FORM - Association of Theological Schools / Commission on Accrediting

Petition for Distance (Online) Education Approval

for consideration by the ATS/COA Board of Commissioners
Board approval, available at two levels, is required whenever an accredited member school decides to offer distance (online) education courses* for the first time, even if only one course (Policies and Procedures IV.F.1).
- Limited distance (online) education approval is required before a school offers any courses online and limits a school to offering less than half of any degree online.
- Comprehensive distance (online) education approval is required for a school if it plans to expand its online offerings so that half or more of any degree could be completed online (for the PhD/ThD degree, see also Standard 5.15^). Comprehensive distance (online) education approval may not be sought until a school has had limited approval for at least one semester.
Distance education (limited or comprehensive) approval is needed only once, after which it applies to all approved degrees the school may wish to offer online. In completing this form, please include links to additional documentation as deemed helpful (e.g., sample course, student and faculty training modules, online library or student service resources, NC-SARA approval, evaluation plan or data). Your Commission staff liaison will contact you if there are any questions regarding this petition.

*Distance education refers to any course where at least half of the instruction occurs when the instructor and the students are not in the same physical location (Policies and Procedures IV.F). Hybrid courses that have both onsite and online components are considered to be online courses only if at least half of the instruction occurs online, i.e., when the instructor and students are not in the same physical location.

^Standard 5.15 also requests a petition for an exception to residency (an experiment) to offer more than half the coursework online in a PhD/ThD degree program.
i. Name of school: *
ii. Contact information for person submitting this form: *

Prefix First Name (MI) Last Name Suffix
iii. Title: *
Position title of person submitting this form
iv. Email: *
A copy of your form will be sent to this address
This petition is for: *

Limited distance (online) education approval - we intend to offer at least one course, but not more than 49% of any degree program online. Comprehensive distance (online) education approval - we have had limited approval for at least one semester, and now intend to offer half or more (up to a complete degree program) online.
Please respond to the following questions whether petitioning for limited or comprehensive approval. Respond succinctly, but thoroughly. Responses by schools applying for comprehensive approval will likely be more fulsome and demonstrate reflective evaluation of their online offerings during the limited approval period.

Please refer to the ATS Standards of Accreditation and Policies and Procedures as needed.
1. When do you intend to offer your first online course(s) / did you begin to offer online course(s) (semester and year)? *
2. How many unique courses do you intend to offer on an academic year basis (unique courses, not iterations of the same course)? *
3. Describe how your online offerings are appropriate to your school's mission and capacities (see Standard 3.6a). *
4. Describe the online products or tools you will be using, and whether your online offers will be delivered synchronously or asynchronously or both. *
5. Describe how your online offerings will address the intellectual, human, spiritual, and vocational dimensions of student learning and formation consistent with the school's mission and particular degree program (see Standard 3.1). *
6. Describe how your online offerings will demonstrate academic rigor in student learning and formation (see Standard 3.2). *
7. Describe how your online offerings will demonstrate sound pedagogy and an intentionally collaborative approach to student learning and formation (see Standards 3.6-7). *
8. Describe how instructors and students will have appropriate training and resources to engage the online modality, including library and student support resources (see Standards 3.8 and 7.5). *
9. Describe how you will ensure regular and substantive interaction between instructors and students and among students in a sufficiently viable community of learning (see Standard 3.9). *
10. Describe how you will verify the identity and protect the privacy of online students, notify them in advance of any additional costs for online courses, and ensure compliance with any required state authorizations for students enrolled out of state (see Policies and Procedures IV.F.3). *
11. Briefly describe briefly how you will evaluate your online offerings (see Standards 2.5-7). If submitting this petition for comprehensive approval, briefly describe what you have learned thus far in your evaluations about offering online courses (e.g., how it advances your mission, in what ways students are learning and formed, how your offerings have changed, etc.). *

Please submit this completed petition to the ATS Accrediting Records Coordinator by hitting the "submit" button below. You can expect an automated confirmation email within a few minutes. There is no fee for this (or any) Commission petition. Please do not send any paper copies or any emailed attachments; submit only this completed, online form.

NOTE: Petitions for distance education approval are typically decided by the Board of Commissioners within a few months (see submission deadlines on the ATS petitions and notifications webpage).
ATS Commission Staff Liaison Email *
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CEO Email
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CAO Email
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ALO Email
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Petition for Distance (Online) Education Approval

Board approval, available at two levels, is required whenever an accredited member school decides to offer distance (online) education courses* for the first time, even if only one course (Policies and Procedures IV.F.1).

**Board approval, available at two levels, is required whenever an accredited member school decides to offer distance (online) education courses* for the first time, even if only one course (Policies and Procedures IV.F.1).**