Section 84.503 - Online Driver Education Course Exclusively for Adults(a) Online approval process. The department may approve an endorsement for an online driver education course exclusively for adults to be offered if the course meets the following requirements. (1) Application. The applicant for an online driver education provider license must submit a completed application along with the appropriate fee.(2) Online Provider license required. A person or entity offering an online driver education course exclusively for adults must hold an online driver education provider license.(3) The online driver education provider must be responsible for the operation of the online course.(4) Students must receive classroom instruction from a licensed driver education instructor.(b) Course content. The online course must meet the requirements of the course identified in §1001.1015 of the Code and as described in the POI-Adult Six-Hour. (1) Length of course. The course must be six hours in length, which is equal to 360 minutes. A minimum of 330 minutes of instruction must be provided. Thirty minutes of time, exclusive of the 330 minutes of instruction, must be dedicated to break periods or to the topics included in the minimum course content. All break periods must be provided after instruction has begun and before the comprehensive examination and summation.(2) Required material. A copy of the current edition of the "Texas Driver Handbook" or equivalent study material must be made available to each student enrolled in the course. (3) Editing. The material presented in the online course 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, and distracting material not related to driver education must not appear during the actual instructional times of the course.(5) Minimum content. The online course must present sufficient content so that it would take a student 360 minutes to complete the course. To demonstrate that the online course contains sufficient minutes of instruction, the online course must use the following methods. (A) Word count. For written material that is read by the student, the course must contain 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 online course must calculate the total amount of time it takes for all multimedia presentations to play, not to exceed 150 minutes.(C) Charts and graphs. The online course may assign one minute for each chart or graph. (D) Time allotment for questions. The online course 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 330 minutes, the online course has demonstrated the required amount of minimum content.(F) Alternate time calculation method. In lieu of the time calculation method, the online course may submit alternate methodology to demonstrate that the online course meets the 330-minute requirement.(c) Personal validation. The online course must maintain a method to validate the identity of the person taking the course. The personal validation system must incorporate at least one of the following requirements. (1) Provider-initiated method. Upon approval by the department, the online course may use a method that includes testing and security measures that validate the identity of the person taking the course. The method must meet the following criteria. (A) Time to respond. The student must correctly answer a personal validation question within 90 seconds. (B) Placement of questions. At least two personal validation questions must appear randomly during each instructional hour, not including the final examination.(C) Exclusion from the course. The online course must exclude the student from the course after the student has incorrectly answered more than 30 percent of the personal validation questions. (D) Correction of answer. The online course 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 why the answer was corrected.(2) Third party data method. The online course must ask a minimum of twelve (12) personal validation questions randomly throughout the course from a bank of at least twenty (20) questions drawn from a third party data source. The method must meet the following criteria. (A) Time to respond. The student must correctly answer a personal validation question within 90 seconds.(B) Placement of questions. At least two personal validation questions must appear randomly during each instructional hour, not including the final examination.(C) Exclusion from the course. The online course must exclude the student from the course after the student has incorrectly answered more than 30 percent of the personal validation questions.(D) Correction of answer. The online course 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 why the answer was corrected.(3) Multifactor authentication method. The online course may use a multifactor or two-factor authentication for personal validation.(d) Content validation. The online course must incorporate a course content validation process that verifies student participation and comprehension of course material, including the following. (1) Timers. The online course may include built-in timers to ensure that 330 minutes of instruction have been attended and completed by the student. (2) Testing the student's participation in multimedia presentations. The online course 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 online course must 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 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 online course must require the student to view the multimedia clip again. The online course must then present a different question from its test bank for that multimedia clip. The online course may not repeat a question until it has asked all the questions from its test bank.(D) Answer identification. The online course must not identify the correct answer to the multimedia question.(3) Course participation questions. The online course must test the student's course participation by asking at least two questions each from Topics Two through Eight of Chapter Four in the POI-Adult Six Hour. (A) Test bank. The test bank for course participation questions must include at least ten questions each from Topics Two through Eight of Chapter Four in the POI-Adult Six-Hour.(B) Placement of questions. The course participation questions must be asked at the end of the major unit or the section in which the topic is covered.(C) Question difficulty. Course participation questions must be of such difficulty that the answer may not be easily determined without having participated in the actual instruction.(4) Comprehension of course content. The online course must test the student's mastery of the course content by administering at least 30 questions covering the highway signs and traffic laws required under Texas Transportation Code, § 521.161. (A) Test banks (two). Separate test banks for course content mastery questions are required for the highway signs and traffic laws examination as required under Texas Transportation Code, § 521.161, with examination questions drawn equally from each.(B) Placement of questions. The mastery of course content questions must be asked at the end of the course (comprehensive final examination).(C) Question difficulty. Course content mastery questions must be of such difficulty that the answer may not be easily determined without having participated in the actual instruction.(D) Retest the student. If the student misses more than 30 percent of the questions asked on an examination, the online course must retest the student using different questions from its test bank. The student is not required to repeat the course, but may be allowed to review the course prior to retaking the examination. If the student fails the comprehensive final examination three times, the student fails the course.(e) Student records. The online course 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. The provider must ensure that the student record is readily, securely, and reliably available for inspection by a department representative. The student records must contain all information required in §84.81 (relating to Recordkeeping Requirements) and contain the following information: (1) a record of all questions asked and the student's responses;(2) the name or identity number of the staff member entering comments, retesting, or revalidating the student;(3) both answers and a reasonable explanation for the change if any answer to a question is changed by the provider for a student who inadvertently missed a question; and(4) a record of the time the student spent in each unit and the total instructional time the student spent in the course.(f) Waiver of certain education and examination requirements. A licensed driver education instructor must determine that the student has successfully completed and passed a driver education course exclusively for adults prior to waiving the examination requirements of the highway sign and traffic law parts of the examination required under Texas Transportation Code, § 521.167, and signing the ADE-1317 driver education completion certificate.(g) Age requirement. A person must be at least 18 years of age to enroll in a driver education course exclusively for adults.(h) Issuance of certificate. Not later than the 15th working day after the course completion date, the provider must issue an ADE-1317 driver education certificate only to a person who successfully completes an approved online driver education course exclusively for adults.(i) Access to instructor and technical assistance. The provider must establish hours that the student may access an instructor trained in the adult driver education curriculum, and for technical assistance. Except for circumstances beyond the control of the provider, the student must have access to the instructor and technical assistance during the specified hours.(j) Additional requirements for online courses. Courses delivered via the Internet or technology must also comply with the following requirements. (1) Re-entry into the course. An online course may allow the student re-entry into the course by username and password authentication or other means that are as secure as username and password authentication.(2) Navigation. The student must be provided orientation training to ensure easy and logical navigation through the course. The student must be allowed to freely browse previously completed material.(3) Audio-visual standards. The video and audio must be clear and, when applicable, the video and audio must be synchronized.(4) Course identification. All online courses must display the driver education 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.(5) Domain names. Each provider offering an online course must offer that online course from a single domain.(6) A driver education provider offering an online course may accept students redirected from a website if the student is redirected to the webpage that clearly identifies the name and license number of the provider offering the online course. This information must be visible before and during the student registration and course payment processes.(7) Compliance with Texas Transportation Code, § 521.1601. Persons age 18 to under 25 years of age must successfully complete either a minor and adult driver education course or the driver education course exclusively for adults. Partial completion of either course does not satisfy the requirements of rule or law.(8) Issuance of certificate. A licensed provider or instructor may not issue an ADE-1317 adult driver education certificate to a person who is not at least 18 years of age.16 Tex. Admin. Code § 84.503
Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 42, Number 12, March 24, 2017, TexReg 1418, eff. 4/1/2017; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 43, Number 10, March 9, 2018, TexReg 1433, eff. 3/15/2018; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 43, Number 24, June 15, 2018, TexReg 3876, eff. 7/1/2018; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 45, Number 35, August 28, 2020, TexReg 6082, eff. 9/1/2020; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 46, Number 35, August 27, 2021, TexReg 5399, eff. 9/1/2021; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 47, Number 17, April 29, 2022, TexReg 2524, eff. 5/1/2022; Repealed by Texas Register, Volume 48, Number 21, May 26, 2023, TexReg 2715, eff. 6/1/2023; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 49, Number 47, November 22, 2024, TexReg 9527, eff. 12/1/2024