2.3 Requirements for COD Online Class Quality Guidelines

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Distance Education at College of the Desert has a long tradition of delivering courses to our students in a variety of subjects. Originally developed using an in-house learning management system with four of courses being taught, our DE program has now evolved to offering hundreds of sections a year including; fully online, hybrid, and hyflex formats in addition to the many face-to-face courses that utilize technology in myriad ways.

College of the Desert is stepping into the California Virtual Campus and we now offer online courses through the Course Exchange. Below you will find mandatory elements for any online class. In addition to these, faculty can also earn a Quality Review Badge certifying that their course exceeds the minimum elements of quality online course delivery.

Vital Elements in an Online Course

Regular and Substantive Interactions:

- Subdivision (a) of title 5, section 55204 stresses the responsibility of the instructor in a DE course to initiate regular contact with enrolled students. The use of the term “regular and substantive interactions” in this context suggests that the instructor must initiate frequent interactions with all students, both individually and collectively, and that students should have frequent opportunities to ask questions and receive answers from the instructor of record. In addition, courses must be designed to include activities that require students to regularly interact with each other.

Establishing Regular and Substantive Faculty-Initiated Contact

Regular Announcements

Faculty should make general course related announcements to the students in their distance education classes on a weekly basis, whether by the announcement area in the Learning Management System or via e-mails to the entire class.

Establishing Expectations

Faculty will include in their syllabus or course orientation a description of the frequency and timeliness of instructor-initiated contact and feedback, as well as expectations for student participation. This should include the timeframe for responding to e-mails and phone calls, the timeframe for receiving feedback on student work, the timeframe for submission of assignments, and the expectations of discussion board postings required of the student. This information will be available to students on the first day of class.

Faculty-Initiated Interaction

Faculty will regularly initiate interaction with students to determine that they have access to the course materials, that they understand the material, that they understand what is required of them, and that they are participating in the activities of the course. There are various ways of accomplishing this, including but not limited to, asynchronous discussion board forums with appropriate faculty input in the forum or grade book, synchronous chats, video conferencing, individualized contact via phone or e-mail, and, in the case of a hybrid course, in face-to-face meetings.

Timely Feedback on Student Work

Faculty will grade and provide feedback on student work within a reasonable timeframe. If discussion boards are required, students should be given guidelines at the outset of the course and feedback on their participation throughout the duration of the course.

Content Delivery

Faculty will provide content material either through online materials (in written, video, and/or audio forms) and/or through introductions to materials not created by the instructor (such as publisher-provided materials, web sites, streaming video, etc.).

Notifying Students of Faculty Unavailability/Offline Time

If the instructor must be out of contact briefly for any reason, notification to students will be made in the announcements area of the course and/or via e-mail that includes when the students can expect regular effective contact to resume. This should occur for any offline periods lasting longer than three business days.

Faculty Absence Notification

If a faculty member must be offline for a period of time that results in the faculty member not being able to meet his or her regular effective contact for any given week, this would be considered an absence and the Dean of the division in which the course is taught must be notified. Absences will be handled in accordance with the negotiated faculty contract.

Face-to-Face Forms of Contact

Faculty are encouraged to utilize the face-to-face forms of contact mentioned in Title 5, Section 55211 (e.g., group or individual meetings, orientation and review sessions, supplemental seminar or study sessions, field trips, and library workshops), but to keep in mind that in the case of fully online classes it will not be possible for all students to attend such activities and these activities cannot be mandatory unless the course is hybrid and meetings times are announced in the schedule. Alternate online activities, such as those mentioned in the sections above, that entail instructor-student contact should be made available for such students who cannot attend.

Student to Student Contact

Faculty will ensure ongoing regular and effective student-to-student contact. Best practices include, but are not limited to, include implementing communication means for varied types of interaction in the course design, assigning and monitoring weekly assignments and projects that promote collaboration among students, posing questions in the discussion boards that encourage critical thinking skills and promote interaction, and monitoring student engagement to ensure that students participate with depth.

55204. Instructor Contact : Information from the Chancellor's Office and Title 5 on Regular and Effective Contact

In addition to the requirements of section 55002 and any locally established requirements applicable to all courses, district governing boards shall ensure that:

Any portion of a course conducted through distance education includes regular and substantive interaction between the instructor(s) and students, (and among students, if described in the course outline of record or distance education addendum), either synchronously or asynchronously, through group or individual meetings, orientation and review sessions, supplemental seminar or study sessions, field trips, library workshops, telephone contact, voice mail, e-mail, or other activities.

(b) “Substantive interaction” means engaging students in teaching, learning, and assessment, consistent with the content under discussion, and also includes at least two of the following:

Providing direct instruction;
Assessing or providing feedback on a student's coursework;
Providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency;
Facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency; or
Other instructional activities approved by the institution's or program's accrediting agency.

(c) Regular interaction between a student and instructor(s) is ensured by, prior to the student's completion of a course or competency:

Providing the opportunity for substantive interactions with the student on a predictable and scheduled basis commensurate with the length of time and the amount of content in the course or competency; and
Monitoring the student's academic engagement and success and ensuring that an instructor is responsible for promptly and proactively engaging in substantive interaction with the student when needed on the basis of such monitoring, or upon request by the student.

(d) Regular and substantive interaction is an academic and professional matter pursuant to sections 53200 et seq.

(e) For purposes of calculating instructional time in the context of asynchronous distance education, a week of instructional time is any week in which:

The institution makes available the instructional materials, other resources, and instructor support necessary for academic engagement and completion of course objectives; and
The institution expects enrolled students to perform educational activities demonstrating academic engagement during the week.

Note: Authority cited: Sections 66700 and 70901, Education Code. Reference: Sections 70901 and 70902, Education Code; and title 34 Code of Federal Regulations sections 600.2 and 668.3.

Guideline for Section 55204

Interactions between instructor and student and among students for DE courses vary from course to course. Thus, districts and/or colleges will need to define “regular and substantive interactions” including how often, and in what manner instructor-student interaction, and student-to-student interaction is achieved, through collegial consultation with the district or college’s academic senate.
How instructors achieve regular effective contact is an academic and professional matter, and is included in the DE Addendum for each course approved by the local curriculum committee. Local policies should establish, monitor and document minimum standards of regular effective contact. In 2018, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) suggested “colleges might most logically and productively work from a definition that combines the federal specifications with those offered by California Education Code and title 5. An inclusive definition would consider regular and effective contact to be consistent and predictable faculty-initiated interactions with students about the course content and about more than just a boilerplate assessment of student work.” Clearly defined local policies and practices for monitoring regular and substantive interaction are important for Federal Financial Aid accountability.

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