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Distance Education Grant Process

Distance Education Major Overhaul Grant: Process and Criteria

When faculty members make major modifications to previously taught distance education courses, they may submit a Distance Education Major Overhaul Grant request to the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA)*. While distance education stipends and major overhaul grants share a common application, the timeline, work, and review processes of the overhaul grant require additional preparation.

View a simple flowchart of the DEC process detailed below. 

 

Application

To request a major overhaul grant, applicants will fill out a Distance Education Course Development Request Form. The applicant and their department chair will sign the form and submit it to the Office of the VPAA. Forms should be submitted a minimum of two (2) contracted terms before the course to be updated will be taught.

Distance Education Stipend Request Form

Course review

Initial review

The VPAA Office forwards requests to the Distance Education Committee for initial review. The two-term interval allocates time for the committee to perform an initial review (pre-overhaul) as well as to provide instructional design support during the overhaul. Since college policy dictates that faculty members remain current in course content, instructional methods, and computer literacy, the committee will look for projects that make comprehensive and thorough adjustments beyond those expectations**.

Meets criteria: The committee will review applications case by case for review, but generally, major overhauls are driven by a significant change that necessitates revision to how a course is delivered. For example,

    • Extensive curricular changes mandated by external forces, like state boards and transfer councils or accrediting bodies
    • Comprehensive program or course outcomes changes approved by the Curriculum Committee
    • Modifications to program delivery (e.g., a move to concept-based or competency-based instruction from another structure)

Changes to course delivery include:

    • Course structure and organization, like assignment sequences or outcomes associated with course units
    • Learning materials, such as recordings of presentations or lectures, learning modules, student-to-student interactions, designing student training for using specialized software, and assignments
    • Assessment and evaluation, like exams, rubrics, feedback opportunities
    • Universal design and inclusive learning options, including improving course navigation and readability, identifying and remedying barriers to learning, redesigning the curriculum to challenge and engage diverse learners, providing multiple media or means of representation, creating multiple ways for students to show proficiency, and maximizing ease of use for audio and video resources

Does not meet criteria: The following examples do not meet major overhaul criteria for scope and exigency:

    • Revising references to or readings in the course due to a new textbook adoption or a new textbook edition
    • Refreshing, rejuvenating, or revitalizing content to maintain relevancy or currency, such as
        • Units, files, readings, rubrics, or topics to keep information current
        • Updating examples, prompts, or problems to keep them fresh
        • Graphics, statistics, facts, or figures based on most recent data
    • Largely aesthetic changes, such as adapting a course to fit a program template
    • Legally required changes, such as ADA accessibility (already a part of one’s primary assignment)
    • Receiving a major overhaul grant award, reverting back to a previous iteration of the course, and then applying for a new major overhaul grant award

Overhaul Support

Once the Distance Education Committee provides initial review approval, the major overhaul review period begins. Committee members will:

    • Assign a DEC faculty "buddy" for support and to connect applicants with resources for completing the proposed overhaul
    • Provide a quality review using best practice standards (see COCC Distance Education Standards)
    • Assist in setting manageable timelines, answering questions, and connecting faculty members to COCC staff members with distance learning expertise

Final Review

Once the overhauled course is taught, the Distance Education Committee will:

    • Review the course and certify the proposed work has been completed
    • Verify that the course meets best practices standards related to COCC general policies, accreditation standards, and federal requirements (e.g., meaningful interaction, assessment and engagement, and digital accessibility)
    • Indicate approval on the applicant’s Distance Education Course Development Request Form, which serves as its recommendation to the VPAA

If the planned distance education course is not ultimately taught, department chairs and instructional deans will work with the VPAA to find a resolution.

Compensation

With the approval of the committee and VPAA, applicants are compensated at a rate of $200 per credit hour of the course. Payments are expected to be administered the first pay disbursement of the following term.

Note: Because Distance Education Development Stipends 1 or 2 involve teaching at the College for the first time or teaching a course for the first time, a Distance Education Major Overhaul Grant may not be awarded for a course at the same time a stipend is awarded.

*      The Distance Education Major Overhaul grant was introduced in the 2023–2026 Faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement. Cross reference Articles 8.5, Sections (b), (f), and (h).

**   For General Responsibilities of All Instructors, see General Policy Manual G-34-4.