3.4 - California (Title 5) DE Requirements Regular and Substantive Interaction and more

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Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations includes an article on distance education in California Community Colleges (Title 5, Division 6, Chapter 6, Subchapter 3, Article 1 to be precise). These regulations are fairly brief, yet vitally important for all involved in DE in the CCCs to understand. These regulations were significantly revised in 2018-19, and again in a long process from summer 2021 through fall 2022.

Please click through each tab below to see the full regulations as well as brief summations and highlights of the 2019 and 2021 changes.

Title 5 DE Regulations in Full

§ 55200. Definition and Application.
(a) “Distance education” means education that uses one or more of the technologies listed below to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor(s) and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and instructor(s) either synchronously or asynchronously. Technologies that may be used to offer distance education include:

(1) The internet;
(2) One-way and two-way transmissions through open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, broadband lines, fiber optics, satellite, or wireless communications devices;
(3) Audio conference; or
(4) Other media used in a course in conjunction with any of the technologies listed in paragraphs (1) through (3) of this subdivision.

(b) The definition of “distance education” does not include correspondence courses.

(c) “Accessible” means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use. The person with a disability must be able to obtain the information as fully, equally and independently as a person without a disability. Although this might not result in identical ease of use compared to that of persons without disabilities, it still must ensure equal opportunity to the educational benefits and opportunities afforded by the technology and equal treatment in the use of such technology.

§ 55202. Course Quality Standards.
The same standards of course quality shall be applied to any portion of a class conducted through distance education as are applied to in-person classes, in regard to the course quality judgment made pursuant to the requirements of section 55002, and in regard to any local course quality determination or review process. Determinations and judgments about the quality of distance education under the course quality standards shall be made with the full involvement of faculty in accordance with the provisions of subchapter 2 (commencing with section 53200) of chapter 2.

§ 55204. Instructor Contact.
In addition to the requirements of section 55002 and any locally established requirements applicable to all courses, district governing boards shall ensure that:

(a) 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:

(1) Providing direct instruction;
(2) Assessing or providing feedback on a student's coursework;
(3) Providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency;
(4) Facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency; or
(5) 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:

(1) 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
(2) 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:

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

§ 55206. Separate Course Approval.
(a) If any portion of the instruction in a new or existing course is to be provided through distance education, the course outline of record or an addendum to the official course outline of record shall address how course outcomes will be achieved in a distance education mode and how the portion of instruction delivered via distance education meets the requirement for regular and substantive interaction as specified in section 55204.

(b) The course design and all course materials must be accessible to every student, including students with disabilities. The distance education course outline of record or addendum shall be approved according to the district's adopted curriculum approval procedures.

§ 55208. Faculty Selection and Workload.
(a) Instructors of course sections delivered via distance education are individuals responsible for delivering course content who meet the qualifications for instruction established by an institution's accrediting agency. Instructors shall be selected by the same procedures used to determine all instructional assignments. Instructors shall possess the minimum qualifications for the discipline into which the course's subject matter most appropriately falls, in accordance with article 2 (commencing with section 53410) of subchapter 4 of chapter 4, and with the list of discipline definitions and requirements adopted by the Board of Governors to implement that article, as such list may be amended from time to time.

(b) Instructors of distance education shall be prepared to teach in a distance education delivery method consistent with the requirements of this article, local district policies, and negotiated agreements.

(c) The number of students assigned to any one course section offered by distance education shall be determined by and be consistent with other district procedures related to faculty assignment. Procedures for determining the number of students assigned to a course section offered in whole or in part by distance education may include a review by the curriculum committee established pursuant to section 55002(a)(1).

(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to impinge upon or detract from any negotiations or negotiated agreements between exclusive representatives and district governing boards.

The addendum shall be separately approved according to the district's adopted curriculum approval procedures.

§ 55210. Ongoing Responsibility of Districts.
If a district offers one or more courses or course sections in which instruction is provided through distance education for at least 51 percent of the hours of instruction in the course or course section, the district shall:

(a) maintain records and report data through the Chancellor's Office Management Information System on the number of students and faculty participating in new courses or sections of established courses offered through distance education;

(b) provide to the local governing board, no later than August 31st of each year, a report on all distance education activity;

(c) provide other information consistent with reporting guidelines developed by the Chancellor pursuant to section 409 of the Procedures and Standing Orders of the Board of Governors.

Summation of the Regulations

Ok, if your eyes glazed over a bit while reading through the regulations in full, here's a quick summary (with a bit of editorial license) of what the above means:

55200 - DE definition - instructors and students interact via technology when separated by time and/or distance. The instruction must comply with accessibility laws.
55202 - Quality standards - DE classes are based on the same course (curriculum approval) quality standards as in-person classes. In other words, a DE course section should match an in-person section of the same course in terms of what the Course Outline of Record prescribes (content, outcomes, activities, assignments, instructional methods, materials, etc.).
55204 - Regular Substantive Interaction (RSI) - DE classes must include RSI between instructor and students, and, if required in the Course Outline of Record, among students.
55206 - DE course approval - For a course to be taught via distance education, the Course Outline of Record must include a DE addendum approved through the regular curriculum approval process. This addendum should address how the course, when taught via DE, will (a) enable students to achieve course outcomes; (b) include regular substantive interaction as described in 55204; and (c) comply with accessibility requirements.
55208 - Faculty selection & workload - While negotiated working conditions agreements have primacy, instructors assigned to teach DE classes should be: selected through the same procedures as any instructor, and should be prepared to teach DE. DE class sizes should be set in a manner consistent with district curriculum and instruction procedures.
55210 - District responsibilities - Data on DE classes (classes in which over half of the instruction is conducted via DE) must be kept by districts and reported to the Chancellor's Office. Each district must provide an annual DE report to its Board of Trustees.

What Changed in 2019?

The changes made in 2019 were not minor.

55200 - Not much, just the addition of "time" to "distance" as ways instructors and students may be separated.
55202 - A couple instances where "course" was changed to "class." To me this introduces confusion between curriculum standards and instructional standards. I did my best to interpret this meaningfully in the Summation of the Regulations.
55204 - Regular effective contact is now required among students in DE classes. Student-to-student interaction in online classes is certainly a recommended practice, but to require it in regulation is, as far as I am aware, unprecedented. [and this was repealed in 2022]
55206 - While a DE addendum was a de facto part of the curriculum process in most if not all CCCs, its requirement in Title 5 is new. Also new: the mandate that the addendum "specify how" a DE offering of the course would meet requirements for achieving of outcomes, regular effective contact, and accessibility compliance.
55208 - Addition of statement that instructors assigned to DE classes should "be prepared" to teach DE in accordance with working conditions agreements.

What Changed in 2022?

Glad you asked! Again, some significant changes, primarily to align California Title 5 with the language of regular and substantive interaction in the federal DE regulations.

55200 - Explicit inclusion of synchronous instruction as a possibility within DE; definition of "accessible" included
55204 - "Regular effective contact" regulations were completely altered to match the federal regulatory standard of "regular and substantive interaction," including the removal of the blanket mandate for regular effective contact among students in every DE class which was added in 2019
55206 - minor updates
55208 - minor updates

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