Los AngelesSouthwestCollege; Best Practices for LA Southwest College Online Courses; Draft 3, 12/07

Best Practices for LA Southwest College Online Courses

DRAFT 3

(Note: Strikeouts are deleted text; italicized text is added)

Purpose: This document is intended to serve a guide for all LASC online courses.

Basic Assumptions

Several assumptions are central to these principles:

1. / The courses offered online will adhere to the same course outline requirements as the course offered in a traditional classroom.
2. / LA Southwest Department Chairs or their designees and Administration will ensure that all courses, including online courses, as presented by instructors are adhering to course outline requirements.
3. / Online classes should not be subjected to neither additional nor fewer requirements or regulations beyond those applied to traditional courses just because they are taught electronically.
4. / Online classes at LASC will be provided in an asynchronous-paced mode, using the internet.
5. / The requirements set down here are intended to foster online course offerings, not to inhibit them.
6. / Online students should be encouraged, but not required, to physically attend on-campus meetings.
7. / Teaching online is fundamentally different from that of teaching traditional courses. Once a course is created and the online content completed, the instructor becomes a guide and mentor and must have command of online pedagogy and certain technical skills. Instructors for online courses should either show prior proficiency in teaching online or present documentation of training prior to being allowed to teach online.

Seven Guiding Principles

  1. Encourage Student-Faculty, Student-Student contact

  1. Encourage Student cooperation

  1. Encourage Active Learning

  1. Give Prompt Feedback

  1. Emphasize Time on Task

  1. Project High Expectations

  1. Respect Diverse Talents and Learning Styles

Classifications and Definitions:

The online course classifications and definitions currently are:

  1. Online-Assisted: An Online-Assisted course includes at minimum the posting of the course Syllabus, course outlines and Faculty Information. The information posted in the online course is covered in class and used as reference online.
  1. Online-Enhanced: An Online-Enhanced course includes all requirements of the Online-Assisted course, utilizing up to 50% of features, such as Course Documents, Discussion Board, Virtual Classroom, Groups, Assignments, External Links, Digital Drop Box and Grade Book, etc. An Online-Enhanced course can: 1) utilize Course Management System (CMS) features to enhance communication and collaboration that is supplemental to in-class participation, 2) utilize the CMS to strictly enhance course content delivery, or 3) be a combination of the two. The course can be offered during regularly scheduled class times or with online components that replace some of the regularly scheduled class meetings.
  1. Online: An Online course includes all requirements of the Online-Enhanced course and shall utilize features such as Course Documents, Discussion Board, Virtual Classroom, Groups, Assignments, External Links, Digital Drop Box and Grade Book, etc. Students do not typically attend a physical classroom when participating in an Online-based course. All course materials, instruction, discussion and assessment is posted and done online. In the Online-based course, the course content must go hand in hand with the aspects of communication and collaboration in the course. Online-based courses require the same amount of course work and hours as a traditional course; they are just offered in a more flexible and independent environment. Online students should not be required to physically attend on-campus meetings.

Faculty Qualifications

Prior to being able to teach online, faculty must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the supervising department chair the following capabilities:

  1. Learning theory as it applies to online students
  2. How to use standard CMS tools to foster a “learning environment”
  3. Sufficient technical skills to provide the required course content using Moodle or a publisher provided CMS.
  4. The ability to use email

Faculty shall be encouraged to obtain an Online Teaching Certificate (available through various community colleges) and to avail themselves of ongoing in-service training and seminars in online teaching, i.e., LASC’s “How to Teach an Online Course.”

Faculty Support

  1. LA Southwest College shall provide faculty support services specifically related to teaching via an electronic system.
  1. LA Southwest College shall ensure appropriate training for faculty who teach online courses.
  1. LA Southwest College shall provide faculty with adequate equipment, software and communications for interaction with students, institutions and other faculty.

Student Support

  1. LA Southwest College shall provide students with clear, complete and timely information on the curriculum, course and degree requirements, nature of faculty/student interaction, prerequisite technology competencies and skills, technical equipment requirements, availability of academic support services, financial aid resources, and costs and payment policies.
  2. Students shall have access to training on how to succeed in an online course. Students shall be encouraged to avail themselves of this training prior to taking an online-enhanced or online course.
  3. LA Southwest shall provide its online students with accessible library and other learning resources appropriate to the courses or programs delivered via technology. It shall develop systems to support them in accessing and using the library and other learning resources effectively.
  4. Enrolled students shall have reasonable and adequate access to student services and resources appropriate to support their learning.
  5. LA Southwest College shall have admission/acceptance criteria to assess whether the student has the background, knowledge and technical skills required for undertaking the course. Advertising, recruiting and admissions materials shall clearly and accurately represent the program and the services available.
  6. Students shall have technical support services, i.e. Help Desk, available Monday – Friday from 8:00 am until 10:00 pm* to help students with technical issues involved with student interface with the online classes.

*Note: finalized times of availability to be negotiated

Course Requirements

  1. All categories of online course offerings shall meet the same Course Outline requirement as their traditional non-online courses counterparts.
  2. All LASC online courses shall comply with the Title 5 Section 55211, Instructor Contact. All LASC online course shall comply with the Online Education Guidelines for the California Community Colleges Section 55211.
    Within the parameters specified by the Course Outline, individual instructors will accomplish the required contact hours via a combination of these methods:
  3. Online Lecture hours
  4. Online Laboratory hours
  5. Student conferences (could be face-to-face or virtual)
  6. Student tutoring (could be face-to-face or virtual)
  7. Threaded discussion forums with appropriate instructor participation
  8. Email Messaging
  9. Instant Messaging
  10. Weekly announcements in the Course Management System
  11. Timely feedback for student work
  12. Instructor prepared e-lectures
  13. Virtual meetings and conferences.
  14. All categories of online course offerings shall include at minimum the posting of the course Syllabus, and Faculty Information.
  15. All categories of online course offerings shall provide students with a list of minimum hardware and software requirements as part of their syllabi.
  16. All Online-Enhanced and Online courses also shall provide as a minimum the posting of lecture notes or other class materials, links to outside resources, and the posting of online grades.
  17. Online courses shall include the following:
  18. Syllabus
  19. Class News – provide regular updates to the students
  20. Questions Forum – Discussion forum for students to ask public questions related to the course material
  21. Online Lecture materials
  22. Online Assignments
  23. Links to outside resources
  24. Optional Online Exams
  25. Email links to the instructor
  26. Electronic posting of Grades
  27. All Online courses shall be presented in an asynchronous-paced format. Individual activities or assignments can be synchronous, but the objective is to provide our students with the ability to take our online courses asynchronously. Students will not be required to be physically present on campus.
  28. Students have a right to timely feedback. Instructors shall as a goal answer students’ posted questions and email messages within 24 hours. Assignments should be graded and returned to students in a timely manner consistent with that of traditional based courses.
  29. Online courses require special efforts to build learning environments. Instructors shall use tools such as forums for introductions, forums for open-ended discussion questions, group assignments, online presentations, instant messaging, and others to foster a virtual learning community in their online classes.

Course Management System

  1. The LASC Course Managements System (CMS) endorsed by the Faculty Senate is Moodle.
  2. All Online courses (all categories) shall use Moodle as their main portal for the student to enter the online course.
  3. Faculty who choose to use publisher provided CMS and course materials may continue to do so, but they must provide students with a portal from Moodle into their courses.
  4. Faculty may not use other CMS’s to develop online courses. This is to provide our students with consistent and uniform online course offerings and technical support.

Accessibility Requirements

All courses offered at LASC comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Online courses at LASC use the Online Education: Access Guidelines for Students with Disabilities as published by the California Chancellor’s Office in August 1999 as guidelines. The Course Management System used to deliver online courses (Moodle) provides for compliance with these guidelines as outlined in this online document: . The individual instructor will use these features in presenting his/her course.

Course Evaluations

All online courses shall provide an online assessment of the class based on the assessment tool used in traditional courses, but modified to reflect online content.

History:

4/30/07, Best Practices, Draft 1, prepared by Joe Perret

5/1/07: Draft 1, discussed, Distance Education Committee Meeting

5/17/07: Draft 2, presented to Curriculum Committee; tabled

5/22/07: Draft 2, distributed to Distance Education Committee; reviewed

8/7/07: Draft 2, discussed with VP Robledo, Joe Perret and Linda Larson-Singer

8/07: Draft 2, reportedly discussed with Dean Robertson and Joe Perret

11/20/07: Draft 2, distributed to Vice President and Dean supervising Distance Education

11/27/07: Received emailed additions/corrections as per VP Robledo and Dean Robertson

11/28/07: Draft 3, incorporating additions/corrections of administrators

1/15/05: Draft 3, presented to Curriculum Committee, tabled

Distance Ed Committee:

Linda Brady, Ed Hector, Pat Lewis, Joe Perret, Al Reed, Lernik Saakian, Sharon Maselli, Linda Larson-Singer, Dr. Earnestine Thomas-Robertson (Administration), Jose Robledo (Administration), Dan Walden (Administration), AFT representative

DistEd,BestPractices,Draft3

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