REDWOODS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
Meeting of the Distance Education (DE) Planning Committee
Eureka: 7351 Tompkins Hill Road, SS 104
Thursday, March 26, 2015, 3:00-4:30 pm
Summary Notes
1. Call to Order: Present: Mark Winter, Reno Giovannetti, Wendy Riggs, James Hayes,
Lynn Thiesen, Quang-Minh Pham, Lisa Sayles, Crislyn Parker-support
2. Introductions and Public Comment: Members of the audience are invited to
make comments regarding any subject appropriate to the DE Planning Committee
3. Approve Feb. 24 and Mar. 12, 2015 DE Planning Committee Minutes: February 23,
2015 approved as corrected; March 12, 2015 approved as corrected.
4. Action Items
4.1 CR Online Faculty Handbook, Mark Winter (attachment)
 Goal is to have policies, procedures, copies of documents and any other relevant information
pertinent to online instruction. Mark Winter edited this primarily from Mendocino College, and
has incorporated committee feedback. The handbook will next go to the academic senate for
approval and/or revisions, then be posted on the web.
 Lynn Thiesen noted that BP5040 (regarding FERPA) is going to the board for final revision and
the handbook should include the revised BP.
 Moved, seconded and approved to forward the handbook to the Academic Senate.
5. Discussion Items
5.1 Website status update, Brian Van Pelt and Erin Jones (attachments)
 Agreement the main title will be CR Online
 Review of the current draft of the website comments included changes the “57” online courses to
student testimonials, or list locations where students are taking CRs online courses, or have a
running scroll through several items.
 Make the picture a little smaller, enlarge the text information a little
 Change the title of faculty “resources” and add a link to faculty information of the courses
 Add the class orientation letter; include a blue box under the schedule of courses
 Be sure to include contact information in the blank section.
5.2 Solicitation for members who can review website verbiage, Reno Giovannetti
 Discussed and agreed that Reno will send verbiage drafts on FAQs, Online FAQs, Tips,
Best Practices, etc.) to the committee members for feedback. He might also suggest what
constituency group(s) might most interested in the subject line
5.3 Respondus lockdown browser marketing and training, Reno Giovannetti
 Respondus installed on all computers but DN. The handouts offer environments for use and
suggestions for faculty instructions.
 Some discussion on where Respondus will and won’t work. The uses stated on the handout
make sense, and there are some options, but the advantage is primarily for proctoring. The
committee agreed an information page needs to be developed.
5.4 DE action plan items, Mark Renner (attachments); (update by Mark Winter)
 Discussed in detail at last meeting. Per a discussion with Keith, action items should be focusing
on increasing DE offerings, because we are vulnerable to rapid growth due to the online
initiative. We are tasked with strategizing where we can build our courses. Currently we have a
deficit in two areas: math and science.
 This will be an ongoing discussion.
6. Reports
6.1 Online Instructor Evaluation Process and Checklists, Mark Renner (update by Mark Winter)
 Evaluations won’t be implemented until approved by CRFO, who still has some concerns
 Other: summer session canvas shells will be available soon. Sakai will still be available for
instructor use over the summer, but NOT in the fall.
 Curriculum: Reno is striving for the April 10 deadline. He will distribute three documents: two
curriculum proposals and one DE document to all for final approval.
7. Future Agenda items
7.1 Student Complaint Process
7.2 Compensation for developing a new online course
7.3 Training for faculty: “How to create videos”
8. Announcements
9. Adjourn