Distance Education Committee

DEC Purpose and Functions

UNTHSC adheres to the rules and notification procedures established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the conduct and approval of distance education. UNTHSC follows the Principles of Good Practice for Academic Degree and Certificate Programs and Credit Courses Offered Electronically. Approval of online courses uses the Quality Matters rubric and review process.

Distance education is defined as a course in which more than 50% of the contact hours are offered asynchronously or at a distance where faculty and students are not in the same location. Faculty who plan to offer distance education courses must follow the Distance Education and Course Development Policy. Once a course is approved by the college/school, the course director or instructor should contact their school’s representative to the Distance Education Committee (DEC) for guidance.

Step 1: Submit an Approval to Develop Form to the DEC at least 20 weeks prior to the first day of class. Step 2: Once approved by the DEC, the instructor should work with an instructional designer in the Division of Academic Innovation’s Department of Educational Development to develop the course. Step 3: When the course is ready to deliver to students, the course director or instructor should submit an Approval to Deliver Form to the DEC at least 4 business weeks before the first day of class.

• Faculty members are asked to allow sufficient time for reviewing and processing these requests by the DEC.
• A fully online course takes a minimum of 4 months to develop.
• The approval to deliver process could take a minimum of 30 days depending on workload and the DEC schedule of meetings.
• Questions about these approval processes should be directed to Canvas@unthsc.edu.
• The current Approval to Develop and Approval to Deliver forms are available from canvas@unthsc.edu, the school’s DEC committee representative, or by using this link to the DEC forms Sharepoint accessible by anyone with HSC login credentials.

Matt Adrignola

DEC School Representatives

School of Public Health

Myles Quiben

DEC School Representatives

SHP Physical Therapy Program

Tina Machu

DEC School Representatives

College of Pharmacy

Debbie Gillespie

DEC School Representatives

SHP Lifestyle Health Sciences

Kim Meyer

DEC School Representatives

Physician Assistant Program
& Division of Academic Innovation

Michael Oglesby

DEC School Representatives

Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine

Joseph Malaer

DEC School Representatives

School of Biomedical Sciences

Joseph Malaer

DEC Committee

School of Biomedical Sciences

Matt Adrignola

DEC Committee

School of Public Health

Debbie Gillespie

DEC Committee

SHP Lifestyle Health Sciences

Robert Haight

DEC Committee

UAA (Ex-Officio Member)

Hayley Brunner

DEC Committee

Library

Tina Machu

DEC Committee

College of Pharmacy

Liz Medders

DEC Committee

Registrar

Kim Meyer

DEC Committee

Physician Assistant Program & Division of Academic Innovation

Michael Oglesby

DEC Committee

Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine

Myles Quiben

DEC Committee

SHP Physical Therapy Program

Brenda Wilson

DEC Committee

Division of Academic Innovation

Nancy Staples

DEC Committee

Senior Operations Analyst Office of the Provost (Ex-Officio Member)