HARTNELL COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
BOARD POLICY AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE
ROUTING/TRACKING FORM
Review and approval by the various college governance groups is requested:
Policy/Procedure #:
Policy/Procedure Name:
New
Yes
No
AP 4105
Distance Education
Revised
Replaces existing policy/procedure:
New policy/procedure or revisions initiated/proposed by: Academic Affairs
Compliance
Reason for new policy/procedure or revisions:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewing Group
Date
Approval/Comments
Routed to:
Forward by:
 Council:
04/10/15
03/10/15
 Academic Senate President
04/10/15
03/10/15
 HCFA President
04/10/15
03/10/15
 CSEA President
04/10/15
03/10/15
 L-39 Chief Steward
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Hartnell College Faculty
Approved as presented
Association
Approved with changes
Not approved
Comments: No response
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3/24/15
Academic Senate
Approved as presented
Approved with changes
Not approved
Comments: DELETE second bullet after paragraph 2; DELETE last sentence under Course Approval section
and ADD revised langauge instead: Online courses must be delivered using the Course
Management System adopted by the District unless the course cannot be adequately supported
by the Course Management System. In this case, the reasons and the link to the alternate
delivery system must be on file in the Office of Academic Affairs, signed by the Distance
Education Coordinator. DELETE last sentence under Instructor Responsibilities section.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
CSEA
Approved as presented
Approved with changes
Not approved
Comments: No response
__________________________________________________________________________________________
L-39
Approved as presented
Approved with changes
Not approved
Comments: No response
Council: Academic Affairs
Student Affairs
5/13/15
04/23/15
Approved as presented
Approved with changes
Not approved
Comments: 4/8/45 Academic Affairs Council tabled for next month's meeting. Language needs to be
perfected
4/10/15 Routed to Student Affairs Council for review/input.
4/23/15 Student Affairs Council opposes the AP and recomends the following changes (See
Below)
5/13/15 Academic Affairs Council approved
College Planning Council
Approved as presented
Approved with changes
Not approved
Comments:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Superintendent/President’s
Approved as presented
Executive Cabinet
Approved with changes
Not approved
Comments:
Board of Trustees
(First Reading)
Comments:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Board of Trustees
Approved as presented
(Consideration)
Approved with changes
Not approved
Comments:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
ANTICIPATED TIMELINE
Board of Trustees first reading to occur on:
Board of Trustees consideration to occur on:
Additional comments: The Student Affairs Council recomends a rewrite of the AP. Recommended vervbiage
addition is as follows: The statement of process must be developed and included. "Approved by the distance
Education Dean before the course can be offered". Change "Instructor Responsibilites" to "Instructor Contact",
Change "attendance" to "participation".
HARTNELL COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
AP 4105
Distance Education
References:
Title 5 Sections 53200, 55002 and 55200 et seq.; References: U.S. Department of
Education regulations on the Integrity of Federal Student Financial Aid Programs
under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended; 34 Code of
Federal Regulations Section 602.17; Hartnell College Administrative Procedures
4020 and 4022.
Distance education refers to instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by
distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology. (5 CCR §55200)
Distance education courses may be offered fully online (the required number of instructional
hours based on the number of units is conducted online) and hybrid (a course in which any of
the required number of instructional hours based on the number of units is met face-to-face as
well as online).
Course Approval: Distance education courses are approved under the same conditions and
criteria as all other courses and follow curriculum approval procedures with the full
involvement of faculty in accordance with Title 5 §53200 and §55002. The review of new and
existing distance education courses follows the curriculum approval procedures outline in
Administrative Procedure 4020, Program, Curriculum and Course Development, and 4022,
Course Approval. Each proposed or existing course offered by distance education is reviewed
and approved separately if any portion of the instruction in a course is designed to be provided
through distance education. (5 CCR 55206)
When approving distance education courses, the Curriculum Committee will certify the
following:
Course Quality Standards: the same standards of course quality are applied to any
portion of a course conducted through distance education as are applied to traditional
classroom courses;
Course Quality Determinations: determinations and judgments about the quality of
distance education under the course quality standards shall be made with the full
involvement of Curriculum Committee approval procedures.
Instructor Contact: any portion of a course conducted through distance education
includes regular effective contact between instructor and students (5 CCR §55204). The
instructor is responsible to initiate this contact through a variety of means described
and approved in an addendum to the course outline of record.
In addition, the Curriculum Committee will assure that the course complies with
requirements imposed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. §12100 et seq.)
and section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, (29 U.S.C. §794d).
Duration of Approval: courses are reviewed on a five-year rotational cycle and updated as
needed in accordance with Hartnell Administrative Procedure 4020. Distance Education and
hybrid modalities are reviewed and approved as a separate action of the Curriculum
Committee.
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Authentication: Federal regulations pertaining to federal financial aid eligibility require that
distance education courses and programs include processes to verify student identity and
protect student privacy. The authentication approach currently used by the District is a secure
credentialing/login and password through the campus student information system. As they
emerge, the District may utilize new or more effective technologies and practices to verify
student identification.
Regular and Effective Contact: All distance education courses at Hartnell College, whether
hybrid or fully online will include regular effective contact as described below:
Initiated interaction: instructors will regularly initiate interaction with students to
determine that they are accessing and comprehending course material and that they
are participating regularly in the activities of the course. Providing students with an
open ended question forum, although appropriate, does not constitute the entirety of
effective instructor initiated interaction.
Frequency: distance education courses are considered the “virtual equivalent” of face to
face courses. Therefore, the frequency of the contact should be at least the same as
would be established in a regular, face to face course. This suggests that, at the very
least, the number of instructor contact hours per week that would be available for face
to face students should also be available, in asynchronous and/or synchronous mode,
with students in the DE format. Contact should be distributed in a manner that will
ensure that regular contact is maintained given the nature of asynchronous instructional
methodologies.
Establishing expectations: an instructor or department established policy describing the
frequency and timeliness of instructor initiated contact and instructor feedback, will be
posted in the syllabus and/or other course documents that are made available for
students at the beginning of each semester.
Type of Contact: instructors will, at a minimum, use the following resources to initiate
contact with students:




Email
Timely evaluation of coursework
Timely response to student-initiated communications
Instructor prepared material that, possibly combined with other course materials,
creates the “virtual equivalent” of the face-to-face classroom.
Other types of contact: distance education instructors are encouraged to use to initiate
and maintain contact with students through a variety of other means:





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Weekly announcements in the Course Management System
Threaded discussion forums with appropriate instructor participation
Chat room/Texting/Twitter
E-Portfolios/Blogs/Wikis
Online office hours








Online quizzes/exams
Face-to-face individual or group meetings
Phone calls/Voicemail
USPS mail
Library workshops
Posted audio/video
Live audio/video
E-conference (CCCConfer, Google Hangout, Skype)
Faculty Qualifications for Teaching Online: Instructors of course sections delivered via distance
education technology shall be selected by the same procedures used to determine all
instructional assignments. Instructors shall possess at least the minimum qualifications for the
discipline into which the course's subject matter most appropriately falls.
Prior to teaching an online or hybrid course faculty must meet qualifications described in the
District/Hartnell College Faculty Association Collective Bargaining Agreement including the
completion of formal coursework in the teaching and delivery of online education or prior
online teaching experience.
Student Participation:
The Hartnell Community College District, in alignment with the Department of Education,
requires that students be dropped if they have not regularly and substantively interacted with
the instructor teaching the distance education course. Instructors in courses offered via
distance education shall drop students if they have not entered a meaningful discussion board
post, or completed an assignment, or communicated with the instructor by email either
initiated by the student or as a response to the instructor's email within 72 hours of the start
date. After first census, students that fail to regularly and substantively interact in the course in
the manner described above shall be dropped by the instructor. In addition, the instructor of a
course offered via distance education will maintain a record of students' attendance to
demonstrate compliance with said last date of attendance policy.
Use of Course Management System: Faculty wishing to teach distance education courses must
complete an orientation to the course management software (CMS). Pursuant to the provisions
of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, online courses must be delivered using the CMS
adopted by the District.
See Board Policy 4105 and Administrative Procedures 4020 and 4022
Approved by Superintendent/President:
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