UC DAVIS: ACADEMIC SENATE

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1 UC DAVIS: ACADEMIC SENATE March 25, 2013 Dear Colleagues, We should expect that the California Legislature and the Governor will continue to be strongly interested in online learning as a way to help solve specific accessibility problems facing higher education in California. The Academic Senate is of course interested in ensuring that all students have access to the instruction they need. In fact, at UC Davis several efforts by the administration and the faculty have been quite successful in improving the availability of gateway courses in spite of increased student numbers and recent successive budget cuts. Online learning may become part of the solution soon as well and many of our members are already involved in developing UC quality online and hybrid courses. I have enclosed information regarding SB520 and SB547 two senate bills recently introduced by Senators Steinberg and Block, respectively, that aim to mandate, in different ways, concerted action by the three segments of the California higher education system to address the shortages in the availability of lower division high enrollment courses through online learning. You may track the current version of these bills through Clearly, the impact of these bills, if they were to become law, is of direct concern to the UC Academic Senate as well as the Davis Division of the Academic Senate. Several aspects of the proposed legislation are difficult to reconcile with the faculty s authority over UC courses and curricula. In particular, SB520 envisions that a nine-member council consisting of three faculty of each of the higher education segments, but appointed for another purpose, would approve online courses offered by outside organizations for UC credit. This is simply not feasible and it is incompatible with the established course approval process. Therefore, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Academic Senate (Bob Powell and Bill Jacob) met with members from Senator Steinberg's office last Wednesday. We learned that the meeting was cordial. UC Academic Senate leaders elaborated on the concerns expressed in their letter of March 15 (attached). They have another meeting scheduled in the coming week. One of the UC Academic Senate leadership s main goals in the next weeks will be to make sure that any new legislation does not jeopardize the quality of a UC degree. Locally, we want to ensure that faculty who have the desire to develop online learning materials and to incorporate them into our courses, feel empowered and supported to do so. The Davis Division of the Academic Senate leadership is working with the Provost and his office to organize a day-long event (date and program to be announced) this spring at which instructors may share experience and knowledge regarding online learning and determine how to best support our faculty engaged in online and hybrid course development. As you know, March 15, was the deadline for submitting Letters Of Intent (LOI) to the recently announced UC Innovative Learning Technology Initiative RFP. Note that LOI were optional and it will still be possible to submit a proposal to the actual call when it is issued even if you did not submit a LOI. On April 2, UC Provost Aimee Dorr is visiting UC Davis. She will be meeting with administration and Academic Senate leadership on the topic of online education. She will also meet with our Executive Council. This will be an opportunity for us to emphasize that decisions about modes of instruction, curriculum, courses, and pedagogy, are best left to the campuses. It is my view that as long as we keep our focus on how to best offer a high quality university education to as many able, well-prepared, and motivated students as we can, we will be able to meet the challenges posed by limited budgets and the sometimes ill-advised education legislation common in our state. Sincerely, Bruno Nachtergaele, Chair Davis Division of the Academic Senate Professor: Mathematics UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (Letterhead for Interdepartmental use)

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5 SENATE BILL No. 547 Introduced by Senator Block February 22, 2013 An act to add Chapter 11.5 (commencing with Section 66950) to Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to public postsecondary education. legislative counsel s digest SB 547, as introduced, Block. Public postsecondary education: online courses. (1) Existing law, the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth the missions and functions of the segments of the public postsecondary education system in the state, including the University of California administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Provisions of the act are applicable to the University of California only to the extent that the regents, by appropriate resolution, make them applicable. Existing law requires the Board of Governors, the Trustees, and the Regents, with appropriate consultation with the academic senates of the respective segments, to jointly develop, maintain, and disseminate a common core curriculum in general education courses for the purpose of transfer. Existing law deems any person who completes this transfer core curriculum as having completed all lower division general education requirements for the University of California and the California State University. This bill would require the academic senates of the University of California, the California State University, and the California 99

6 SB Community Colleges to jointly develop and identify online courses that would be made available to students of each of the 3 segments for enrollment by the fall of The bill would require the online courses to be in areas defined as high demand transferable lower division courses under the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum and to be deemed to meet the lower division transfer and degree requirements for the 3 segments. The bill would require the board of governors to create an Internet portal through the California Virtual Campus that facilitates enrollment in the online courses. The bill would require funding for implementation of the bill to be provided for in the annual Budget Act, and would state the intent of the Legislature that the University of California s receipt of this funding be contingent upon its compliance with the bill s requirements. Pursuant to existing law, this bill would be applicable to the University of California only upon the adoption of an appropriate resolution by the Regents. By placing additional requirements on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes. The people of the State of California do enact as follows: line 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 11.5 (commencing with Section 66950) line 2 is added to Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, line 3 to read: line 4 line 5 Chapter Online Courses line 6 line (a) The academic senates of the University of line 8 California, the California State University, and the California line 9 Community Colleges shall jointly develop and identify online line 10 courses that shall be made available to students of each of the three 99

7 3 SB 547 line 1 segments for enrollment by the fall of The online courses line 2 shall be in areas defined as high demand transferable lower division line 3 courses under the Intersegmental General Education Transfer line 4 Curriculum. line 5 (b) The online courses developed pursuant to subdivision (a) line 6 shall be deemed to meet the lower division transfer and degree line 7 requirements for the University of California, the California State line 8 University, and the California Community Colleges. line 9 (c) The Board of Governors of the California Community line 10 Colleges shall create an Internet portal through the California line 11 Virtual Campus that facilitates enrollment in the courses developed line 12 pursuant to subdivision (a). line 13 (d) The University of California, the California State University, line 14 and the California Community Colleges shall do both of the line 15 following: line 16 (1) Develop a process for determining and identifying which line 17 students are most likely to succeed in the online courses developed line 18 pursuant to subdivision (a) and target enrollment efforts toward line 19 those students. line 20 (2) Inform students of the technical requirements a student must line 21 satisfy in order to successfully participate in and complete the line 22 online courses developed pursuant to subdivision (a). line 23 (e) (1) Funding for the implementation of this section shall be line 24 provided for in the annual Budget Act. line 25 (2) It is the intent of the Legislature that the University of line 26 California s receipt of funding for the implementation of this line 27 section be contingent upon its compliance with the requirements line 28 of this section, notwithstanding Section line 29 SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that line 30 this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to line 31 local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made line 32 pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division line 33 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code. O 99

8 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, ACADEMIC SENATE BERKELEY DAVIS IRVINE LOS ANGELES MERCED RIVERSIDE SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA SANTA CRUZ Robert L. Powell Telephone: (510) Fax: (510) Chair of the Assembly of the Academic Senate Faculty Representative to the Regents University of California 1111 Franklin Street, 12th Floor Oakland, California March 15, 2013 OPEN LETTER TO MEMBERS OF THE ACADEMIC SENATE ABOUT SB 520 Dear Colleagues: Senate Bill 520 raises grave concerns. We were not consulted in the writing of this legislation, which purports to address course access problems experienced by students in public higher education. Next week, we plan to meet with Senator Steinberg s staff in order to discuss this bill. First, limits on student access to the courses this bill targets are in large part the result of significant reductions in public state higher education funding, especially over the last six years. Second, the clear self-interest of for profit corporations in promoting the privatization of public higher education through this legislation is dismaying. In fact, UC s graduation rates and time to degree performance show that access to courses for our students is not an acute issue as it may be in the other segments. Lastly, the faculty of the University of California, through the Academic Senate, approves courses for credit at the University and reviews courses offered for transfer credit to determine whether they cover the same material with equal rigor. There is no possibility that UC faculty will shirk its responsibility to our students by ceding authority over courses to any outside agency. The Academic Senate is committed to exploring how important measures of student success, such as graduation rates and time-to-degree, can be improved. Indeed, over the last two decades we have made remarkable progress on such measures. For example, we have developed innovative ways of using summer sessions and our own online course offerings to ensure that students can enroll in the courses they need when they need them. Individual academic programs and campus academic leadership must ensure that courses and outstanding student advising are available. There is no alternative to the deep involvement of faculty in courses and curricula and the validation provided by rigorous and continuing review of these. The University of California offers access to the highest quality degrees in a public research university. Our faculty are committed to this vision for our current students and those yet to set foot on our campuses. Robert L. Powell Chair, Academic Council Bill Jacob Vice Chair, Academic Council