, along with content course requirements (which differs by major) that must also be successfully completed. The general core requirement is the same for all the majors at the baccalaureate level. The combination of the general core and content core requirements (inclusive of the optional elective hours) with a minimum total of 120 hours make up the degree program.

The associate degree programs have a total minimum semester hour requirement of 63 credits. The course for the associate degrees also differs in content, with one being the General Studies emphasis and the other being the Earl Childhood emphasis.

Faculty

The institution employs an adequate number of full-time faculty to support the mission and goals of the institution for providing the educational experience for students enrolled. Part-time faculty are used as a compliment when needed for instruction. In determining adequacy, the administration considers the number of full-time faculty needed to address the essential functions of the student size of the academic unit; program teaching loads; committee assignments; student advisement; course enrollments; curriculum design; student-teacher ratios; departmental budget; and institutional service of the full-time faculty. The use of part-time faculty is generally limited to course instruction, of less than a normal load.

In delivering the educational experience, the institution uses a compilation of full-time and part-time faculties. The institution’s “Faculty and Staff Handbook,” defines the employment status of faculty as:

• Full-time Faculty is a teaching professional who has academic rank of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, or professor. Full-time faculty have normal teaching loads that average 12-16 hours per semester and have committee assignments.

Part-time Faculty is a teaching professional who is not a permanent employee of the College and does not have a rank designation. Part-time faculty (also referred to as Adjunct faculty) are employed as needed and assigned less than a normal teaching load, not to exceed nine (9) credit hours.

Faculty Instruction

• Facilitate student learning, provide effective instruction, and perform evaluations of student learning for all assigned classes;
• Develop course curriculum, course handouts, lectures, labs, and presentations;
• Work with other faculty and administrators in developing program curriculum, standards, and policies, including reviewing and participating in textbook selection process where appropriate;
• Assign grades and maintain course/student records in accordance with FERPA regulations and submit grades and records by established deadlines;
• Meet all classes and other scheduled responsibilities such as office hours and meetings at the designated times; and
• Keep a weekly schedule that best facilitates student learning and access.

Faculty Professional Development

• Participate in the faculty evaluation process;
• Receive training or stay current in technological or pedagogical advances that promote student learning; and
• Participate in college professional development activities.

Faculty Service to the College

• Help students identify and achieve their educational goals through participating in the college’s advising process;
• Post and keep on campus hours to facilitate interaction with students, other faculty, staff, administrators, and the public;
• Serve on standing ad hoc committees, advisory boards, hiring committees, faculty senate, or as a student organization advisor;
• Attend local, regional, state, or national meetings where required or necessary for the discipline;
• Attend commencement or other ceremonies appropriate to the faculty member’s discipline or program;
• Attend departmental, divisional, and college-wide meetings where appropriate or as required by supervisor; and
• Mentor and assist in orienting new faculty, either formally or informally where appropriate or required by division.

The deployment of faculty to meet the program requisites is essentially addressed to the benefit of students. With the general education core class being required of all baccalaureate programs, this is achieved with a selection of faculty from all divisions whose course loads will include general core offerings and offerings of the content, when students are in the major. This is also achieved with the use of a minimal number of part-time/adjunct faculty, who may be needed when there is a need for multiple sections.

Awarding of Academic Credit

The policy and practices of Texas College for determining the amount and level of credit are consistent with the Carnegie Unit definition; this was adopted by the College. The Carnegie unit is a system established in the late 19th century for the purpose of defining the award of academic credit for both high school levels and secondary education, based on how much time students spend in direct contact with the classroom teacher. The Carnegie Unit notes that, “a semester unit of credit as equal to a minimum of three hours of work per week for a semester. This means that one unit of credit equates to three hours of student work per week. for 15 weeks.

The institution’s policy conforms to the best practices in higher education in that it:

• Provides a system of measurement for evaluating clock to credit hour conversions that is uniformly practiced in higher education;
• Provides a way of measuring satisfactory academic progress by including a standard by which student progress can be measured /evaluated; and
• Addresses a uniform way to facilitate transfer of credits between institutions of higher education per the 15-week criteria.

For Texas College, a typical 3-hour lecture course meets three days a week, for a 15-week period (45 contact hours) and is three credits; some classes are two days a week and meet the same amount of contact hours to be awarded three credits; However, the majority of science related courses are four credits, over the same period of time, with the additional hour being for science labs, empirical work and/or out of class requirements; the contact hours for these classes are 60 hours. The meeting time for classes within the Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule is 50 minutes and the meeting times for Tuesday-Thursday schedules is one-hour fifteen minutes.  

For labs, practicums, internships and seminars, the credit hours range from 1-3 hours depending on the scheduled meeting time. The general practice is faculty engagement of 15 x 50, or 750 total minutes per 1.0 credit hour. Following is the “Course Credit” scale used by the College:

COURSE CREDIT. Credit for academic work is measured in semester hours. The College does not use another method to provide credit. A semester hour is the amount of credit earned for the satisfactory completion of one contact hour per week, within one semester.

Scale for Determining Level of Credits

1 contact hour = 50 minutes

15 contact hours per credit hour

Credit hours        Contact hours        Total minutes

1.0                        15                            750

2.0                        30                            1500

3.0                        45                            2250

4.0                        60                            3000

Distance and Correspondence Education and Information Technology

The Information Technology (IT) Department is prepared to provide students with technical support for distance education. The IT Department is availability to assist with login credentials as well as guide students with help in navigating the learning management system (LMS). Further, an orientation is available to addresses tutorials and guidance for student accessibility to faculty and technical support. The IT department conducts regular system upgrades and technical support for students and faculty on a 24/7 basis. The LMS platform interfaces with most web-based programs and educational technologies. Additionally, through the “Ask the Librarian” initiative the D.R. Glass Library is available to students online as well as accommodating with providing online technical assistance.

It should also be noted that to address integrity of course offerings, the College uses a version of Biometric Signature ID, as an authentication software for identifying students when they login, take exams and/or submit course work. The use of software adds no additional cost to tuition and fees. Moreover, the online experience is the same for both traditional and virtual offerings.