Support Independent Course Alignment for California Virtual Campus Badging

Spring
2021
Resolution Number
09.08
 
Contact
Assigned to
Online Education Committee
Category
Curriculum
Status
Assigned

Whereas, The process of aligning individual courses with the California Virtual Campus Course Design Rubric through the @One Course Design Academy1 or a certified local peer online course review2 requires time and resources and is duplicative in instances in which faculty use the same Canvas shell and have already undergone the extensive professional development required to align at least one of their courses with the rubric and attain a quality-reviewed badge on CVC.edu;

Whereas, In response to requests from California Community Colleges Chief Instructional Officers and with input from the broad constituencies represented on the California Virtual Campus – Online Education Initiative Advisory Committee3, the California Virtual Campus (CVC) has developed a proposal for independent course alignment4, which would allow faculty who have attained a quality reviewed badge on CVC Course Design Rubric-aligned courses to elect a creative-commons attribution-non- commercial license if desired and which would allow faculty who have already earned a separate quality-reviewed badge for another course through the @One Course Design Academy or a certified local peer online course review process as well as faculty who have completed the @One Teaching and Design Certificate to adopt the course, making minor changes, with the result of the adopted course being badged as quality reviewed on CVC.edu without needing to undergo an additional review;

Whereas, At the January 8, 2021 Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Executive Committee meeting, members of the Executive Committee expressed concern about the potential that the proposal might create pressure for faculty to adopt the independently aligned courses, thereby threatening academic freedom, but took action to

“to support the principles within the CVC-OEI Independent Course Alignment proposal and request that CVC-OEI bring forward a revised proposal that addresses the Executive Committee’s feedback to a future meeting”5; and

Whereas, At the February, 2021 CVC-OEIAC meeting6, ASCCC concerns were shared, leading to the creation of a workgroup including past and present members of the ASCCC Executive Committee who have revised the proposal7 to clarify that designating a course for independent course alignment is solely at the discretion of the authoring faculty, that multiple courses aligned with the same C-ID descriptor authored by different faculty could be independently aligned and shared, and that the proposed independent course alignment process should not be used to limit academic freedom;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges support the concept of independent course alignment;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges reiterate to the California Virtual Campus and the California Community Colleges Chief Instructional Officers that independent course alignment should not be used to limit academic freedom; and

Resolved; That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges convey to the California Virtual Campus and the California Community Colleges Chief Instructional Officers that the ASCCC’s ongoing support of independent course alignment is contingent on individual faculty being able to elect whether they want to share or adopt such courses.

MSC


1. https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/course-design-academy/
2. https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/course-design-academy/pocr-resources/
3.  https://cvc.edu/about-the-oei/governance/advisory-committee/
4.  https://asccc.org/sites/default/files/Download%20Agenda_49.pdf (see pp 58-59, 65)
5.  https://asccc.org/sites/default/files/Final%20January%208-9%2C%202021%20Executive%20Committee%20Minutes.pdf (p. 6)
6.  https://cvc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/February-2021-Advisory-Key-Messages.pdf
7.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r-32LlAiR1vBOvOsZbwy7833lmpicGgO/edit# (working document)