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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SAN BERNARDINO

FACULTY SENATE

Distributed Learning Task Force July 2001

DISTRIBUTED LEARNING POLICY

Preamble

The central tenet of this document is to preserve and protect the academic quality of courses offered through California State University, San Bernardino. Although the University prizes academic freedom and wishes to encourage innovation in instruction, the faculty also has a collective responsibility to ensure the academic quality and integrity of the University's courses, programs and degrees. Distributed learning may allow the University to more fully achieve its mission by addressing such factors as the large service area, dispersed student population, expected enrollment growth and limited space on campus. In all circumstances, academic excellence takes precedence over managerial or economic efficiencies.

Distributed learning in this document means any mode of electronically mediated instruction where either (a) some (or all) class members are not, nor are expected to be, in the same physical location as the instructor during the regularly scheduled class time and/or (b) some (or all) class members do not meet at the same time as other members of the class. ⁽¹⁾

This policy does not apply to off-campus, on-site, live instruction, which is covered in FAM 440 Off-Campus Courses Offered as a Part of the Regular College Program.

This policy shall apply to all credit-bearing courses and programs offered through distributed learning by California State University, San Bernardino. Nothing in this policy shall imply that distributed learning is a preferred or required mode of instruction

A. General Principles Applicable to the Distributed Learning Policy

1. The campus will adhere to regulations for distributed learning provided by the appropriate accreditation bodies (WASC, et al.).

2. Distributed learning courses and programs shall be consistent with the educational mission of the College and the University.

3. All programs that are offered solely or partially through distributed learning shall provide the opportunity for appropriate, substantial, personal and timely interactions between faculty and students and among students.

4. Tenure-track faculty are essential to the academic integrity of any program including those offered via distributed learning.

5. No faculty member shall be compelled (directly or indirectly) to teach via distributed learning without his/her consent. This component of the policy shall not apply to off-campus, on-site, live instruction (see FAM 440).

6. All courses shall be under the direction of CSUSB faculty.

7. Admissions criteria to credit-bearing classes and programs shall be comparable for students on and off campus. Specialized programs, e.g. the executive MBA, may have unique admissions criteria but must still be approved through the existing curricular process.

8. Students and faculty shall have appropriate access to the University library resources and services.

9. The university shall offer appropriate training and support services to faculty teaching distributed learning courses.

10. The university shall offer appropriate training and support services to students taking distributed learning courses.

11. Faculty and students have a right to know the modes of delivery and technological requirements of each course, program and degree offered by the University. Students shall have access to this information before enrolling in a course or program, subject to the provisions in section B.2 below.

12. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, current University policies and procedures also apply.

Technology is changing quickly and influencing the development of new models of teaching and learning. At the same time, these new technologies are playing an increasingly important role in society. The university must ensure that these new technologies meet the standards of academic excellence as defined in its mission statement.

1. The curricular process approves the content of new courses. Therefore, new courses taught in a distributed learning format (see definition in preamble) must first go through the regular curricular approval process.

2. In the case of existing courses, approval for the use of distributed learning is within the purview of the department and/or program subject to the principles set forth in this Policy.

3. Each time a new or existing course will be taught via distributed learning the instructor must submit the Distributed Learning Notification Form prior to the submission of the class schedule unless there are serious exigent circumstances (e.g. unanticipated instructor change) in which case the form must be submitted within 10 days of the occurrence of those circumstances. The notification form will be obtained from and returned to the Office of Distributed Learning. Copies of the form will be distributed to the department and/or program chair, college dean, Office of Distributed Learning and Academic Scheduling.

4. In the event of a complaint or a dispute regarding the delivery mode of any course, the department chair and/or college dean will conduct a review that follows university procedures and expressly takes into account the principles listed in this Policy.

5. At the program level, periodic program reviews should be used to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction of distributed learning courses. Care should be taken to abide by the standards established by the appropriate accrediting agencies. Programmatic use of distributed learning may constitute a "substantive change" in the program, as defined by WASC, and necessitate a WASC review. Other accreditations may also be affected, as well as the availability of federal financial assistance under Title IV of the Higher Education Act.

6. The university shall not contract with any private or public entity

• to deliver distributed learning courses or programs to that entity without the prior approval of the relevant department or program,

• for such entity to deliver distributed learning courses or programs to CSUSB without the prior approval of the relevant department or program, nor

• to deliver that entity's distributed learning courses or programs in place of or in addition to CSUSB courses without the prior approval of the relevant department or program.

C. Faculty

1. The development and utilization of distributed learning must not be used to reduce or eliminate tenure-track faculty positions.

2. A faculty member may choose to offer office hours electronically after consultation with and approval of the department chair and dean.

3. Class size and faculty workload will be determined by the college dean after consultation with the faculty member and the department chair, and must take into account the level of interaction between faculty and students. All courses that are offered solely or partially through distributed learning must provide for appropriate and personal interactions between faculty and students.

4. Because distributed learning may involve the use of technologies and teaching methods which require specialized training, the faculty member engaged in distributed learning is responsible for making use of the university-offered resources and training where appropriate.

1. Consistent with the mission of CSUSB, funding for distributed learning will be provided as appropriate without impairment of resources for other modes of instruction.

2. The university shall provide appropriate information, support and training to faculty for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

3. Faculty choosing to use non-university-supported resources (e.g. third-party servers, non-university-supported software) must state in their syllabus that the university will not provide technical support for those resources and that the university does not endorse any products which may be advertised through those resources. These faculty are responsible for compliance with all principles of this policy, including, without limitation, technical support for students. Faculty who use university supported resources shall not be held responsible for technical support of these resources.

4. The notification process for distributed learning courses will identify distributed learning courses in the class schedule and assist in resource planning.

5. An instrument (or instruments) for students and faculty to evaluate the technology must be made available for all courses using distributed learning.

6. University policies concerning evaluations of teaching effectiveness and outcomes assessment also apply.

1. The Office of Distributed Learning (or designee) will handle student questions and refer students to appropriate available services for distributed learning.


2. The university must provide:

• access to the range of student services appropriate to support distributed learning courses including admissions, financial aid, academic advising, delivery of course materials and placement and counseling;

• adequate means for resolving student complaints;

• adequate information about and resources for obtaining the technical competence to use the necessary technologies;

• information about access to library and other learning services;

• information about access to other available university support services;

• assistance to prospective students in understanding the nature and potential challenges of learning in distributed learning environments; and

• technical support of hardware and software.

3. Advertising, recruiting and admissions information must adequately and accurately represent the requirements and services available for distributed learning courses and programs.

1. The academic integrity of a course is ultimately the responsibility of the faculty member. The university must inform faculty involved in distributed learning about the variety of assessment tools, the relative level of security of these assessments and methods for limiting students' use of unauthorized resources . The university will provide criteria for ensuring student identity.

2. On the Distributed Learning Notification Form, faculty must explain their procedures for ensuring student identity. If the Office of Distributed Learning determines that there is not sufficient security then the Office of Distributed Learning is required to inform the appropriate chair, the appropriate dean, and the provost.

3. The university should provide reasonable accommodation for assessment services for courses taught via distributed learning.

4. Consistent with the university policy on plagiarism and cheating, reasonable safeguards shall be in place to ensure academic honesty.

5. Faculty are responsible for adhering to CSUSB's Intellectual Property Policy and Acceptable Use Policy for Electronic Communications.

Justifications:

1) Although the list of questions distributed by the DL Task Force in January 2001 was extensive (116 items), not all of the issues addressed in this list of questions are appropriate to a formal Distributed Learning Policy. Moreover, a number of questions addressed issues that are already covered in existing university policies such as the Intellectual Property Policy, the Acceptable Use Policy, and others. The Distributed Learning Policy attempts to refer readers to the other policies where appropriate. Principle 12 of the DL Policy also reiterates that other policies may also apply to distributed learning courses.

2) In a separate memo to the Chair of the Faculty Senate, the Distributed Learning Task Force makes a number of recommendations and lists three issues to be addressed by other committees. The most important recommendation is that the university establish an Implementation Task Force to coordinate the implementation of this Policy.

3) The Distributed Learning Task Force chose not to use terms like "site-bound," "convenience-bound," "time-bound," etc. since there appeared to be a consensus among the committees questioned that these terms are not sufficiently defined so as to be useful and since distributed learning, as defined in this Policy, is not necessarily targeted at a particular group of students but instead represents one of a variety of tools that faculty may use to achieve their educational objectives.

4) For purposes of clarity, this Policy does not refer to any specific distributed learning tools. Technology is changing so quickly that any reference to a particular tool will render the policy obsolete in a very short time. Instead, the task force chose to focus on the academic intent and outcomes of the courses.

5) A7 does not prevent a department from recruiting a new faculty member with distributed learning expertise and/or who would be responsible for offering distributed learning courses.

6) One issue of concern to faculty at CSUSB is the academic quality of distributed learning courses. The Task Force spent more time discussing this one issue than the rest of the issues combined. During our deliberations, we seriously considered a number of different ways of addressing this concern. In the end, the policy states that the choice to implement distributed learning is within the purview of departments and programs. Faculty Affairs and Educational Policy & Resources committees indicate that departments (or programs) are the most appropriate venues for such decisions. The Task Force did not dictate the means for such approval in this document, since the organization of each department and program differs. However, the Distributed Learning Policy sets forth a number of principles designed to ensure academic excellence in distributed learning at CSUSB. Therefore, section B.4 instructs department chairs and college deans to take these principles into account when considering complaints or disputes regarding the delivery mode of any course.

7) The Distributed Learning Task Force did not use language calling for "comparative quality" between courses using distributed learning and other classes because such language would imply course-level reviews for all courses at the university (i.e. in order to compare distributed learning courses to what are generally called "traditional" courses, baselines would need to be established). Some courses may be made available only through distributed learning modes thus precluding comparative data. Outcomes assessments, accrediting reviews and other department- or college-level evaluations are more useful indicators of the academic rigor of distributed learning courses.

8) Submission of the Distributed Learning Notification Form provides the information necessary: (1) to place the appropriate codes in the class schedule, (2) to inform the university of the necessary resources to support the course, (3) to provide informational items to faculty using distributed learning (such as information about security issues, etc.), (4) to inform the department/program and/or college that the course is being taught with distributed learning (necessary for WASC and other accrediting agencies), and (5) to help with planning for future resource needs.

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Approved by the Faculty Senate

__________________________________________ Signed: 11-27-01

Treadwell Ruml, Chair

Reviewed by the Council of Academic Deans

__________________________________________ Signed: 12-12-01

Louis A. Fernández, Provost and

Vice President for Academic Affairs

Approved by the President

__________________________________________ Signed: 12-13-01

Albert K. Karnig

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1. ¹ Questions regarding this definition and/or whether a particular class fits the definition should be addressed to the Office of Distributed Learning.