Distance Education Policies and Guidelines Packet

Packet contents

1. 1. Course Design Template & Policy - Page 4

   • The Course Design Template and Policy was adopted by Barstow Community College on December 7, 2017 for use as a guide in developing courses using the Canvas learning management system. Using this Template and Policy ensures that all BCC Canvas courses are consistent in “look and feel”, as well as in navigation. The newest Course Design Template will automatically be applied to new classes, and existing classes will have official Course Design Template changes applied to their existing course shells. You will be granted access to your class well before it begins, so you will have time to utilize and become familiar with our Course Design Template.

2. 2. Course Design Rubric - Page 5

   • The OEI Course Design Rubric was developed in 2014 by the OEI Professional Development work group to ensure that all courses as part of the initiative to promote student success and meet existing regulatory and accreditation. It has undergone revisions and updates since then in response to changes in available instructional technology and feedback from both instructors and reviewers. It was approved and recommended by the BCC Distance Education and Instructional Technology Committee (DEITC) on March 26, 2019 and adopted by the BCC Academic Senate on April 18, 2019.
   • Please follow this rubric when developing and/or updating your Canvas courses. There are four distinct sections in this rubric - Section A: Content Presentation, Section B: Interaction, Section C: Assessment, and Section D: Accessibility

3. 3. Regular and Substantive Interaction Policy - Page 7

   • The BCC Distance Education Regular and Substantive Interaction Policy was last revised in Spring of 2023 and adopted on September 7, 2017. It further defines and clarifies what regular and substantive interaction means in the context of interaction and communication in distance education.

4. 4. Regular and Substantive Interaction Checklist – Page 9

   • The Regular and Substantive Interaction Checklist was developed by the Distance Education and instructional Technology Committee (DEITC) as a tool for faculty to self-check their distance education courses.

5. 5. DE Student Authentication Policy – Page 10

   • As required by law, institutions must have effective procedures in place to ensure that the students who register in a distance education course are the same students who participate in and complete the course, and receive the academic credit. Barstow Community College requires two methods to authenticate students enrolled in distance education/online courses. The first method is the use of a secure login and pass code to access courses. The second method of authentication is the use of proctored examinations. The BCC DE Student Authentication Policy was adopted on February 22, 2018 to provide faculty and staff instructions and clarification on the requirements for authenticating online students.

6. 6. BCC Online Attendance Policy – Page 12

   • The BCC Online Attendance & Drop Policy provides faculty some guidelines and information with respect to taking attendance and dropping students in an online class.

7. 7. Exam Proctoring Guidelines – Page 14

   • When students need to have an exam proctored, they are required to follow the exam proctoring guidelines. Although the BCC Exam Proctoring Guidelines are going through a revision, this is the most current guidelines as of January 1, 2020.

8. 8. Standard Online Syllabus Template – Page 15

   • The most current version of the Standard Online Syllabus Template is already implemented in the Course Design Template for new courses, and the standard components of the syllabi are updated by the Instructional Design Specialists, so if you need a current copy please shoot us an email.

Distance Education and Instructional Technology Department Team

Barstow Community College is fortunate to have a team of Instructional Design Specialists to train faculty and staff on instructional technology and the design of online, hybrid, and web- enhanced courses. If you have any questions regarding your online/hybrid courses, Canvas, or other instructional technology, please reach out to your assigned Instructional Design Specialist. If no one has been assigned to you, please reach out to any of them. Thank you.

• Dr. Jennifer Rodden, Vice President of Academic Affairs
  • jrodden@barstow.edu
• Dr. Crystal Nasio, Executive Dean, Strategic Partnerships & Workforce Development
  • cnasio@barstow.edu
• Emily Garrison, Interim Dean of Instruction, Academic Support and Online Learning
  • egarrison@barstow.edu
• Nancy Olson, Director of Distance Education and Instructional Technology
  • nolson@barstow.edu
• Dr. Christie Firtha, Faculty Distance Education and Instructional Technology Coordinator
  • cfirtha@barstow.edu
• Aniko Kegyulics, Instructional Design Specialist
  • akegyulics@barstow.edu
• Adrianne Rodriguez, Instructional Design Specialist
  • arodriguez2@barstow.edu
• Heather Robbins, Instructional Design Specialist
  • hrobbins@barstow.edu
• Online Office Contact Information
  • DG_OnlineOffice@Barstow.edu

BCC COURSE DESIGN TEMPLATE

Based on OEI Course Design Rubric

COURSE DESIGN RUBRIC

The California Virtual Campus-Online Education Initiative (CVC-OEI) is a collaborative effort among California Community Colleges (CCCs) to ensure that significantly more students are able to complete their educational goals by increasing both access to and success in high- quality online courses and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The OEI Course Design Rubric was developed in 2014 by the OEI Professional Development work group to ensure that all courses offered as part of the initiative promote student success and meet existing regulatory and accreditation requirements. It has undergone revisions and updates since then in response to changes in available instructional technology and feedback from both instructors and reviewers.

Courses that are peer reviewed and aligned to the OEI Course Design Rubric:

• have met the CCC’s highest level of design standards to support online student success and
• can be made available for cross enrollment to students at participating colleges.

The Rubric is divided into four sections.

SECTIONS A-C

Section A: Content Presentation

The 14 elements for quality course design in this section address how content is organized and accessed in the course management system. Key elements include course navigation, learning objectives, and access to student support information.

Section B: Interaction

The six elements in this section address instructor-initiated and student-initiated communication. Key elements of quality course design covered in this section include regular effective contact, both between and among instructors and students.

Section C: Assessment

The eight elements in this section address the variety and effectiveness of assessments within the course. Key elements include the alignment of objectives and assessments, the clarity of instructions for completing activities, and evidence of timely and regular feedback.

Following a review by a team of trained faculty peer reviewers, each element in Sections A-C will be marked in one of three ways:

Incomplete:

The element is missing or present to a degree that does not adequately support student success in online learning.

Aligned:

The element is present and effectively designed to support student success in online learning.

Additional Exemplary Elements:

This designation recognizes design choices that are aligned and go even further to enhance the student experience in the online learning environment.

SECTION D: Accessibility

The 16 elements in this section are reviewed to determine if a student using assistive technologies will be able to access the instructor’s course content as required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (also known as “508 Compliance”). The accessibility elements in Section D focus on instructor-generated content that is primarily under the control of faculty when developing a course. Since Section D addresses elements that are required to be present, the elements in this section, when applicable, are only marked as Incomplete or Aligned.

Creative Commons Licensed Content

In addition to preparing courses for the CVC Exchange, the OEI Course Design Rubric is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and can be used as:

• A roadmap for instructors designing new online courses.
• A tool for instructors seeking to update or improve existing courses.
• The foundation for starting a campus-based POCR (Peer Online Course Review) process.

Visit CVC.edu for more information on the OEI, the Rubric, and the Course Review Process. We welcome your feedback and suggestions.

Barstow Community College
Distance Education Instructor/Student Contact Policy

Revised February 28, 2023

Introduction:

In accordance with regulations set forth in the California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Sections 55202 and 55204, the California Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) and the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) set forth guidelines to ensure that distance education is characterized by the same expectations for quality, integrity, and effectiveness that apply to more traditional modes of instructions. (See the Regulations Attached)

According to Title 5 and the Distance Education Guidelines for the California Community Colleges, each community college must have a policy regarding regular and substantive interaction between instructor and student (including the nature and frequency of the contact) in any course that is fully or partially conducted through Distance Education.

Barstow Community College (BCC) defines “Distance Education” (DE) as an interaction which uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated by the instructor and which supports regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor, either synchronously or asynchronously.

In face-to-face courses, regular instructor and student contact occurs at each class meeting via lecture, discussion, and other in-classroom teaching/learning methods.

BCC Instructor/Student Contact Policy:

All DE courses at BCC, including hybrid courses, will include regular and substantive interaction as described below:

• Initiated interaction: Instructors will regularly initiate interaction with students on a group or one-to-one basis. The instructor should, on a regular basis, be cognizant of the degree to which students are participating in the course – similar to how a face-to-face instructor is constantly aware of how many students are attending and participating in the class. Providing students with an open-ended question forum, although appropriate, does not constitute effective instructor-initiated interaction without dialog between the instructor and the student.
• Frequency and duration: In a DE course, the frequency and duration of contact should be comparable to that of the “equivalent” face-to-face course. At the very least, the number of instructor contact hours per week that would be available to face-to-face students will also be available, in asynchronous and/or synchronous mode, to DE students. Given the nature and variety of DE contact, especially asynchronous contact, it is not expected that contact will necessarily occur during well-defined blocks of time as in a face-to-face course. Nevertheless, over the course of the week, an individual student can expect contact that is comparable in frequency and duration to that which would be experienced in an “equivalent” face-to-face course. (See mandatory types of contact below.)
• Establishing expectations and managing unexpected instructor absence: An instructor and/or department established policy describing the frequency and timelines of instructor-initiated contact and instructor feedback, will be posted in the syllabus and/or other course documents that are made available for students when the course officially opens each semester. If the instructor must be out of contact briefly for an unexpected reason (such as illness or a family emergency that takes the instructor offline), notification to students will be made in the announcements area of the course that includes when the students can expect contact to resume. If the offline time results in a lengthy absence (i.e. more than three or four days) a substitute instructor should be sought who can assist students while the instructor is unavailable.

BCC Mandatory Types of Contact

All BCC DE courses, instructors will, at a minimum, make use of the following to initiate and maintain contact with the students:

• Weekly threaded discussion forums, or an approved equivalent such as Hypothesis, within the BCC Learning Management System (LMS) with instructor participation. The instructor is required to be present and interact with the students in the discussion board in a manner that facilitates and encourages further class discussion. Instructors are encouraged to “chunk” material, respond directly to student posts, ask students questions to develop and guide discussion, and encourage the participation of students in a thread. Instructors must participate in discussions on more than one day during any given week. BCC recommends at least three times per week on different days.
• Timely response to student emails (within two working days) STOPPED HERE
• Timely feedback on student work (within one working week, excluding final course grades which are due as indicated by the Dean of Enrollment Management in consultation with faculty)
• Weekly announcements in the LMS
• General email and/or messaging through the LMS
• Instructor curated material that, possibly combined with other course materials, creates the “virtual equivalent” of the face-to-face classroom. BCC recommends 3-5 pages worth of lesson each week. Curated materials are instructor created or collected material that is put together in context and presented in a way that is conducive to learning the course material. (See OEI Course Design Rubric for presenting content.)
• Regular virtual office hour each week (synchronous or immediate availability).
• Online quizzes/exams, one of which must be proctored.

Other types of contact

The following are other forms of communication that DE instructors may wish to make use of to initiate and maintain contact with students:

• Chat Room/Instant Messaging
• E-conference (CCCConfer)
• Telephone/Voicemail
• USPS mail
• E-Portfolios/Blogs
• Field trips
• Library workshops
• Posted audio/video
• Live audio/video
• Schedule face-to-face group or individual meeting
• Facebook/Twitter

Regular Effective Contact Check List For Distance Education

On narrow screens, scroll horizontally to view all table columns.

Approved – by Academic Senate on February 22, 2018