Distance Education Application

Adult Education Initiatives (AEI) requires that federal AEFLA and state AELA grantees who wish to provide distance education and report proxy hours by using a digital learning platform not already on AEI's Approved Distance Education Platform list (see the Distance Education Assurances) go through an approval process.


This application is used to verify that proposed digital learning platforms meet the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) and/or English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) and reporting requirements for distance education instruction.


Grantees are expected to follow all state policies and assurances when implementing distance education.

AEI may reject any application if the required description or evidence is deemed insufficient, the platform is not accessible to all learners, or the resource does not provide CCRS and/or ELPS standards aligned adult education instruction.

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Which grant(s) fund instruction provided with this platform?*

This includes all web-based, mobile, and computer-based platforms.

Accessibility

Grantees must ensure that all online courses and digital learning websites are accessible. As defined by the ADA under Title II, web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. More specifically, people can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web. Course accessibility, as indicated by EDUCAUSE, means that an individual with a disability is given 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. A person with a disability must be able to obtain the information as fully, equally, and independently as a person without a disability. Additionally, the Colorado Office of Information Technology can provide further guidance.

Proxy Hour Models

Colorado allows two proxy hour models to report instructional hours:


Clock Time: Hours are assigned based on the elapsed time that a learner is connected to, or engaged in, an online or stand-alone software program that tracks time. The software has business rules in place to time out/log out learners after a specified period of inactivity.


Learner Mastery: Hours are assigned based on the learner passing a test on the content of each lesson or a unit of instruction. Learners work independently with instructional materials and activities and take a test when they are prepared. A high, or passing, percentage of correct answers (typically 70%-80%) earns the credit hours attached to the material covered in the instructional unit. Learner mastery credit hours must be verified by an external vendor and not by local program staff.


 

Select the proxy hour model used to track instructional time:*
  1. Does the platform or instructional tool have a time-off-task function in place?
  2. How much time elapses before the system stops assigning time to a learner?
  1. What defines a unit of instruction in this platform and how many proxy hours are assigned to a unit of instruction?
  2. What percentage is used to determine mastery and award credit hours? (e.g., 75%, 80%, etc.)
  3. Which external vendor or entity has verified the number of proxy hours assigned per unit? If documentation outlining the number of hours per unit exists, include it in the Demonstrated Effectiveness section.

Platform Overview

How will the platform be used with learners?*

Definitions available in AEI's Distance Education Policy.

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Which learner types will use the platform? Select the learners and appropriate NRS levels. Select "All" if the platform will be used with all learner types*

How is the platform research-based?

Provide evidence of alignment to CCRS and/or ELPS. Explain how the platform aligns to CCRS and/or ELPS and provide relevant documentation as evidence. Documentation may include content alignment from the publisher or other sources, alignment conducted by your own staff, etc.

Demonstrated Effectiveness

Grantees applying to use a distance education platform must demonstrate effectiveness by providing third-party evidence of performance data on the platform's record of improving the skills of adult learners, particularly those with low levels of literacy in reading, writing, mathematics, and English language acquisition.


Examples of demonstrated effectiveness include, but are not limited to:

  • Third-party evidence of implementation and learning outcomes in another state, or
  • Third-party evidence of implementation and learning outcomes with other adult populations, such as community college developmental education, or
  • Third-party evidence of implementation with a high school population.


Evidence can be submitted via a link to external documentation or by uploading information.

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Staff Support and Engagement

Briefly describe the training and ongoing support instructional staff will receive to use the platform.

Cost

If an official quote has not yet been obtained, an estimate is sufficient.

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