| (a) Approval process. The department may approve an
alternative delivery method (ADM) that delivers an approved drug and
alcohol driving awareness program and meets the following requirements.
(1) Standards for approval. The department may approve
an ADM for an approved drug and alcohol driving awareness program
and waive any rules to accomplish this approval if the ADM delivers
an approved program 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 course provider shall submit a
completed ADM application along with the appropriate fee. The application
for ADM approval shall be treated the same as an application for the
approval of a new program, and the ADM must deliver the course provider's
approved curriculum as delineated in the program content guide required
by §84.505(a)(1)(B) (relating to Drug and Alcohol Driving Awareness
Programs of Instruction), and the POI-DADAP.
(3) Incomplete applications. An application that is
incomplete may be returned to the applicant along with the application
fee.
(4) School license required. A person or entity offering
a drug and alcohol driving awareness program to Texas students by
an ADM must hold a drug and alcohol driving awareness school license.
(5) Course provider endorsement required. The drug
and alcohol driving awareness school must have an endorsement from
a licensed course provider.
(6) Course provider responsibility. The day-to-day
operations of an ADM are the responsibility of the course provider
that owns the curriculum. A course provider may offer an ADM through
a school that is not owned and operated by the course provider only
with approval of the executive director. By accepting such approval,
the course provider that offers the curriculum through a licensed
drug and alcohol and driving awareness school also accepts responsibility
for all compliance issues that arise as a result of the operation
of the ADM.
(b) Program content. The ADM must deliver the same
topics and program content as the approved course established by the
department in the POI-DADAP.
(1) Course topics. The time requirements for each unit
and the program as a whole described in §84.505(a)(1)(B)(v),
(C), and (D) shall be met.
(2) Topic sequence. The ADM sequencing may be different
from the approved traditional program as long as the sequencing does
not detract from educational value of the program. The ADM owner shall
provide a key showing the topic sequence of the traditional program
and where the corresponding information appears in the ADM.
(3) Editing. The material presented in the ADM shall
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 shall not appear during the actual instructional times of
the program. Distracting material that is not related to the topic
being presented shall not appear during the actual instructional times
of the program.
(5) Minimum content. The ADM shall present sufficient
content so that it would take a student 300 minutes to complete the
program. In order to demonstrate that the ADM contains sufficient
content, the ADM shall use the following methods.
(A) Word count. For written material that is read by
the student, the course provider shall count the total number of words
in the written sections of the program. This word count shall 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 course provider shall 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) Exams. The course 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 program 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 ADM may submit alternate methodology
to demonstrate that the ADM meets the 300-minute requirement.
(6) Student breaks. A program that demonstrates that
it contains 300 minutes of instructional content shall mandate that
students take 60 minutes of break time or provide additional educational
content for a total of 360 minutes.
(c) Personal validation. The ADM shall maintain a system
to validate the identity of the person taking the program. The personal
validation system shall incorporate the following requirements.
(1) Personal validation questions. The ADM shall ask
a minimum of 10 personal validation questions throughout the program.
(2) Data sources. The personal validation questions
shall be drawn equally from at least two different databases. Alternatively,
the data may be drawn from student-solicited question/answer pairs
obtained during enrollment.
(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 shall appear in each major unit or section, not including
the post-program exam.
(5) Exclusion from the course. The ADM shall exclude
the student from the program after the student has incorrectly answered
more than 30 percent of the personal validation questions.
(6) Correction of answer. The school may correct an
answer to a personal validation question for a student who inadvertently
missed a personal validation question drawn from a third-party database.
In such a case, the student record shall include a record of both
answers and an explanation of the reasons that the school corrected
the answer. A school or course provider shall not correct or change
an answer for a student who enrolls in an ADM that uses student-solicited
question/answer pairs for personal validation.
(7) Student affidavits. A student enrolled in a program
that uses third-party database validation questions and 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 certificate of program completion upon presentation to the course
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 drug and alcohol driving awareness program for which
the certificate is being issued and for which there exists a corresponding
student record.
(8) Alternative methods. Upon approval by the department
the ADM may use alternate methods that are at least as secure as the
personal validation question method.
(d) Program validation. The ADM shall incorporate a
program content validation process that verifies student participation
and comprehension of program material, including the following.
(1) Timers. The ADM shall 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 shall ask at least one program validation question
following each multimedia clip of more than 180 seconds.
(A) Test bank. For each multimedia presentation that
exceeds 180 seconds, the ADM shall have a test bank of at least four
questions.
(B) Question difficulty. The question shall be short
answer, multiple choice, essay, or a combination of these forms. The
question shall 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 shall fail the student from the
program. If the ADM requires the student to view the multimedia clip
again, the ADM shall 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 shall not identify
the correct answer to the multimedia question.
(3) Mastery of program content. The ADM shall test
the student's mastery of the program content by asking at least two
questions from each of the five substantive topics listed in Chapter
Four, Topics Three through Seven of the POI-DADAP.
(A) Test bank. The test bank for program content mastery
questions shall include at least two questions from each of the five
substantive topics identified in Chapter Four, Topics Three through
Seven of the POI-DADAP. For each question in a substantive topic,
the test bank shall contain four alternative questions covering the
same topic, for a total of at least 100 questions.
(B) Placement of questions. The mastery of program
content questions shall be asked at the end of the program (post-program
exam).
(C) Question difficulty. Program content mastery questions
shall 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.
(D) Retest. If the student misses more than 30 percent
of the questions asked on the post-program exam, the ADM shall retest
the student in the same manner as the failed exam, using different
questions from its test bank. The student is not required to repeat
the failed program, but may be allowed to do so prior to retaking
the exam. If the student fails the post-program exam three times,
the student shall fail the program.
(e) Student records. The ADM shall 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 program 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 shall include the date and time of the activity reported. The
school and/or course provider shall also ensure that the student record
is readily, securely, and reliably available for inspection by the
department. The student records shall 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 school
or course provider for a student who inadvertently missed a third-party
database question, the school or course provider shall maintain both
answers and a reasonable explanation for the change. A school or course
provider shall not correct or change an answer for a student who enrolls
in an ADM that uses student-solicited question/answer pairs for personal
validation;
(6) a record of the program content mastery questions
asked and the answers given; and
(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 program.
(f) Additional requirements for ADM programs. Programs
delivered via the Internet shall also comply with the following requirements.
(1) Course identification. All ADM courses shall display
the drug and alcohol driving awareness school name, course provider
name and license numbers for each 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 drug and alcohol driving awareness school offering
an ADM course may accept students redirected from another website
as long as the student is redirected to the webpage that clearly identifies
the names and license numbers of the school and course provider offering
the ADM. This information shall be visible before and during the student
registration and course payment processes.
(3) Domain names. Each school offering an ADM must
offer that ADM from a single domain.
(4) ADM identification. All ADMs presented over the
Internet shall display the school name and school number assigned
by the department as well as the course provider name and course provider
number assigned by the department on the homepage and the registration
page of the entity to which the student pays any monies, provides
any personal information, and in which the student enrolls.
(g) Additional requirements for video programs.
Cont'd... |
