Transfer of Administrative Responsibility for Officer Professional Military Education Distance Education Program from the Marine Corps Institute (MCI) to the College of Continuing Education (CCE) and the Announcement of the New Command and Staff College Distance Education Program (CSCDEP) 8900 Course Series Starting in Oct 2008

1. EFFECTIVE 31 MAY 2007 CCE WILL ASSUME
ADMININSTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE OFFICER PROFESSIONAL MILITARY
EDUCATION DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS (OPMEDEP) FROM MCI.  THE
TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITY WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO
STUDENT ENROLLMENT, DISTRIBUTION OF COURSEWARE MATERIALS, TESTING,
AND GRADE REPORTING FOR BOTH THE CSCDEP AND THE EXPEDITIONARY
WARFARE SCHOOL DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAM (EWSDEP).  TO FACILITATE
AND ENSURE A SMOOTH TRANSITION, NO NEW STUDENT ENROLLMENTS WILL BE
ACCEPTED FOR EITHER DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAM DURING THE MONTH OF
JUN 2007.  
2. EFFECTIVE 1 JUL 2007, CCE WILL START ENROLLMENTS VIA MARINENET
FOR ALL CSCDEP AND EWSDEP STUDENTS.
ADDITIONALLY, CCE WILL REPLACE THE EXISTING CSCDEP 8800 SERIES
COURSEWARE WITH THE NEW 8900 SERIES COMMENCING WITH PHASE 1 BEING
INTRODUCED OCT 2007 FOLLOWED BY PHASE II IN OCT 2008.  EWSDEP
COURSEWARE WILL REMAIN THE SAME FOR THE CCE ACADEMIC YEAR (AY) 2008
THAT COMMENCES OCT 2007.  THE PROCESS FOR ENROLLMENT IN EWSDEP AS OF
1 JUL 2007 WILL BE THE SAME AS DISCUSSED ABOVE FOR CSCDEP, AND WILL
BE ACCOMPLISHED VIA MARINENET.  
3. EFFECTIVE 1 JUL 2007 AND CONCURRENT WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF
PHASE I OF THE 8900 PROGRAM, THE CSCDEP WILL SHIFT FROM AN
INDEPENDENT GUIDED STUDY (IGS) BASED PROGRAM WITH A VOLUNTARY
SEMINAR OPTION TO A SEMINAR BASED PROGRAM WHERE ALL NEW STUDENTS
WILL PARTICIPATE IN SEMINARS, EITHER ON-SITE, BY VIDEO
TELECONFERENCING, OR ONLINE.  FOR THE NEAR FUTURE, THE EWSDEP WILL
REMAIN AN IGS BASED PROGRAM WITH A VOLUNTARY SEMINAR OPTION.  THE
REGIONAL COORDINATOR (RC), WORKING WITH THE STUDENT, WILL ASSESS AND
DETERMINE IF AN ON-SITE SEMINAR OR IGS WILL BEST MEET THE STUDENT'S
NEEDS.  ALL STUDENTS THAT ARE CURRENTLY ENROLLED THROUGH MCI IN THE
CSCDEP 8800 SERIES PROGRAM OR EWSDEP 8650 SERIES AS IGS WILL BE
OFFERED THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSITION TO THE CCE SEMINAR PROGRAM. 
THOSE STUDENTS WHO OPT TO REMAIN WITH THE MCI PROGRAM WILL HAVE FIVE
YEARS OR UNTIL 31 DEC 2010 TO COMPLETE THEIR PROGRAM OR BE
DISENROLLED.  ONCE A STUDENT TRANSITIONS FROM MCI TO CCE, THEY WILL
NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSFER BACK.  THOSE STUDENTS THAT
ELECT TO CONTINUE WITH MCI AS AN IGS STUDENT WILL CONTINUE TO
RECEIVE ALL THEIR SUPPORT FROM MCI UNTIL 31 DEC 2010.
THOSE STUDENTS THAT ENROLL AFTER 31 MAY 2007 OR ELECT TO TRANSFER
FROM MCI TO THE CCE PROGRAM WILL RECEIVE SUPPORT FROM CCE REGIONAL
COORDINATORS TO INCLUDE REQUESTS FOR ENROLLMENT, COURSE MATERIALS,
EXAMS, AND DIPLOMAS.  THE RC WILL ASSIST THE STUDENT IN DETERMINING
WHICH INSTRUCTIONAL METHOD (ON-SITE, VIDEO TELETRAINING, OR ONLINE)
BEST SUPPORTS THE INDIVIDUAL STUDENT'S NEEDS.  THE RC WILL HANDLE
ALL ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT TO INCLUDE SEMINAR ASSIGNMENTS, DELIVERY
OF COURSE MATERIAL, AND EXAMINATION PROCESSING.  
4. AFTER ENROLLMENT IN THE PROGRAM, ALL CSCDEP AND EWSDEP STUDENTS
WILL HAVE THREE YEARS TO COMPLETE THE PROGRAM.
ALL REQUESTS FOR EXTENSION OF THE COURSE COMPLETION DEADLINE MUST BE
SUBMITTED TO THE CCE AND WILL BE HANDLED ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.  
5. EFFECTIVE 1 APR 2007, THE CSCDEP AND EWSDEP ONE YEAR WEEKEND
RESERVE PROGRAM WILL BE TERMINATED.  CURRENTLY, CCE IS WORKING WITH
M&RA, RA & RAP, TO REALIGN THE RESERVE WEEKEND PROGRAM TO MIRROR THE
PHASE I AND II, TWO YEAR CONSTRUCT (OCT-JUN) OF THE EXISTING WEEKDAY
SEMINAR PROGRAM.
THIS CHANGE WILL ENSURE THAT THE LEARNING OUTCOMES OF BOTH THE
WEEKDAY AND WEEKEND PROGRAMS ARE MET AND WILL ALLOW THE STUDENT MORE
FLEXIBILITY DURING DEPLOYMENT. ADDITIONAL INFO SPECIFICALLY
ADDRESSING THE RESERVE WEEKEND PROGRAM WILL BE PROVIDED BY SEP
CORRESPONDENCE.  
6. REF (A) IS CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN AND WILL DEFINE PME COMPLETE
CRITERIA FOR ALL ENLISTED AND OFFICER RANKS.  REF (B) PROVIDED
CLARIFICATION FOR STAFF NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICERS WHO DESIRE TO
PARTICIPATE IN OPME.  REF (C) ANNOUNCED THE NEW CCE PROGRAM AND
IDENTIFIED STUDENT SELECTION CRITERIA FOR THE SEMINAR PROGRAM. THE
PURPOSE OF THE SELECTION CRITERIA IS TO ENSURE THAT PERSONNEL COMING
IN ZONE FOR OFFICER PROMOTION ARE GIVEN THE WIDEST OPPORTUNITY TO
PARTICIPATE.  
7.  OFFICER PME (OPME) CRITERIA:  REF (A) IS UNDERGOING REVISION AND
WILL BE RELEASED IN THE WINTER OF '06.  REF (B) PROVIDES UPDATED PME
POLICY CHANGES.  FOR THE MOST CURRENT PME CRITERIA, GO TO THE MCU
WEB SITE AND VIEW THE PME CRITERIA WEB PAGE:
WWW.MCU.USMC.MIL/PME/PME.HTM 8. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL BE
PUBLISHED IN THE DECEMBER
2006 MARINE CORPS GAZETTE ARTICLE TITLED, "INTRODUCING THE NEW
GENERATION COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE AND EXPEDITIONARY WARFARE
SCHOOL DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS". 
9. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND THE CURRENT LIST OF CCE SATELLITE
CAMPUSES/RC SUPPORT INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ON THE CCE WEBSITE AT
WWW.TECOM.USMC.MIL/CCE, OR BY CONTACTING
CCE STUDENT SUPPORT AT 1-800-992-9210.