MOA: DISTANCE LEARNING

1. "Distance learning" refers to the variety of learning environments having in common the physical separation of faculty and some or all of the students, some or all of the time.

2. The Strategic Learning Initiative Memorandum of Agreement has precedence over this Article.

3. Distance Learning Advisory Committee. Distance learning courses and distance learning elements of courses have increased, and are expected to increase, creating a number of important issues which need to be dealt with in a principled, timely, and flexible way. Given the task of coming to terms with these issues and the expectation that conditions will continually change, a Distance Learning Advisory Committee (in this Agreement called the Committee) shall be chartered through the mutual agreement of the College, Association, and Federation.

3.1 Purpose. The Committee will facilitate the clarification and definition of distance learning benchmarks, general principles, and issues/concerns. The committee will also conduct meetings to facilitate resolution of distance learning issues, which may be brought by any party with an interest in the issue, including the College and Association. In this process, the Committee will respect the strategic decisions of other college entities made within each of their jurisdictions.

3.2 Membership. The Committee will consist of equal numbers of faculty, management, and classified representatives, with the group broadly representing the diversity of college divisions/departments. They shall be appointed by the Association president, the College's vice-presidents, and the LCCEF president, respectively. The number of representatives from each employee group shall be three (3) unless changed by mutual agreement of the College, Association, and Federation.

3.3 Meetings. The Committee will meet sufficiently to carry out its charge.

3. The Committee will establish processes that will result in timely decisions regarding issues brought before it. Workload issues, and the establishment of workload benchmarks and principles shall be coordinated through the Workload Advisory Committee. The Committee may recommend the chartering of studies of distance learning questions along with reasonable resources identified from the College. A review of the product of the Committee will be routinely conducted by the College labor relations representative, the Association, and the Federation to facilitate processes involving collective bargaining and to assure consistency with contractual and legal requirements. The College, Association, or Federation may submit issues unresolved by the Committee and unresolved through the negotiations process to interest arbitration.

4. This Agreement and properly executed Memoranda of Agreements and the decisions following from them represent the sole agreement on distance learning. Distance learning practice and agreements of the College will conform to the main Agreement and properly executed Memoranda of Agreements between the College and Association.

5. Compensation Principles. The following principles regarding compensation for distance learning shall be followed:

5.1 The College shall offer appropriate compensation when requesting faculty to develop distance learning courses or significant distance learning elements of courses.

5.2 The College shall approve appropriate compensation along with approval of proposals to develop distance learning courses or significant distance learning elements of courses.

5.3 The College and Association recognize that in as much as taking on distance learning entails new learning, distance learning assignments shall receive extra compensation or adjustments in work assignments.

5.4 Compensation for development and delivering distance learning courses will be provided through normal divisional/departmental processes used for the development and delivery of other courses.

6. Workload Principles. The following principles regarding workload involving distance learning shall be followed:

6.1 It is the intention of the College that when practical, work assignments shall be adjusted to accommodate distance learning responsibilities without resulting in an overall increase in workload for any individual.

6.2 The instructional department/division in which the course resides is the first place to address the issue of when and whether course workload is the same in its distance learning version and traditional version (for example, in terms of enrollment, preparation, FTE). The issue should be considered for resolution in the context of, and through the processes of, overall division/departmental workload decisions.

6.3 The offering of a distance learning class may be subject to enrollment limitation or special allowances for nonstandard enrollments.

7. The following principles regarding development, delivery and course approval involving distance learning shall be followed:

7.1 Course approval for classes with distance learning shall follow the usual processes adopted in the division, department and college curriculum approval process, including accepted pathways for short-term approval for innovative curriculum and courses.

7.2 The development by a faculty member of distance learning courses or significant distance learning elements of courses requires the agreement of the faculty member.

7.3 A faculty member may refuse distance learning development assignments without prejudice. Also, assignment of distance learning courses or courses with significant distance learning elements may be refused without prejudice. If existing faculty refuse these development and delivery assignments, the College may hire staff specifically for the development and delivery of distance learning courses.

7.4 In developing or modifying a distance learning course, a faculty member shall not be required to adopt a particular format, method, or course organization. However, infrastructure from the college (hardware, software, and support) may be reasonably limited.

7.5 The College will ensure that resources for distance learning, such as technical and infrastructure support (including additional phone lines, hardware, software) and academic support (including Library, Counseling and Advising) are identified to faculty and provided at a reasonably adequate level.

7.6 Faculty developing distance learning courses through significant effort on their part shall have the right to first refusal to teach such courses up to three years. This right of first refusal supercedes part-time seniority claims.

8. Training Principles. The following principles regarding training involving distance learning shall be followed:

8.1 Training shall be reasonably available for faculty desiring to learn how to use, develop, or enhance their skills in the use of, distance learning.

8.2 The Distance Learning Stewardship Committee shall investigate and prepare a recommendation, in cooperation with the ELT, SLI and TACT, for providing training and technical support for distance learning students.

9. Evaluation Principles. The following principles regarding evaluation involving distance learning shall be followed:

9.1 The evaluation of distance learning courses and significant distance learning course elements shall be conducted as close as possible to the framework and processes of the evaluation of other courses.

9.2 Faculty and student privacy shall be protected and respected. No observation or monitoring of student-student or faculty-student interaction shall take place without prior agreement with the faculty member(s) responsible for the class, and prior notification of the students involved.

9.3 Evaluations of distance learning courses shall include a separate evaluation of the technology used and the distance learning format.

10. Buying and using packaged courses. In this section, "packaged courses" refers to courses, purchased or leased, where the instructor, in part or for the whole course, comes with the course, including "hosted" distance learning courses. "Incorporated material", on the other hand, refers to materials and resources the LCC instructor builds upon or adapts - for example, Web CT templates and CDs and online material from textbook publishers. The following principles regarding buying and using packaged courses involving distance learning shall be followed:

10.1 The Association and the Committee will be notified in advance of any specific consideration of the adoption of packaged courses.

10.2 The evaluation and approval of the quality of packaged courses shall be according to the standards applied to all courses.

10.3 If a packaged course is a new course for LCC, it shall be approved and adopted through the regular department/division and curriculum processes, including accepted pathways for short-term approval for innovative curriculum and courses.

10.4 If a packaged course is a substitute or an option for an existing course, the department, through its normal approval process, must agree that it is equivalent.

10.5 Packaged courses shall be subject to yearly re-evaluation for continuation of use.

11. Integration and Jurisdiction. Issues of jurisdiction and overlap involving distance learning courses shall be dealt with in the same manner as traditional courses, involving faculty, divisions, departments, and the Curriculum Committee. Issues regarding jurisdiction and overlap involving non-credit distance learning courses may be brought to the Distance Learning Advisory Committee.

12. Distance Learning Intellectual Property Rights and Revenue Sharing.
The College and Association shall timely engage in bargaining over intellectual property rights and revenue sharing involving distance learning.