Memo No. 040-21: Incorporating High-Quality Online Courses into Adult Education Programming

This guidance is intended to support adult education providers funded through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Title II, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) in the development and delivery of high-quality online courses and is in effect as of July 1, 2021.

The Assessment and Distance Education Policy for Virginia Adult Education and Literacy Programs allows for a wide variety of distance education and remote instruction models and provides guidance on recording student attendance. Further technical assistance and professional learning opportunities are provided through hosted events and the distance education resource collection maintained by the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center (VALRC).

For the purpose of this policy, an online course is defined as a subcategory of blended learning that:

• includes both synchronous and asynchronous learning activities that are organized through a learning management system (LMS);

• is instructor led, time limited, and content specific as described in a syllabus; and

• is conducted with managed enrollment and attendance requirements.

The VDOE is pleased to announce an investment to fund the development of nine online courses that will be built by Virtual Virginia. These courses will and be available to AEFLA-funded adult education providers to offer to their participants. These courses will be built in Canvas and may be exported to regional and local instances of Canvas and a limited number of other LMSs. This investment is to support high-quality programming and reduce duplication of effort across providers. The courses will be designed to be multi-level, content specific, interactive, and aligned to both the College and Career Readiness Standards and the English Language Proficiency Standards as follows:

• Three mathematics courses at ABE Levels 1–2, ABE Levels 3–4, and ABE Levels 5–6

• Three English language arts courses at ABE Levels 1–2, ABE Levels 3–4, and ABE Levels 5–6

• Three English for Speakers of Other Languages courses at ESL Levels 1–2, ESL Levels 3–4, and ESL Levels 5–6

Course content will be culturally responsive and will incorporate the U.S. Department of Education’s Employability Skills Framework and Teaching Skills that Matter skills, topics, and approaches. Courses will be designed to offer 60 hours of instruction with a mix of synchronous and asynchronous activities. The courses will be released in January 2022, and training for instructors will be offered through the spring.

Adult education providers may choose to develop and offer their own online courses (following the steps described below) or adopt courses already developed and approved by the VDOE. The VALRC will maintain a directory of approved courses.

Guidance for Online Course Development: Program managers and instructional designers should be guided by the Adult Education Indicators of Quality Online Course Rubric (Rubric), the accompanying Worksheet of Attendance Hours (Worksheet), and the resources available through the VALRC. Courses may be developed on a variety of platforms or LMSs. Courses should include synchronous instruction and asynchronous activities such as the use of approved distance education curricula (find the current list at VALRC) and student activities such as discussion boards and projects. State priorities such as the alignment of instruction to the College and Career Readiness and English Language Proficiency Standards and the incorporation of workplace preparation activities must be evident in the online course content.

Each course proposal must include the course syllabus, the Rubric, and the Worksheet, all of which document a completed review by the program manager or their designee. These must be submitted to the VDOE adult education office at OAEL@doe.virginia.gov for approval. Course rubrics will be discussed with program managers before approval; allow for a four week review and discussion period.

Guidance for Online Course Delivery: Programs may offer VDOE-approved online courses and report attendance hours as identified in the approved Worksheet. Repeated offerings of the same course do not need additional approval.

For any online course offered, adult education providers must maintain documentation of the Rubric, the Worksheet, and approval from the VDOE. The courses must be identified as online courses in the state management information system so that student attendance records can be aligned to the approved Worksheet during an audit of student records.

The VALRC will host learning opportunities to support instructional designers and instructors in their efforts to develop and deliver high-quality online courses.