Ensuring Adequate Online Education Support for California Community College Faculty and Students

Spring
2022
Resolution Number
17.01
 
Assigned to
Relations with Local Senates Committee
Online Education Committee
Category
Local Senates
Status
Assigned

Whereas, The COVID-19 pandemic forced a quick pivot, within weeks after California Governor Newsom’s March 19, 2020 Stay At Home Order, of most of California’s community colleges’ course offerings from in-person to online teaching and learning;

Whereas, Most of this online teaching and learning necessitated faculty and students quickly learning how to use and navigate learning management systems (LMS) and other online educational tools and services for course delivery and engagement;

Whereas, The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office responded by November 2, 2020 [1] to the sudden systemwide shift to online teaching and learning by providing all California community colleges with funding support until June 30, 2021 for an array of online learning tools including Canvas LMS, Canvas Studio, Pisces Online Tutoring Platform, Zoom, Labster virtual science lab platform, and NetTutor online tutoring service as well as special pricing for California community colleges to access or purchase SmarterServices online readiness assessment, Urkund and Turnitin online plagiarism and student integrity services, Proctorio online proctoring service, Pronto online student engagement service, Esri geographic information system, Grackledocs accessibility for Google G-Suite, Adobe digital and electronic signature platform, TimelyMD Telehealth services, OptimumHQ contact tracing software, Cranium Café online student services platform, and Uber Eats food aid distribution platform; and

Whereas, The impact of this sudden and dramatic increase of online learning tools on local college campuses, even beyond the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office June 30, 2021 funding support deadline, has created a very high demand for local campus online education support services and staff to assist faculty, staff, students, and administrators in the adoption, setup, and use, including the troubleshooting, of these online tools;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges survey local academic senates about online education tools used at their campuses, online education support their campuses provide, and whether there is equitable access to and use of online education support across all faculty and student groups;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges urge all local colleges and districts to work collaboratively with their local academic senates and online education support areas to identify and mitigate equity gaps regarding online education support access and delivery to faculty and students and ensure that online education support areas receive adequate support from their local colleges in order to provide services needed by students and faculty; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourage local academic senates to formally acknowledge their appreciation for their online education and course design support professionals for all the ways in which they have supported faculty and students, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented demand that it created for online education support services.

MSC


1. https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/Files/DII/nov022020-ongoing-digital-resources-support-memo-dii-v2.pdf?la=en&hash=E284243BE2321D09DC590BF69D1C85BC47EC003A