3.28
DISTANCE EDUCATION
ADOPT: JULY 10, 2007
REVIEWED: JANUARY 8, 2008
CATEGORY 3 REVISION: MARCH 11, 2014
Title 5, Section 55200 etseq
Association of Community and Junior Colleges’Guide to
Evaluating Distance Education and Correspondence Education
Chancellor’s OfficeDistance Education Guidelines
Sonoma County Junior College District, through the Distance Education program, is committed to offering high quality, student-centered, interactivelearning experiences in online, hybrid, and blended courses.
The purpose of Distance Education is to support the overall mission of the District and its strong commitment to student learning and success through:
- Flexible course scheduling to meet student needs.
- Current and proven delivery formats which equip students to be successful in an ever-changing technological environment.
- Comprehensive support services that are appropriately funded to promote student success.
- Commitment to ongoing professional development, including assessment and review of new learning opportunities afforded by new technologies.
- Course content, communications tools, gradebooks, and other components that adhere to all laws, regulations, requirements, and procedures with regard to authentication of students, tracking and reporting student activity data, privacy and security issues, and accessibility compliance.
- Focus on regular and effective student contact as a core component of all online and hybrid classes.
The District will support Distance Education as an instructional program with its own set of responsibilities, needs, resources and authority. To that end, the District will develop and maintain a master plan and allocate resources for:
- Providing support for Distance Education and online instruction including all necessary and complementary support services for students and faculty.
- Providing resources and support for recruitment and mentoring of faculty for online instruction
- Providing regular training and ongoing professional development to faculty for online instruction.
- Providing all resources required for the hosting and delivery of online content.
- Providing all resources for the review and improvement of course components to ensure that they adhere to all state and federal regulations.
The District shall monitor the Distance Education program to insure the integrity of student work and the credibility of the degrees and credits it awards.
For the purposes of this policy and procedure, an “online course” is one which is conducted exclusively online. A “hybrid course” is one in which a portion of face-to-face class meetings is replaced by online instruction. A “blended course” is one in which face-to-face classroom interaction is supplemented with online resources or activities.
3.28P
DISTANCE EDUCATION
ADOPT: JULY 10, 2007
REVIEWED: JANUARY 8, 2008
CATEGORY 3 REVISION: MARCH 11, 2014
Title 5, Section 55200 et seq.
The responsibilities for maintaining the quality and integrity of the Distance Education Program are shared by the following individuals and groups:
I. Instructors
A. Propose new online and hybrid courses to their department, and if approved, complete all required forms, including the Distance Education (DE) Course Proposal.
B. Propose revisions to current course descriptions to allow for online and hybrid delivery.
C. Acquire and maintain online special expertise for online and hybrid course delivery.
D. Establish and publish clear expectations in the syllabus and/or other course documents concerning regular and effective contact with enrolled students, and publish the syllabus for each online class in the district designated Course Management System (CMS).
E. Maintain frequent regular student contact, over the course of each week, in asynchronous and/or synchronous mode, equal to that of a similar face-to-face section over the course of each week.
- All electronic communications between instructors and students in the context of instruction should be generated from and received into the district designated CMS or district e-mail system.
- All instructor accounts in the district designated CMS must be tied to an official SRJC email account.
F. Initiate direct contact and interaction to determine that students are accessing and comprehending course material and participating regularly in the activities in the course. This includes:
- Threaded discussion forums within the district designated CMS with appropriate instructor participation.
- Email contact with students, where instructors use only their official SRJC email address.
- Weekly announcements in the coursemanagement system within the district designated CMS or from the instructor’s official SRJC email address.
- Timely feedback for student work.
- Instructor prepared e-lectures or, alternatively, instructor-prepared material to supplement publisher-created materials. Online instructors who use publisher resources must link to them from within the district designated CMS.
G. All grades must be kept in the district designated CMS. If an instructor captures grades for student quizzes, tests, and other assignments on a publisher’s website, those grades must be transferred into the district CMS on a regular basis throughout the semester.
H. Online instructor absences must follow the guidelines set for all faculty absences. Should an instructor be unable to maintain online contact due to illness or other reasons, students must be notified in the announcements area of the course and told when regular effective contact will resume. A lengthy absence will require a suitable substitute.
- Instructional Departments
A. Review new course proposals to determine appropriate form(s) of delivery, and, when appropriate, identify course as online or hybrid.
B. Review proposed revisions to current course descriptions and approve alternate forms of delivery.
C. Identify the appropriate Method of Instruction code for each section in the schedule of classes.
D. Establish department policy describing the frequency and timeliness of instructor initiated contact, responses and feedback.
E. Maintain explicit communication with faculty concerning expectations and agreements for online education, not only in the teaching and learning environment, but also in college service, professional development, and collegial and community involvement.
- Curriculum Review Committee
A. Reviews and approves Distance Education Course Proposals for online and hybrid delivery.
- Curriculum Office
A. Keeps track of Distance Education Course proposals and ensures that these proposals are updated on regular basis.
B. Communicates with the Distance Education department regarding the DE status of all courses.
- District Online Committee
A. Reviews and publishes best practices in online education, including appropriate student support.
B. Keeps abreast of changes in educational technology, course delivery methods, and coursemanagement systems, and proposes appropriate changes, including faculty and staff development.
C. As a shared governance committee, proposes, reviews, and updates policies and procedures relevant to Distance Education.
D. Advises the District in appropriate staffing, activities and practices of the Distance Education Department.
- Distance Education Department
A. Reviews, approves and implements proposalsrecommendationsfrom the District Online Committee.
B. Supports faculty using District approved coursemanagement systems.
C. Delivers professional development opportunities for faculty teaching online, hybrid and blended courses.
D. Reviews all online and hybrid courses for accessibility compliance.
E. Works closely with the Information Technology, Instructional Computing, Library,and Media Services, Tutorial and Student Services Departments.Departments to best serve the needs of faculty and students involved in Distance Education.
F. Administers and oversees the Online College Program for the development of online classes.
G. Issues Certificate of Online Special Expertise for faculty who complete the training requirements.
H. In consultation with instructional departments and the District Online Committee, establishes criteria for measuring student success in Distance Education, including assessment of student learning outcomes, student retention and persistence, and student satisfaction comparable to traditionally delivered courses and programs.
I. Provides information to Instructors about learning needs and pedagogical approaches related to online teaching and ways of assessing student learning.
J. Maintain a Distance Education Strategic Plan to define goals and objectives for the effectiveness of activities.
- Administration
- Provides data on student achievement in online programs.
- Provides tools forthe verification of student identity.
- Providestools that prepare students to be successful in online courses.
This procedure does not apply to blended courses except where explicitly noted.