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THECB begins institutional distance-education plan reviews; operations group to pilot first-round assessments
Summary
THECB staff reported the institutional plan for distance education (IPDE) portal worked for initial submissions and the operations work group will review four IPDEs with a view to recommending procedures and a schedule for broader review; rules changes and a 2-year extension were discussed to avoid a flood of renewals.
Doctor Lofters briefed the committee on the status of the Institutional Plan for Distance Education (IPDE) review process and said the first four institutional submissions were successfully received through the coordinating board—s portal.
He said attachments and supporting documents uploaded through the portal were cataloged and that the operations work group will be granted access to the submissions via a Teams hub for review. The operations group asked to conduct the first-round reviews; Lofters said committee members will discuss membership of the operations review group and that members with submissions in the first round should not review their own institution's materials.
Rule changes and timing: Lofters noted a rules provision had required IPDEs be approved within 10 years of the last approval, which—if interpreted strictly—could have produced a large, simultaneous renewal workload. The board proposed a change and used a commissioner memo to give a two-year extension for many institutions to stagger submissions; Lofters said THECB staff will seek a rule amendment to codify that approach and planned to bring rule changes to the April board meeting to avoid having hundreds of IPDEs come in at once.
Operations work-group schedule: the operations group reported it finalized review documents and intends to meet Feb. 14 to access the four IPDE submissions and set internal deadlines for individual reviewer feedback. The group plans to return recommendations to the full LTAC at the March 7 meeting and to have recommendations agendized for the coordinating board—s June meeting.
Conflict-of-interest handling: chairs said members whose institutions have IPDEs under review will be recused from evaluating their own submission; the group will use breakout/waiting-room procedures during meetings so those members can contribute operational perspective while not participating in deliberations about their own submissions.
Administrative action earlier in the meeting: at the start of the session the committee approved the summary minutes of the Aug. 30, 2024 meeting; committee members voted to accept the summary (motion made by a member; second by Oscar Hernandez) and the chair recorded the motion as carried unanimously.
Ending: THECB staff will provide operations reviewers access to submitted materials and circulate a schedule; the operations group will report back at the March LTAC meeting with recommended evaluation outcomes for the June coordinating-board agenda.
