Identifying core areas of compliance for online course design.

1. Identifying Core Areas of
Compliance for Online Course
Design
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Ilona Marie Hajdu & Ricky LaFosse, J.D.

2. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Presentation Outline
1. Introduction to Indiana University’s Office of Online Education
2. Overview of Online Education Compliance
3. State Authorization
4. Distance vs. Correspondence Education
5. Accessibility
6. Key Recommendations
7. Compliance Rubric

3. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
About IU Online

4. Overview of Online
Education Compliance

5. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
“Regulatory Triad” (plus 1)
• State, Federal, & Accreditation Agencies
• Reciprocity Agreements (e.g., SARA)

6. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Other Compliance Areas and Influences
• Other Influences on Compliance Efforts
– Policies of Institution
– Faculty Governance and Academic Freedom
– Students/Consumers
– Third Party Agreements

7. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
FEDERAL
State Authorization Rule and other Title IV Eligibility
Disability Statutes (ADA and Section 504)
Military/Veteran Students and Families
Gainful Employment/Borrower Defense
STATE
Authorization Requirements
Consumer Protections for Students
Licensure Disclosure Requirements
ACCREDITOR
Quality Assurance
Misc. (e.g., Student Identification Verification)
SARA
Quality Assurance
Student Disclosures
Complaint Procedures
Data Tracking and Reporting Requirements
OOE’s Core Focus

8. State Authorization

9. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Authorization
Requirements
Student
Protections
Public
Disclosures
Individual
Disclosures
Obtain unless
exempt
Public/ Nationally
Accredited often
exempt for 100%
online programs
Physical presence
often triggers and
definitions vary by
state
Complaint
procedures
Disclosure
requirements
Retaining tuition
refund protections
under home state
All state
requirements for
authorization
Authorization
status (and how)
Out-of-state
licensure (Gainful
Employment
overlap)
Student complaints
Tuition Refunds
Adverse actions
Licensure
Changes to
Licensure
Adverse Actions

10. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
http://online.iu.edu/student-resources/compliance/index.php

11. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Licensure Disclosures under SARA
Option 1: The institution may determine whether the course or program meets the
requirements for professional licensure in the state where the applicant or student resides
and provide that information in writing to the student
Option 2: The institution may notify the applicant or student in writing that the institution
cannot confirm whether the course or program meets requirements for professional
licensure in the student’s state, provide the student with current contact information for
any applicable licensing boards, and advise the student to determine whether the program
meets requirements for licensure in the state where the student lives.
*Failure to provide proper notice in one of these two ways invalidates the SARA eligibility of
any course or program offered without the proper notice.

12. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Consumer Protection under SARA
a) Veracity of recruitment and marketing
materials
b) Accuracy of job placement data
c) Accuracy of information about tuition,
fees and financial aid
d) Complete and accurate admission
requirements for courses and programs
e) Accuracy of information about the
institution’s accreditation and/or any
programmatic/specialized accreditation
held by the institution’s programs
f) Accuracy of information about whether
course work meets professional licensing
requirements or the requirements of
specialized accrediting bodies
g) Accuracy of information about whether
the institution’s course work will transfer
to other institutions; and
h) Operation of distance education programs
consistent with practices expected by
institutional accreditors (and, if
applicable, programmatic/ specialized
accreditors) and/or the C-RAC Guidelines
for distance education.

13. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
C-RAC Guidelines
1. OL is appropriate to the institution’s
mission and purposes.
2. Plans for developing, sustaining, and, if
appropriate, expanding OL offerings are
integrated into its regular processes.
3. OL incorporated into the institution’s
systems of governance and academic
oversight.
4. Curricula for OL is comparable in
academic rigor to programs offered in
traditional instructional formats.
5. The institution evaluates the
effectiveness of its OL.
6. Faculty responsible for delivering the
OL and evaluating the students’ success
are appropriately qualified and
effectively supported.
7. The institution provides effective
student and academic services to
support students enrolled in OL
offerings.
8. The institution provides sufficient
resources to support and, if
appropriate, expand its OL offerings.
9. The institution assures the integrity of
its online offerings.

14. Distance vs.
Correspondence

15. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Title IV Eligibility for Online Programs
(In addition to state authorization requirements for out-of-state students)
• An institution of higher education does not qualify as eligible to participate in the student
financial aid (SFA) programs if:
• More than 50% of the school’s courses were correspondence courses, or
• 50% or more of the school’s regular enrolled students were enrolled in correspondence
courses.
(34 CFR 600.7)
• Individual correspondence courses will only retain course eligibility for SFA if it is part of
a program leading to an actual degree (associates, bachelors, masters, etc.)
• This means students cannot receive federal financial aid for correspondence
courses in certificate programs

16. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Distance Education
Distance Education uses one or more listed distance technologies (e.g., over
the internet) to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the
instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between
the students and the instructor, either synchronously or asynchronously.
(34 CFR 600.2)
Examples:
• Planned instructor comments on discussion posts
• Planned instructor-student emails regarding course materials/content
• Feedback from instructor (not computer) on an assessment

17. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Correspondence Education
Correspondence Education may also take place via the internet but the
interaction between the instructor and student is limited, is not regular and
substantive, and is primarily initiated by the student.

18. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Lessons from WGU – “Regular”
• Regular
• Planned student interactions with instructor “occurring with some reasonable
frequency”
• Not Regular
• Ad hoc or only student initiated
• Communication with “student mentors” (advisor position) instead of instructor

19. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Lessons from WGU – “Substantive”
• Substantive
• Course design facilitates student interaction with instructor or requires student submission
of performance tasks for which an instructor provides feedback
• Not Substantive
• Computer-generated feedback on assessments
• Recorded webinars, videos, and reading materials if the course design materials did not
require the students to watch the webinars or videos and then interact with an instructor
• Communication with “student mentors” instead of instructor

20. Accessibility

21. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Web Accessibility Overview
• Section 504 and ADA
• WCAG 2.0 level AA: the widely-used “voluntary standard”
• Endorsed by DOJ and OCR
• Updated federal rule that would have explicitly adopted WCAG was added to the
inactive list by Trump administration
• “Accessible”: a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire
the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same
services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally
integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use
• More than 25 universities (public and private) have now had to resolve civil
rights complaints brought against them concerning web accessibility

22. INDIANA UNIVERSITY

23. INDIANA UNIVERSITY

24. Key Recommendations

25. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Communication, Collaboration, and Training
• Compliance trainings for online instructors and staff
• C-RAC (or applicable quality standards)
• ADA/Section 504 and Web Accessibility Compliance
• Student Complaints
• Distance vs. Correspondence
• Collaborate with individual programs to ensure…
• accurate communication regarding licensure and career prospects between
personnel and students (including webpages and marketing materials)
• individual disclosure requirements are being satisfied
• individual instructors are aware of and encouraged/require to complete compliance
trainings

26. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Compliance Rubric
• Syllabus
• Forums
• Assignments
• Discussions
• Modules
• Collaborations and Other Student-
to-Student Interactions
• Course Webpages
• Third-Party Content and Tools
(e.g., Google Docs)
• Textbooks and Other Physical
Materials

27. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Area of Compliance Evidence
Title IV: Regular & Substantive
Interaction
• Instructional activities require instructor to communicate with student on a regular basis
• Instructional activities require students to communicate with instructor on a regular basis
• Instructor participates in or directly moderates student online discussion
• Feedback and response procedures for all course activities are clearly stated
Title IV: Out-of-Sate
Authorization
• Course descriptions and syllabus accurately describe course and match SIS Coding
• Course descriptions and syllabus list any in-person experiences, such as externships or face-
to-face meetings, and whether these experiences are available in other states
SARA: C-RAC Guidelines • Opportunity for instructor and student introductions
• Instructional activities require instructor to communicate with student on a regular basis
• Instructional activities require students to communicate with instructor on a regular basis
• Instructional activities require students to communicate with each other on a regular basis
• Instructor participates in or directly moderates student online discussion
• Feedback and response procedures for all course activities are clearly stated
ADA/Section 504: Students
with Disabilities
• Instructor has completed most recent ADA Awareness trainings
• Syllabus acknowledges importance of ADA requirements
• Syllabus directs students to appropriate university ADA services
• Requests for accessible versions of content are responded to promptly
• Requirements for physical materials, such as textbooks, are announced well in advance of the
course start date, allowing time for students to obtain accessible versions

28. INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Additional Resources
• Federal State Authorization Rule (effective July 1, 2018):
https://ifap.ed.gov/fregisters/attachments/FR121916.pdf
• SARA State Progress: http://www.nc-sara.org/state-actions/state-actions-regarding-sara
• Licensure: http://wcet.wiche.edu/sites/default/files/State-Authorization-Institutional-
Disclosures-04-15.pdf
• Intersection of State Authorization Agencies and Professional Licensing Boards:
http://wcet.wiche.edu/documents/talking-points/state-auth-agencies-licensure-boards
• WCAG 2.0 (web accessibility): https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag

29. Questions?