Dear Colleagues,
In an effort to streamline and improve the process to propose distance education and online courses, the Educational Policy Committee (EPC) is pleased to share that an updated Policy on Distance Education Courses went into effect at the start of Fall Quarter 2023. A brief summary of the changes can be found below. The complete updated policy, proposal guidelines, and information about the process for submitting a distance education course proposal can be found on the Senate’s website: https://senate.ucsd.edu/operating-procedures/educational-policies/courses/.
Proposal Submission
To establish a distance education course (an R course), academic units are required to submit a course approval form in eCourse and a supplementary proposal to the Academic Senate. It is recommended that units begin routing the eCourse form at the same time that the supplementary proposal is submitted for Senate review. Approval of the eCourse form is needed to upload the necessary course information to the current student information system (ISIS). The supplementary information is needed for Senate committee review (Undergraduate Council for undergraduate courses and Graduate Council for graduate courses).
In collaboration with the Graduate Council and the Undergraduate Council, the Senate has shifted to an online form to simplify the submission of the supplementary information. The online form incorporates short-response questions and reduces the number of open-ended questions. We hope that this change will make it easier for departments to provide information to Senate reviewers, which will in turn facilitate committee review.
A second significant change is that EPC removed the requirement that proposers consult with, and receive a letter from, the Teaching + Learning Commons prior to Senate review. Proposers of asynchronous courses are still encouraged to consult with the Teaching + Learning Commons about their course design.
Please Note: Beginning Jan. 3, 2024, proposers are required to submit the supplementary information for R-course proposals using the online form. Proposers may submit in either the new format or the previous format until that time.
Policy Updates
Major changes to the Policy include the following:
- Updated terminology to provide more clarity on the different types of distance education courses.
- A requirement that, when an academic unit offers both an in-person and distance education version of a course with the same subject code and course number, these courses must be equivalent except for the instruction modality (e.g. in-person or online) and the R-designation for the online version. These courses will be deemed equivalent and fulfill the same degree requirements for students.
- Instructors are advised to:
- Clearly communicate course requirements and expectations to students.
- Consult with the Academic Integrity Office about methods to ensure integrity in the course.
- Consult with Education Technology Services regarding any third-party tools not already approved for use at UC San Diego, specifically to ensure FERPA compliance when using third-party tools.
- A new section was added stating that there is a process to request an exception to the Policy on Distance Education Courses for instructors who would like to teach a non-R course online, either due to a documented disability or other extenuating circumstance. EPC has been approving limited-term exceptions on a quarter-by-quarter basis to allow this since Fall Quarter 2022 and is now making it permanent. Guidelines for requesting an exception are posted on the Senate’s website.
Summer 2024 and Beyond
The San Diego Divisional Academic Senate is actively discussing the Aug. 31, 2023 report from the Senate Ad Hoc on Distance Education and its recommendations on incorporating online education into in-person degree programs. Discussions about online teaching options for Summer 2024 are part of this conversation, and more information about summer instruction will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
For questions related to the policy revisions or about proposal submission, please reach out to Ashley (Welch) Hill, Senate Associate Director, at awelch@ucsd.edu.
Sincerely,
