We are here to help. We provide academic departments with resources to assist in the development, marketing, coordination and delivery of online and off-campus, site-based programs. Other key unit responsibilities include the assessment of online programs and providing students with valuable student services that will enable them to complete their programs while maintaining career and family obligations.
Among our goals is to identify the needs of underserved locations and non-traditional students that may be addressed through distance education or online programs. This page features resources to help academic units develop and deliver programs and individual courses to serve these populations and extend your College’s academic scope beyond the UNC Charlotte campus.
Developing and Delivering Distance Education Programs and Courses
Academic departments should contact the Director of Distance Education when they are initially considering developing programs for online delivery as well as programs for delivery at off-campus sites. Distance Education expertise helps assure that distance education programs comply with SACS requirements throughout development and implementation.
Individual course development for online delivery requires that the course be an approved UNC Charlotte course approved for development by the originating academic department; and, if TLC funds the course development, the course will be developed and delivered per the stipulations described in an Online Course Development Agreement signed by the instructor developing the course, the department chair, and the Director of Distance Education prior to the initiation of course development.
UNC Charlotte subscribes to Quality Matters (QM) a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components. Any faculty or staff member may create an account at QM and explore the services offered as a subscribing institution.
Marketing
We view our relationship with academic departments and instructors as a partnership. Through continuous consultation, the School of Professional Studies gains knowledge of your department’s distance education goals and target student populations, allowing us to develop and implement effective marketing plans.
Program Evaluation
In an effort to continuously improve our services and programs, we conduct an annual survey of distance education students and a survey of the instructors who have delivered those courses. The results of these program evaluations are shared with the Chair of the academic departments from which the distance education programs originate.
Students have the opportunity to evaluate the delivery of their programs, the quality of student administrative support they received from Distance Education, the quality of academic advising received, and service quality of UNC Charlotte’s student services offices. This "distance education program" evaluation does not address students’ faculty or instructional concerns as that opportunity is provided within the individual course evaluations conducted by the Colleges.
The faculty evaluations provide instructors the opportunity to report opinions of the technology assistance provided, their online or distance teaching experience, their students’ learning outcomes in the online learning environment, and School of Professional Studies services.