Courses shall meet the following requirements:

(1) Be offered by a private entity approved by the director to operate as a school;

(2) Be offered by a tax-supported, public technical or community college or other institution of higher learning that certifies clock hours as indicated in RCW 18.85.011(5), consistent with the approval standards prescribed by the director and this chapter;

(3) Be offered by the Washington real estate commission;

(4) Have a minimum of three hours of course work or instruction for the student. A clock hour is a period of 50 minutes of actual instruction;

(5) Provide practical information related to the practice of real estate in any of the following real estate topic areas:

(a) Department prescribed curricula:

(i) Fundamentals;

(ii) Practices;

(A) Residential;

(B) Commercial;

(iii) Advanced practices;

(A) Residential;

(B) Commercial;

(iv) Real estate law;

(v) Advanced real estate law;

(vi) Brokerage management;

(vii) Business management;

(viii) Core curriculum;

(A) Residential;

(B) Commercial;

(C) Property management;

(b) Open curricula:

(i) Legal aspects;

(ii) Taxation;

(iii) Appraisal;

(iv) Evaluating real estate and business opportunities;

(v) Property management and leasing;

(vi) Construction and land development;

(vii) Ethics and standards of practice;

(viii) Washington real estate fair housing;

(ix) Real estate closing practices;

(x) Current trends and issues;

(xi) Principles/essentials;

(xii) Finance;

(xiii) Hazardous waste and other environmental issues;

(xiv) Commercial;

(xv) Real estate sales and marketing;

(xvi) Instructor development;

(xvii) Consumer protection;

(xviii) Cross cultural communication;

(xix) Advanced management practices;

(xx) Use of computers and/or other technologies as applied to the practice of real estate;

(6) Be under the supervision of an instructor approved to teach the topic area, who must, at a minimum, be available to respond to specific questions from students on an immediate or reasonably delayed basis;

(7) The following types of courses shall not be approved for clock hours:

(a) Mechanical office and business skills, such as, keyboarding, speed-reading, memory improvement, grammar, and report writing;

(b) Standardized software programs such as word processing, email, spreadsheets or databases; an example: A course using spreadsheet program to demonstrate investment analysis would be acceptable, but a course teaching how to use a spreadsheet would not be acceptable;

(c) Orientation courses for licensees, such as those offered by trade associations;

(d) Personal and sales motivation courses or sales meetings held in conjunction with a licensee's general business;

(e) Courses that are designed or developed to serve other professions, unless each component of the curriculum and content specifically shows how a real estate licensee can utilize the information in the practice of real estate;

(f) Personal finance, etiquette, or motivational type courses;

(g) Courses that are designed to promote or offer to sell specific products or services to real estate licensees such as warranty programs, client/customer database systems, software programs or other devices. Services or products can be offered during nonclock hour time, such as breaks or lunchtime. Letterhead, logos, company names or other similar markings by itself, on course material are not considered promotional;

(h) Clock hours shall not be awarded for any course time devoted to meals or transportation;

(8) Courses of 30 clock hours or more which are submitted for approval must include a comprehensive examination(s) and answer key(s) of no fewer than three questions per clock hour with a minimum of 90 questions, and a requirement of passing course grade of at least 70 percent; essay question examination keys must identify the material to be tested and the points assigned for each question;

(9) Include textbook or instructional materials approved by the director, which must be kept accurate and current;

(10) Not have a title which misleads the public as to the subject matter of the course;

(11) The provider's course application must identify learning objectives and demonstrate how these are related to the practice of real estate;

(12) Courses offering the prescribed core curriculum must meet the requirements of WAC 308-124A-800 and those offering the prescribed Washington real estate fair housing curriculum must meet the requirements of WAC 308-124A-802;

(13) Only primary providers shall be approved to teach the prescribed core curriculum and Washington real estate fair housing; and

(14) Course providers offering core curriculum within a course exceeding three clock hours must clearly indicate in the application for approval where the core curriculum elements are met in the course.