Distance Education Policy

1. Purpose:  This Distance Education policy is designed to guide UC Irvine School of Law in the development, delivery, evaluation, and granting of credit for quality distance education, in accordance with American Bar Association (ABA) Standard 306 and other applicable standards and requirements.

2. Compliance:  The instructor for each course has primary responsibility for and exercises oversight of the content and quality of the instruction, and has primary responsibility for compliance with this Policy.  The Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and designees have overall oversight of the Policy.

3. Definitions

3.1 Distance Education. A distance education course is one in which students are separated from all faculty members for more than one-third of the instruction, and the instruction involves the use of technology to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and all faculty members, either synchronously or asynchronously. [1]

3.2 Regular Interaction. Regular interaction between a student and a faculty member includes providing an opportunity for substantive interactions on a predictable and scheduled basis consistent with ABA Standard 310(b), monitoring the student’s engagement and success, and ensuring that the faculty member is responsible for promptly and proactively engaging in substantive interaction with the student when needed or upon request of the student. [2]  

3.3 Substantive Interaction. Substantive interaction requires engaging students in teaching, learning and assessment, consistent with the content under discussion, and includes at least two of the following: providing direct instruction, assessing or providing feedback on a student’s coursework, providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course, or facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course. [3]

3.4 Asynchronous. An asynchronous Distance Education Course is one in which the instruction is delivered at one time and the students’ work can be done at a different time. In asynchronous courses, students and instructors use video, e-mail, discussion boards, listservs, wikis, and other technologies, which allow them to communicate without having to be in the same virtual or physical space at the same time.

3.5 Synchronous. A synchronous Distance Education Course is one in which the instructor and students are in different physical locations, but conduct multi-way video or audio communication with virtually no time delay, allowing students and instructors to participate and respond in real time.

3.6 Blended.  Blended distance education combines in-classroom instruction with asynchronous exercises and additional instructional content that are completed outside the classroom.

3.7  Hybrid. Hybrid distance education teaches both in-person and students in different physical locations at the same time and can include both synchronous and asynchronous instruction.

4. Distance Education Course

4.1 Each Distance Education Course will utilize the technological capacity, facilities, staff, and information resources available at the Law School and the University of California, Irvine that are supportable by the institution and reasonably available to law students. The technology must be sufficient to assure the educational quality of the course.

4.2 The learning outcomes for each Distance Education Course will be consistent with the Law School’s Institutional Learning Outcomes and ABA Standard 302.

4.3 Each Distance Education Course will include student work per credit hour that is consistent with ABA Standard 310 and the Law School’s Credit Hours Policy. [4]

4.4 Each Distance Education Course will include sufficient interactive tools and course design elements that provide regular opportunities for substantive and meaningful interaction. [5]

4.5 All Distance Education Courses offered by the Law School will be approved through the Law School’s normal course approval process. The academic content, methods of course delivery, and the methods of evaluating student performance will be reviewed periodically as part of the Law School’s regular curriculum approval process.

4.6 Remote participation in a non-Distance Education course by a student with a disability accommodation allowing remote attendance will not cause the course to count as a distance education course. [6]

5. Distance Education Student Privacy and Verification

5.1 The Law School will establish and implement an effective process for verifying the identity of students participating in Distance Education Courses that also protects student privacy. If any additional student charges are associated with verification of student identity, students must be notified at the time of registration or enrollment. 

5.2 Each Distance Education Course will require students to have, at minimum, a unique login and password, issued to the student through the Law School’s standard student verification protocols. 

5.3 All required assignments and examinations will be administered subject to the Law School’s Academic Rules and Honor Code, and in a manner which ensures that the student who registers for a Distance Education Course is the same student who completes the assignments and/or takes the examination(s). Faculty are encouraged to assess students using open-book exams.  If the resources are available – such as necessary personnel and space – proctoring may be made available in coordination with the Law Registrar’s Office on an exceptional basis.

5.4  Each Distance Education Course will protect student privacy according to federal and institutional Family Education rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines.  All Distance Education Courses will be provided from secure sites, and all required course elements that require student identification will be limited to those sites.

6. Faculty

6.1 Instructors who teach one or more Distance Education Courses will have access to appropriate training and ongoing support for the use of the technology employed for the course. 

6.2 Instructors will provide regular monitoring of student effort and opportunity for communication about that effort. [7] They will respond in a timely fashion to student questions and concerns, and take steps to identify and address individual academic problems as needed.

6.3 The instructor for each course has primary responsibility for and provides oversight of the content and quality of the instruction.  The instructor for each course also has primary responsibility for compliance with this Policy.

7. Students

7.1 All students who participate in a Distance Education Course will have an appropriate orientation to train them in the use of the technology employed for the course and protocols appropriate to the course.

7.2 Distance Education Courses will provide reasonable accommodation opportunities to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Fair Housing Amendments Act, California state disability rights laws, and all relevant Law School and University policies, as determined by the UC Irvine Disability Services Center.

7.3 Students may count a maximum of 21 credit hours of Distance Education Courses towards the J.D. degree at the Law School as part of the credit hours of regularly scheduled classroom sessions or direct faculty instruction required by ABA Standard 311(a), unless the ABA permits a higher number of credit hours. Students may receive a maximum of 10 of those credit hours during the first year of the program, unless the ABA permits a higher number of credit hours.

7.4 All student work that occurs in a Distance Education Course may be monitored and reviewed by the instructor and other Law School personnel as necessary for the delivery of the Distance Education Course and compliance with this Policy.

7.5 All students in Distance Education Courses will abide by the Law School’s Academic Rules, Honor Code, University Policies, and Law School Policies.

7.6 J.D. students may enroll in Distance Education Courses offered at other ABA-approved law schools only with prior permission of the Law School’s Assistant Dean for Student Services, and only when the law school offering the Distance Education Course has in place a policy that encompasses the same or similar requirements as this Policy and encompasses the requirements of the ABA Standards.  Students cannot enroll contemporaneously in a Distance Education Course offered by another ABA-approved school while enrolled in courses at the Law School.  Enrollment must comply with related Law School Academic Rules.

7.7 LL.M. students may only take Distance Education Courses offered by the Law School and must seek prior approval to enroll from the directors of their respective programs. 

8. Administration

8.1  Oversight of the Law School’s Distance Education Courses is the responsibility of the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and designees.

9. Extraordinary Circumstances

9.1  In an emergency circumstance that affects the ability of the Law School to deliver in-person courses, Distance Education Courses may be used in ways that are not governed by this policy.  The Law School may seek appropriate and necessary relief from ABA Standards in the event of disasters or emergencies.

* * *



[1] ABA Definitions (7)

[2] ABA Standard 306(a)

[3] ABA Standard 306(b)

[4] ABA Standard 306(a)(1)

[5] ABA Standard 306(b)

[6] ABA Standard 306(c)

[7] ABA Standard 306(a)