Faculty Role in the California Online Community College

Fall
2018
Resolution Number
01.05
 
Contact
Assigned to
President
Category
Academic Senate
Status
Assigned
Proposer Contact
Kelly Rivera, Mt. San Antonio College

Whereas, The California Online Community College has been established, and Title 5 §51025 established the legislative goal for each California community college to have 75% of instruction by full-time faculty, and California Education Code §75001(b)(5) specifies that the California Online Community College use “flexible hiring processes that emphasize use of part-time and full-time faculty”;

Whereas, Education Code §70902(b)(7) ensures the “right of academic senates to assume primary responsibility for making recommendations in the areas of curriculum and academic standards,” Education Code §75001(a)(3) calls for the California Online Community College to create “an organized system of accessible, flexible, and high quality online content, courses, and programs focused on providing credible industryvalued credentials compatible with the vocational and educational needs of Californians,” and the Foundation for Community Colleges has received a $2.4 million grant from Walmart Foundation to help achieve this end;[1]

Whereas, The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) defines distance education as supporting “regular and substantive interaction between the students and instructor” and is not correspondence education, which is “typically selfpaced,”[2] California law as well as best practices specify regular interactions or collaborations with peers and instructors as vital to student success,[3] and Education Code §75001(b)(2) calls for the California Online Community College to offer “flexible course scheduling, start and stop-off times” potentially not bound by traditional semesters, in which students drop in and out of classes based on their competency-based evaluations, which may mean that students are at different stages in curriculum at any given time or that they are determining the pace of the course; and

Whereas, Title 5 §53200 directs academic senates to “consult collegially” with their colleges on academic and professional matters, and the timeline of the California Online Community College is to develop three program pathways and hire the start-up core team within 1 year of implementation (Education Code §75001[d][1]);

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges urge the California Online Community College Board of Trustees to ensure that the California Online Community College adhere to the legislative goal that 75% of instruction in the college be conducted by full-time faculty;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges assert to the California Online Community College Board of Trustees that faculty maintain primary responsibility for curriculum and academic standards for the California Online Community College;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges assert to the California Online Community College Board of Trustees that courses offered by the California Online Community College must adhere to Title 5 §55204 and should reflect best practices in online course delivery and Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) standards, which include but are not limited to instructor-set course pace, instructor-initiated interaction, and regular and substantive student-student interaction to ensure student success; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges recommend to the California Online Community College Board of Trustees that the California Online Community College include Academic Senate for California Community Collegesappointed faculty as part of the planning process.

Acclamation 


[1] “Walmart and the Walmart Foundation Announce Nearly $4 Million in Grants to Create Innovative Pathways for Lifelong Learning and Training,” Walmart.com, Oct. 9, 2018,

https://news.walmart.com/2018/10/09/walmart-and-the-walmart-foundation-announce-nearly-4-million-ingrants-to-create-innovative-pathways-for-lifelong-learning-and-training

[2] ACCJC.  Guide to Institutional Self-Evaluation, Improvement, and Peer Review.  Novato, CA: ACCJC. September 2018, p. 114.

[3] Kauffman, Heather.  “A review of predictive factors of student success in and satisfaction with online learning.”  Research in Learning Technology, Vol. 23, 2015.  Accessed at

https://journal.alt.ac.uk/index.php/rlt/article/view/1648