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Online/Distance Learning AP Courses
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If your school's students take online AP courses through an online or distance learning course provider, such as a virtual school, those courses may only be listed as AP courses on students' transcripts if those providers have qualified through the AP Course Audit to label their courses "AP."
Like AP courses offered at brick-and-mortar schools, online or distance learning AP courses will be reviewed through the AP Course Audit process. Instructions for online providers submitting materials appear below. Online or distance learning AP course providers who have not already participated in the AP Course Audit should contact the AP Course Audit Helpline using the "Contact Us" form at the top of the Course Audit home page at https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/ or by phone at 877-APHELP-0 (274-3570). While it's the responsibility of the online providers to submit materials to the AP Course Audit to be reviewed for authorization, it is the school's responsibility to ensure the AP courses listed on students' transcripts, in course catalogs, and on the school's Web site are authorized and annually renewed through the AP Course Audit process. The use of the AP designation in conjunction with courses offered by online/distance learning providers that have not been authorized through the AP Course Audit is a violation of trademark usage guidelines.
To list online AP courses as part of your school's official AP offerings, your school will be able to indicate through the AP Course Audit Web site which authorized online or distance learning courses you are offering to your students. These courses will then be included in your school's profile in the ledger of authorized AP courses made available annually in November.
Instructions for Selecting an Online or Distance Learning Provider
Online or Distance Learning Providers Offering AP Courses
Virtual School Partnerships and Content Providers
AP Science Courses and Alternate Approaches to the Hands-on Lab Requirement
Instructions for Selecting an Online or Distance Learning Provider
Through the AP Course Audit Web site, AP Course Audit administrators are able to indicate which authorized online/distance learning courses your school is offering to its students. To do so, AP Course Audit administrators should sign in to the AP Course Audit Web site, navigate to the "Add Online or Distance Learning Course" page, and select the authorized courses your school offers. These online AP courses will then be included with your school's other authorized courses in the AP Course Ledger sent to colleges and universities.
If your chosen online AP course provider does not appear on this list, it could mean that the provider has not yet submitted their course materials, or they are still under review. Contact your online provider for more information. You can also encourage your provider to contact the AP Course Audit Helpline directly if they have not already done so using the "Contact Us" form at the top of the Course Audit homepage at https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/ or by phone at 877-APHELP-0 (274-3570).
IMPORTANT: AP Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics courses can only be labeled "AP" if they include a laboratory and/or field experience component. Schools that cannot meet the minimum time required to be spent engaged in hands-on laboratory or field experiences are eligible for a one-year conditional authorization. The conditional authorization permits the use of the AP designation in conjunction with courses that meet all AP curricular requirements for the course but due to the delivery model cannot meet the minimum time required to be spent in hands-on laboratory investigations and/or fieldwork. These courses will appear in the AP Course Ledger and the drop-down menu available to school administrators accompanied by the following statement:
*This course has received a conditional AP authorization for the [academic year] school year since the course fulfills all of the components required in an AP science course with the exception of the minimum time required to be spent engaged in hands-on laboratory work/field experiences. Colleges and universities are encouraged to request the required lab notebook or portfolio of lab reports from students enrolled in this course in order to make determinations regarding credit and/or placement.
 AP Science Courses and Alternate Approaches to the Hands-on Lab Requirement
Online or Distance Learning Providers Offering AP Courses
The College Board recognizes the important service that online and distance learning providers provide to students and schools, and the AP Course Audit represents an opportunity to promote much greater awareness of these organizations' AP courses. All online or distance learning providers that wish to label their courses AP, and appear as authorized AP course providers, must participate in the AP Course Audit.
Virtual School Partnerships and Content Providers
The College Board is aware of some virtual schools that license their content from other virtual schools. The decision as to whether or not the "licensee" of that content should participate in the AP Course Audit is entirely up to that virtual school. Your decision should depend on whether or not you wish your virtual school's name to appear in the list of authorized course providers. Keep in mind that brick-and-mortar schools that wish to associate your courses with their school's profile will be looking for your name in the list of authorized providers, and not, perhaps the name of the virtual school from which you license content.
Online content providers, such as makers of virtual labs or curricular packages, cannot participate in the AP Course Audit. Such lab or curricular materials may subsequently be reviewed as part of an online or distance learning provider's course, but stand-alone materials cannot be submitted to be evaluated as independent products. The AP Course Audit process is designed to review AP courses in their entirety, so only schools (whether brick-and-mortar or virtual) can submit course syllabi for review.
AP Science Courses and Alternate Approaches to the Hands-on Lab Requirement
Each of the AP Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics courses includes a requirement for a lab and/or field experience component. As with each curricular requirement in every AP course, this requirement was established through careful deliberation of the respective courses' Development Committees and was confirmed through a national review of each course's requirements. The College Board unequivocally supports this requirement, just as it unequivocally supports the concept of flexibility in AP course delivery.
Some schools elect to develop their AP Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and/or Physics courses with lab experiences that are virtual or through a combination of virtual and hands-on investigations. Schools that cannot meet the minimum time required to be spent engaged in hands-on laboratory or field experiences are eligible for a one-year conditional authorization. The conditional authorization permits the use of the AP designation, but these courses will appear in the AP Course Ledger and the drop-down menu available to brick-and-mortar school administrators accompanied by the following statement:
*This course has received a conditional AP authorization for the [academic year] school year since the course fulfills all of the components required in an AP science course with the exception of the minimum time required to be spent engaged in hands-on laboratory work/field experiences. Colleges and universities are encouraged to request the required lab notebook or portfolio of lab reports from students enrolled in this course in order to make determinations regarding credit and/or placement.
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