Distance education course

Classification is binary for reporting. If any portion of the planned instructional content requires the student and instructor to be in the same physical location at the same time, the course is not reported as a distance education course. Contact-hour or credit-hour calculations still apply, but the delivery method determines the flag.

Example: a three-credit accounting course meets entirely inside the learning management system. Lectures are recorded or live online, discussions occur on the platform, and the final exam is proctored at a testing center. This is a distance education course. The same course that requires students to attend a two-hour lab on campus every other week is not, because the lab is instructional.

A distance education program is the larger unit: a program qualifies when every required course can be completed as a distance education course. A hybrid course mixes distance and face-to-face instructional time and is reported separately. Correspondence courses lack the interaction requirement and are not distance education courses.

Calling a course “online” because the syllabus and readings are posted, while the bulk of instruction still happens in a physical classroom. Counting temporary emergency remote sections as planned distance education courses in official reporting. Ignoring the exclusive-instruction test and relying on marketing language.