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(j) An applicant may appeal a disapproval by filing with the commission a written request for a hearing within 10 days after the receipt of the notice of disapproval. Following the hearing, the commission may sustain or withdraw the disapproval or establish conditions for the approval of a provider, course, or instructor. Proceedings involving applications shall be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure and Texas Register Act, Texas Civil Statutes, Article 6252-13a. Venue for any hearing conducted under this section shall be in Travis County. (k) A course offered by a provider to satisfy all or part of the six hours of legal topics required by the Act, §7A, must include one or more of the legal topics listed in the Act or approved by the commission. The commission shall periodically publish lists of additional legal topics approved for MCE credit. (l) A course must be devoted to one or more of the subjects
specified under the course titles in the Act, §7(a)(2)-(4) and §7(a)(7)-(10), to real estate professionalism and ethics or to other subjects approved by the commission for MCE credit. MCE courses must be presentations of relevant issues and changes within the subject areas as they apply to the practice of real estate in the current market or topics which increase or support the licensee's development of skill and competence. The commission shall periodically publish lists of subjects other than legal topics which are approved for MCE credit. Courses approved by the commission for prelicensing education or salesperson annual education requirements provided in the Act, §7(d)-(e), may be accepted for satisfying MCE requirements provided the student files an MCE Form 13, MCE Credit Request for Core Courses, and course meets all of the requirements of the commission for core real estate course credit, and MCE courses may be accepted by the commission as real estate
related courses for satisfying the education requirements of §7(d)-(e) of the Act. The commission may not approve a course which promotes the sale of goods or services by the provider or by a vendor affiliated or associated with the provider. Providers may sell educational materials, such as textbooks or recordings, related to the subjects of the course. Courses related to technology, such as the use of personal computers, must be primarily devoted to the application of technology to the practice of the licensee. (m) Providers must furnish students with copies for the students' permanent use of any printed material which is the basis for a significant portion of the course. Ample space must be provided on handouts for notetaking or completion of any written exercises. If a provider charges fees for supplies, materials, or books needed in course work, the fees must be itemized in a written statement provided to each student by the provider.
(n) If a provider does not maintain a fixed office in this state for the duration of the provider's approval to offer courses, the provider shall designate a resident of this state as attorney-in-fact to accept service of process and act as custodian of any records in Texas which the provider is required to maintain by these sections. A power-of-attorney designating the resident must be filed with the commission in form acceptable to the commission. (o) Unless withdrawn earlier for cause as provided by these sections, a provider's authority to offer courses for which MCE credit is given expires two years from the date the provider is approved by the commission. Authority to offer any MCE courses ends with the expiration of the provider's approval, and the provider must pay current fees and reapply for approval as a provider in order to offer MCE courses again. A course approved by the commission may be offered by the provider for a
period of two years after the course is approved or until the provider's authority to act as a provider finally expires or is withdrawn for cause, whichever first occurs. If a course was originally approved for another provider, the two-year period of approved use is measured from the date of approval for the original provider. A provider may apply for approval to be a provider for another two years no sooner than six months prior to the expiration of existing provider approval. Instructors may be approved to teach a course at any time during the duration of the provider's approval for that course. An instructor's approval to teach a course expires with the expiration or withdrawal of approval of that course. (p) The commission may approve a provider to offer an MCE course by correspondence subject to the following conditions: (1) the course must be offered by an accredited college or university as defined in §535.61 of this
title (relating to Examinations and Acceptance of Courses) which offers correspondence courses, whether credit or noncredit, in other disciplines; (2) The content of the course must satisfy the requirements of the Act, §7A, and these sections. (3) Students receiving MCE credit for the course must pass a written examination administered on the campus of a college or university under controlled conditions to positively identified students, or at a location and by an official approved by the commission. (4) The course must be approved by the commission as providing 15 hours of MCE credit, at least six hours of which must be in legal topics. (5) Only approved instructors may grade the course. (q) To be approved to offer a correspondence course for MCE credit, the provider must satisfy the commission that the course subject matter is appropriate for a continuing education course for real
estate licensees and that the information provided in the course will be current and accurate. An applicant must submit an MCE Form 3A-1, MCE Course Application, the first time approval is sought to offer an MCE correspondence course. Once a course has been approved, no further approval is required for another approved provider to offer the same course. Prior to advertising or offering the course, however, the subsequent provider must complete MCE Form 3B-2, file the form together with the appropriate fee with the commission, and receive written or oral acknowledgment from the commission that all necessary documentation has been filed. The commission will publish guidelines to aid providers in the development of correspondence courses. Each correspondence course must contain the following: (1) course description; (2) learning objectives; (3) evaluation techniques; (4) lessons;
(5) learning activities; (6) final examination; (7) bibliography or source of updated subject matter; and (8) instructor grading guidelines, including acceptable answers for lessons, assessments, and examinations. (r) The commission may accept courses offered by alternative delivery methods subject to the following conditions. (1) Every course accepted under this subsection shall teach to mastery. Teaching to mastery means that the course must, at a minimum: (A) divide the material into major units as approved by the commission; (B) divide each of the major units of content into modules of instruction for delivery on a computer or other approved interactive audio or audiovisual programs; (C) specify the learning objectives for each module of instruction. The learning objectives must be comprehensive enough to
ensure that if all the objectives are met, the entire content of the course will be mastered; (D) specify an objective, quantitative criterion for mastery used for each learning objective; (E) implement a structured learning method by which each student is able to attain each learning objective; (F) provide a means of diagnostic assessment of each student's performance on an ongoing basis during each module of instruction, measuring what each student has learned and not learned at regular intervals throughout each module of instruction, and specifically assessing the mastery of each concept covered in the content material; (G) provide a means of tailoring the instruction to the needs of each student as identified in subparagraph (E) of this paragraph. The process of tailoring the instruction shall ensure that each student receives adequate remediation for specific deficiencies identified by the
diagnostic assessment; (H) continue the appropriate remediation on an individualized basis until the student demonstrates achievement of each mastery criterion; and (I) require that the student demonstrate mastery of all material covered by the learning objectives for the module before the module is completed. (2) The commission must approve the method by which each of the elements of mastery in paragraph (1)(A)-(I) of this subsection is accomplished. (3) The rationale for the education processes implemented with independent study must be based on sound instructional strategies which have been systematically designed and proven effective through educational research and development. The basis and rationale for any proposed instructional approach must be specified in the application for approval. The following types of programs will not be approved: Cont'd... |
