| (a) Approval process. The department may approve an
application for an alternative delivery method (ADM) submitted by
a driving safety provider that delivers an approved driving safety
course and meets the following requirements.
(1) Standards for approval. The department may approve
an ADM employed by a driving safety provider for an approved driving
safety course waive any rules to accomplish this approval if the ADM
delivers an approved course in a manner that is at least as secure
as a traditional classroom. ADMs that meet the requirements outlined
in subsections (b) - (h), shall receive ADM approval.
(2) Application. The driving safety provider must submit
a completed ADM application along with the appropriate fee. The application
for ADM approval must be treated the same as an application for the
approval of a new course and the ADM must deliver the driving safety
provider's approved curriculum as delineated in the course content
guide required by §84.502 (relating to Driving Safety Courses
of Instruction), and the COI-Driving Safety.
(3) Incomplete applications. An application that is
incomplete may be returned to the applicant along with the application
fee.
(4) Provider license required. A person or entity offering
a driving safety course to Texas students by an alternative delivery
method must hold a driving safety provider license. The driving safety
provider is responsible for the operation of the ADM.
(b) Course content. The ADM must allow for delivery
of the same topics and course content as the approved course established
by the department in the COI-Driving Safety.
(1) Course topics. The time requirements for each unit
and the course described in §84.502(a)(1)(C) and (D) must be
met.
(2) Topic sequence. The ADM sequencing may be different
from the approved traditional driving safety course if the sequencing
does not detract from the educational value of the course. The driving
safety provider must provide a key showing the topic sequence of the
traditional driving safety course and where the corresponding information
appears in the ADM.
(3) Editing. The material presented in the ADM must
be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling and be of such quality
that it does not detract from the subject matter.
(4) Irrelevant material. Advertisement of goods and
services must not appear during the actual instructional times of
the course. Distracting material that is not related to the topic
being presented must not appear during the actual instructional times
of the course.
(5) Minimum content. The ADM must present sufficient
content so that it would take a student 300 minutes to complete the
course. In order to demonstrate that the ADM contains sufficient content,
the ADM must use the following methods.
(A) Word count. For written material that is read by
the student, the driving safety provider must count the total number
of words in the written sections of the course. This word count must
be divided by 180, the average number of words that a typical student
reads per minute. The result is the time associated with the written
material for the sections.
(B) Multimedia presentations. For multimedia presentation,
the driving safety provider must calculate the total amount of time
it takes for all multimedia presentations to play.
(C) Charts and graphs. The ADM may assign one minute
for each chart or graph.
(D) Examinations. The provider may allocate up to 90
seconds for questions presented over the Internet and 90 seconds for
questions presented by telephone.
(E) Total time calculation. If the sum of the time
associated with the written course material, the total amount of time
for all multimedia presentations, and the time associated with all
charts and graphs equals or exceeds 300 minutes, the ADM has demonstrated
the required amount of content.
(F) Alternate time calculation method. In lieu of the
time calculation method, the driving safety provider may submit alternate
methodology to demonstrate that the ADM meets the 300-minute requirement.
(6) Student breaks. A course that demonstrates that
it contains 300 minutes of instructional content must mandate that
students take 60 minutes of break time or provide additional educational
content for a total of 360 minutes.
(c) Personal validation. The driving safety provider
must ensure the ADM maintain a system to validate the identity of
the person taking the course. The personal validation system must
incorporate the following requirements.
(1) Personal validation questions. The ADM must ask
a minimum of 10 personal validation questions throughout the course.
(2) Third party data sources. The personal validation
questions must be drawn equally from at least two different databases.
(3) Time to respond. The student must correctly answer
the personal validation question within 90 seconds for questions presented
over the Internet and 90 seconds for questions presented by telephone.
(4) Placement of questions. At least one personal validation
question must appear in each major unit or section, not including
the final examination.
(5) Exclusion from the course. The ADM must be constructed
to exclude the student from the course after the student has incorrectly
answered more than 30 percent of the personal validation questions.
(6) Correction of answer. The driving safety provider
may correct an answer to a personal validation question for a student
who inadvertently missed a personal validation question. In such a
case, the student record must include a record of both answers and
an explanation of the reasons that the provider corrected the answer.
(7) Student affidavits. A student for whom third-party
database information is available from fewer than two databases (for
example, a student with an out-of-state driver's license) may be issued
a uniform certificate of completion upon presentation to the driving
safety provider of a notarized copy of the student's driver's license
or equivalent type of photo identification and a statement from the
student certifying that the individual attended and successfully completed
the six-hour driving safety course for which the certificate is being
issued and there exists a corresponding student record.
(8) Alternative methods. Upon approval by the department,
the driving safety provider may employ an ADM that uses alternate
methods that are at least as secure as the personal validation question
method.
(d) Content validation. The driving safety provider
must ensure the ADM incorporate a course content validation process
that verifies student participation and comprehension of course material,
including the following.
(1) Timers. The ADM must include built-in timers to
ensure that 300 minutes of instruction have been attended and completed
by the student.
(2) Testing the student's participation in multimedia
presentations. The ADM must ask at least one course validation question
following each multimedia clip of more than 180 seconds.
(A) Test bank. For each multimedia presentation that
exceeds 180 seconds, the ADM must have a test bank of at least four
questions.
(B) Question difficulty. Each question must be short
answer, multiple choice, essay, or a combination of these forms. The
questions must be difficult enough that the answer may not be easily
determined without having viewed the actual multimedia clip.
(C) Failure criteria. If the student fails to answer
the question correctly, the ADM shall either require the student view
the multimedia clip again or the ADM must fail the student from the
course. If the ADM requires the student to view the multimedia clip
again, the ADM must present a different question from its test bank
for that multimedia clip. The ADM may not repeat a question until
it has asked all the questions from its test bank.
(D) Answer identification. The ADM must not identify
the correct answer to the multimedia question.
(3) Mastery of course content. The ADM must allow for
testing of the student's mastery of the course content by asking at
least two questions from each of the topics listed in Chapter Four,
Topics Two through Twelve of the COI-Driving Safety.
(A) Test bank. The test bank for course content mastery
questions must include at least ten questions from each of the topics
identified in Chapter Four, Topics Two through Twelve of the COI-Driving
Safety.
(B) Placement of questions. The mastery of course content
questions must be asked either at the end of the major unit or section
in which the topic identified in Chapter Four, Topics Two through
Twelve of the COI-Driving Safety, (unit examination) or at the end
of the course (comprehensive final examination).
(C) Question difficulty. Course content mastery questions
must be short answer, multiple choice, essay, or a combination of
these forms, and of such difficulty that the answer may not be easily
determined without having participated in the actual instruction.
(4) Repeat and retest options. The ADM may use either
of the following options for students who fail an examination to show
mastery of course content, but may not use both in the same ADM.
(A) Repeat the failed unit. If the student misses more
than 30 percent of the questions asked on an examination, the ADM
must require that the student take the unit again. All timers must
be reset. The correct answer to missed questions may not be disclosed
to the student (except as part of course content). At the end of the
unit, the ADM must again test the student's mastery of the material.
The ADM must present different questions from its test bank until
all the applicable questions have been asked. The student may repeat
this procedure an unlimited number of times.
(B) Retest the student. If the student misses more
than 30 percent of the questions asked on an examination, the ADM
must retest the student in the same manner as the failed examination,
using different questions from its test bank. The student is not required
to repeat the failed unit but may be allowed to do so prior to retaking
the examination. If the student fails the same unit examination or
the comprehensive final examination three times, the student fails
the course.
(e) Student records. The ADM must provide for the creation
and maintenance of the records documenting student enrollment, the
verification of the student's identity, and the testing of the student's
mastery of the course material. Each entry that verifies enrollment,
identifies the question asked or the response given, documents retesting
and/or revalidation, and documents any changes to the student's record
must include the date and time of the activity reported. The student
records must contain the following information.
(1) The student's name and driver's license number.
(2) A record of which personal validation questions
were asked and the student's responses.
(3) A record of which multimedia participation questions
were asked and the student's responses.
(4) The name or identity number of the staff member
entering comments, retesting, or revalidating the student.
(5) If any answer to a question is changed by the driving
safety provider for a student who inadvertently missed a question,
the provider must provide both answers and a reasonable explanation
for the change.
(6) A record of the course content mastery questions
asked and the answers given.
(7) A record of the time the student spent in each
unit of the ADM and the total instructional time the student spent
in the course.
(8) The provider must also ensure that the student
record is readily, securely, and reliably available for inspection
by the department.
(f) Additional requirements for ADM courses. Courses
delivered via the Internet must also comply with the following requirements.
(1) Course identification. All ADM courses must display
the driving safety provider name and license number assigned by the
department on the entity's website and the registration page used
by the student to pay any monies, provide any personal information,
and enroll.
(2) A driving safety provider offering a driving safety
course through ADM may accept students redirected from another website
if the student is redirected to the webpage that clearly identifies
the names and license numbers of the provider offering the ADM. This
information must be visible before and during the student registration
and course payment processes.
(3) Domain names. Each provider offering a driving
safety course through ADM must offer that ADM from a single domain.
(g) Additional requirements for video courses.
(1) Delivery of the material. For ADMs delivered using
videotape, digital video disc (DVD), film, or similar media, the equipment
and course materials may only be made available through a department
approved process.
(2) Video requirement. In order to meet the video requirement
of §84.502(a)(1)(B)(v), the video course must include between
60 and 150 minutes of video that is relevant to the required topics
such as video produced by other entities for training purposes, including
public safety announcements and B roll footage. The remainder of the
300 minutes of required instruction must be video material that is
relevant to the required topics and produced specifically for the
ADM.
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