Report and Recommendations by the CSBS Task Force on Online and Hybrid Teaching
The CSBS Task Force on Online and Hybrid Teaching was convened by Dean Stella
Theodoulou to develop guidelines for the development, management, and improvement of online
and hybrid courses. The Task Force was charged with presenting recommendations on how the
College should proceed in a number of specific areas: the control of course development, the
certification of faculty competencies, and the assessment of online/hybrid courses. We have
developed recommendations in the following areas:
1) Control of Online/Hybrid Courses,
2) Instructor Certification
3) Online Course Review and Certification
4) Assessment
5) Instructional Evaluation
6) Incentives to Encourage Online/Hybrid Teaching
7) Resources and Infrastructure
The task force members are:
Eli Bartle, Master’s Program in Social Work
James Craine, Department of Geography
Patricia Juarez-Dappe, Department of History
Michael Love, Department of Anthropology (Task Force Chair)
Anthony Ratcliff, Pan African Studies
Tom Hogen-Esch, Department of Political Science
Jill Razani, Department of Psychology
Talin Saroukhanian, Department of Political Science, College Online Instruction Coordinator
Zeynep Toker, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
The Task Force has developed these recommendations in consultation with their home
departments and with input from many faculty members. We thank all those faculty for their
assistance.
Recommendations
Control of Online/Hybrid Courses
There is a strong consensus among departments that control of all courses, both
traditional and online/hybrid, should be kept within the relevant department. That is, all
departments oppose creating a new level of bureaucracy specifically for approval or
implementation of online courses. Thus, we recommend that department curriculum committees
be responsible for approving online/hybrid courses that are versions of courses already in the
catalog. The development of entirely new courses should follow the established procedures for
review by the department, APC, and EPC.
Instructor Certification
The task force recognizes that online/hybrid teaching requires that instructors be fully
competent in the relevant technology and in pedagogies unique to online instruction. We
therefore recommend that a process of certification be implemented that will required for online
teaching going forward.
We recommend that the following be required for certification:
1) The completion of one workshop in Moodle
2) One other workshop dealing with online pedagogy or an advanced workshop in the use
of Moodle.
We recognize that not all instructors using online/hybrid technology use Moodle. Some
use the websites or resources provided by publishers, while others use Facebook or Google
Classroom. However, since Moodle is the official online learning resource for CSU Northridge,
we believe competence in that online learning environment is fundamental. We believe also that
the CSBS Administrative Council should discuss whether non-Moodle online resources need to
be reviewed for conformity with University policies, especially policies regarding privacy and
compliance with ADA.
Department Chairs should be responsible for assuring that all online/hybrid instructors
have the requisite qualifications and have completed the steps required for certification. We
recommend that a two-year period be allowed during which instructors may teach online/hybrid
courses without certification, but that by the 2014-2015 academic year, certification should be
required.
Online Course Review and Certification
The CSU and CSUN are developing standards for online learning. We believe that the
College is best served by adopting those standards for its own course offerings. We recommend
that the Quality Online Learning and Teaching Rubric (QOLT), as modified by CSUN, be
adopted as the CSBS standard. The Task Force Recommends that the Curriculum Committee of
each department be responsible for certifying that each online/hybrid course conforms to the best
practices, using the QOLT rubric (as modified by CSUN) as a guideline.
Assessment
We recommend that online courses be treated in the same manner as traditional courses
in all facets of assessment. The Assessment Committee for each department should review
online/hybrid courses using the same SLOs and Alignment Matrices that are used for other
courses.
Instructional Evaluation
Online/hybrid courses should be evaluated as are other courses, insofar as possible. That
is, consistent with Section 600, instructors may choose to have an online course evaluated, but
cannot be required to do so. Given the differences in online instructional pedagogy, and
differences between an online module and a classroom course, we recommend that the reviewer
be someone acquainted with both the technology and with online pedagogy. We recommend that
peer teaching reviewers consult with the instructor so that they are fully informed about the
organization of the course and the instructional methods being used. When appropriate, the peer
reviewer should consult with the instructor about instructional materials and methods being used.
Evaluation of Online/Hybrid Teaching and the RTP Process
After much discussion, the Task Force chooses to not recommend additional procedures
for the evaluation of online/hybrid courses vis-a-vis the RTP process. We believe that
online/hybrid courses should be reviewed in accordance with departmental personnel procedures,
but we recommend that each department incorporate QOLT standards for the evaluation of
online/hybrid courses.
Incentives to Encourage Online/Hybrid Teaching
Moving a course to online and/or hybrid format requires a great deal of work from
faculty. If the College and the University wishes faculty to move to those formats, we believe
some incentives will be necessary. We recommend the following:
1) Course reductions for preparation of an online course for the first time
2) Use of the Teaching Fellowship Competition to reward online teaching, perhaps by
focusing the competition on online/hybrid teaching in one or more years
3) Creation of a special “Online Teaching Competition” that would give release time for
the best online course.
4) Hold a special Beck Grant competition for online/hybrid teaching.
Fostering Online Pedagogy
In addition to the many workshops offered by campus entities, we recommend that CSBS
hold an “Online Open House” where faculty show off their online courses to share online
formats and pedagogy with their colleagues.