This report presents a set of guidelines for good practices in distance education, based on a survey of 200 members of the American Federation of Teachers who are themselves practitioners of distance education.

Below is a listing of the standards set forth in the ATF report. The full report is online in pdf format at http://www.aft.org/higher_ed/downloadable/distance.pdf

1. FACULTY MUST RETAIN ACADEMIC CONTROL.
   
   To receive college credit, distance learning courses offered by the institution should be reviewed and approved in advance by the faculty.
   
   Decisions about particular courses should be made at the departmental or interdepartmental level.
   
   Distance education courses for credit should be taught by faculty appointed and evaluated through traditional processes involving the faculty and the department.
   
   Teaching and research faculty, not just "curriculum specialists," must be involved in developing the curriculum.
   
   
   
   
2. FACULTY MUST BE PREPARED TO MEET THE SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OF TEACHING AT A DISTANCE.
   
   Faculty must be provided adequate training and technical support - in terms of hardware, software and troubleshooting.
   
   Additional compensation should be provided to faculty to meet the extensive time commitments of distance education.
   
   Institutional reward systems for faculty should accord positive recognition for the creative work of formulating distance programs.
   
   Teaching distance education courses should be a matter of faculty choice.
   
   
   
   
3. COURSE DESIGN SHOULD BE SHAPED TO THE POTENTIALS OF THE MEDIUM.
   
   Faculty members developing distance education courses should approach course design - curriculum planning, class projects, visual aids, library materials and student interaction - not in terms of replicating the traditional classroom, but in terms of maximizing the potential of the medium that will be employed.
   
   
   
   
4. STUDENTS MUST FULLY UNDERSTAND COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND BE PREPARED TO SUCCEED.
   
   All first-time distance education students should be given a clear statement of course requirements in advance.
   
   Students should be required to submit a written statement to the institution delivered electronically.
   
   If potential problems surface in the student's response, training in advance of the course must be provided.
   
   Students require reliable, extended time technical support throughout the course.
   
   States and localities are obligated to ensure that no one is offered distance education as his only option for obtaining a college education.
   
   
   
   
5. CLOSE PERSONAL INTERACTION MUST BE MAINTAINED.
   
   To maximize communication electronically, distance learning courses should, to the greatest extent possible, incorporate both real-time electronic interchange, and asynchronous forms of communication.
   
   Wherever it is feasible, opportunities for same-time same-place interchange between the teach and the student, or among students, should be built into credit courses taught at a distance.
   
   
   
   
6. CLASS SIZE SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED THROUGH NORMAL FACULTY CHANNELS.
   
   Class size should encourage a high degree of interactivity.
   
   
   
   
7. COURSES SHOULD COVER ALL MATERIAL.
   
   The amount of material covered in a distance education course, and the depth with which it is covered, should equal that of a classroom-based class.
   
   
   
   
8. EXPERIMENTATION IN OFFERING A VARIETY OF SUBJECTS THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED.
   
   Institutions should not continue to offer courses that have been unsuccessful.
   
   
   
   
9. EQUIVALENT RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES MUST BE PROVIDED.
   
   Opportunities for distance education students to conduct independent course-related research must be substantially the same as the opportunities provided to other students.
   
   Distance education students should be given access to all possible electronic research material.
   
   Distance education students should be expected to visit a campus or public library at least once.
   
   The college should arrange to get books and materials to students through overnight mail, either for sale or loan.
   
   
   
   
10. STUDENT ASSESSMENT SHOULD BE COMPARABLE.
    
    The level of achievement expected of students, and tested for in a distance education environment, should be as challenging as that in a classroom-based course.
    
    As a matter of prudence, steps should be taken to limit the possibility of fraud and abuse in a distance education environment.
    
    
    
    
11. CARE MUST BE TAKEN TO OFFER DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDENTS PURSUING COLLEGE DEGREES REPEATED OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIVIDUALIZED ADVISEMENT BY ACADEMIC PROFESSIONALS.
    
    
    
    
12. THE FACULTY MEMBER(S) DEVELOPING A COURSE SHOULD MAINTAIN CREATIVE CONTROL OVER THE USE OR RE-USE OF THE COURSE IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS.
    
    
    
    
13. FULL-TIME UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS SHOULD INCLUDE SAME-TIME SAME-PLACE COURSEWORK.
    
    The faculty at each institution should assume responsibility for carefully considering how much coursework is appropriate to be obtained through distance education.
    
    Procedures should be established to ensure, on a case-by-case basis, that a full undergraduate distance education program is available to those students truly unable to participate in classroom education at any time after considering all other options.
    
    A full program taught at a distance may be acceptable at the graduate level and for some certificate programs.
    
    
    
    
14. EVALUATION OF DISTANCE COURSEWORK SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN AT ALL LEVELS.
    
    All institutions offering distance education coursework should become laboratories of program evaluation.
    
    Evaluation of distance education should become a priority concern of the federal government. The government should create a national information clearinghouse, and initiate a priority program of targeted research.
    
    Regional and specialized accreditation agencies should establish high standards for distance education programs and ensure that distance education programs are always included in the evaluation of the institutions that offer them.