Online Learning Resources

SJCC Distance Education Faculty Policies, Recommendations, and Resources

Distance Education Handbook and Forms

Faculty Distance Education Handbook (rev. 11/21/19)

Distance Education Teaching Eligibility Application (rev. 11/21/19)

Link to Schedule of Classes

Link to Student Readiness Quiz

 

Instructor Contact:  

(Academic Senate approved 12/16/14)

All Distance Education (DE) courses at San Jose City College, whether hybrid or fully online, include regular effective contact as outlined in Ed Code, Title 5, and Accreditation Standards, and described below:

Each section of a DE course includes regular effective contact between instructor and students. All DE courses, whether hybrid or fully online, include regular effective contact as described below:

Initiated interaction: Instructors regularly initiate interaction with students to determine that they are accessing and comprehending course material and that they are participating regularly in the activities in the course. Providing students with an open ended question forum, although appropriate, does not constitute the entirety of effective instructor initiated interaction.

Frequency: The number of instructor contact hours per week that would be available for face to face students, are also available, in asynchronous and/or synchronous mode, with students in the DE format. Contact is distributed in a manner that ensures that regular contact is maintained, given the nature of asynchronous instructional methodologies, over the course of a week and should occur as often as is appropriate for the course requirements, objectives and content.​

Types of Contact: 

• For DE courses, instructors select as appropriate from the following resources:
• Threaded discussion forums with appropriate instructor participation
• General email (which should be archived)
• Weekly announcements in the Course Management System
• Timely feedback for student work
• Instructor prepared materials and any publisher created materials (written, recorded, broadcast, etc.) that, combined with other course materials, creates the "virtual equivalent" of the face to face class in the particular discipline
• Instructors should also consider using other forms of communication, as mentioned in section 55211 of Title 5. ("…through group or individual meetings, orientation and review sessions, supplemental seminar or study sessions, field trips, library workshops, telephone contact, correspondence, voice mail, e-mail or other activities") and/or CCCConfer, video conference, pod cast, or other synchronous technologies may also be included.
• It is suggested that Instructors should have a threaded discussion that is set aside for general questions about the course and may wish to have weekly or other timely question and answer sessions available to students. This may also be accomplished through virtual office hours.

Instructor Absence:

Frequency and timeliness of instructor initiated contact, and instructor feedback are posted in the syllabus and other course documents that are made available for students when the course officially opens each semester.  If the instructor must be out of contact briefly for an unexpected reason (such as illness or a family emergency that takes the instructor offline), notification to students is made in the announcements area of the course that includes when the students can expect regular effective contact to resume.  If the offline time results in a lengthy absence (i.e., more than three or four days), a substitute instructor should be sought who can assist students while the instructor is unavailable.

Sources for Regular and Effective Contact Policies:

• Code of Federal Regulations, Title 34, Subtitle B, Chapter V, Education §602.3

• Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges  Policy on Distance Education and Correspondence Education, June 2013 edition

• Title 5 and the Distance Education Guidelines for the California Community Colleges (CCC), Distance Education Guidelines, Chancellor's Office, California Community Colleges, Academic Affairs Division, Instructional Programs and Services

• Standards and Procedures for the Approval of Web-Based Courses, Adopted Unanimously by the San Jose City College Academic Senate May 2, 2000

Teacher Training Recommendations 

(Academic Senate Approved 5/5/2015)

Participate in one professional development activity per academic year related to Distance Education (on-campus workshop on a specific feature of Moodle, an off-campus DE conference, a PDD session on online learning/features, Webinar session, and so on)   and demonstrate prior successful experience in teaching online course(s) at SJCC or another similar institution for a minimum of 4 semesters/sessions in previous three years OR At least two courses in online teaching from @One Teaching Certification Program or equivalent online teaching programs from accredited institutions; 1-course completed with the second course to be completed within 18 months of the assignment (for those already teaching) 

OEI Course Design Rubric

(Academic Senate Approved 3/1/2016)

OEI Course Design Rubric (2021, pdf)  Download .pdf and save file for each of your courses. You can check off and write comments within the document.

Instructional Design Resources (including ADA Section 508 accessible web design)

Webinars on ADA Accessibility Web and PPT Design: creating accessible presentations, documents, web content, and captioning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)