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Distance Education Committee

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Distance Education Committee

The Distance Education Committee develops guidelines for distance education courses and recommends to the Senate policies and procedures for distance education training of faculty and students. The committee advises strategic planning committees on institutional needs and best practices for distance education.

The mission of the Distance Education Committee is to recommend policies, procedures, and distance education training in order to institutionalize best practices of a quality distance learning environment at Norco College.

 

 

 

 

Contact

 
Dr. Sandra Popiden
Distance Education Co-Chair

Dr. Courtney Doussett
Distance Education Co-Chair
(951) 372-7017

 

 

Getting Started with Canvas


Faculty: 


Students: 

 

Meeting Schedule


The Distance Education Committee now meets the 2nd Thursdays of the month @ 12:50-1:50 pm in IT-208 during the Fall and Spring semesters.

Fall 2024:

  • September 12
  • October 10
  • November 14

Spring 2025:

  • March 13
  • April 10
  • May 8

 

Committee Members


Faculty Members
  • Sandra Popiden (Faculty Co-Chair, Social and Behavioral Sciences)
  • Courtney Doussett (Administrative Co-Chair, Natural Sciences, Health, and Kinesiology)
  • Bibiana Lopez (Math, Engineering, Computer Science and Game Development)
  • Laura Adams (Social and Behavioral Sciences)
  • Caroline Hutchings (Math, Engineering, Computer Science and Game Development)
  • Eric Doucette (Business and Management)
  • Sharese Tronti (Natural Sciences, Health, and Kinesiology)
  • Aaron Hall (ASNC Representative)
Classified Members
  • Matt Allen, Classified Professional Representative 
Student Members
  • Fabian Orozco, ASNC

 

Archived Agendas & Minutes

2024-2025
  • May 8, 2025
    Agenda | Minutes
  • April 10, 2025
    Agenda | Minutes
  • March 13, 2025
    Agenda | Minutes
  • November 14, 2024
    Agenda | Minutes
  • October 10, 2024
    Agenda | Minutes
  • September 12, 2024
    Agenda | Minutes
2023-2024
2021-2022

2020-2021

2019-2020

2018-2019

2017-2018

2016-2017

2015-2016

 

Getting Started with Distance Education

New and Uncertified Faculty

  • In accordance with the district's AP 2105 on Distance Education, new and uncertified faculty planning to teach online at any of the colleges in the district agree to complete one of the following certification options:
  • The district's designated local online teaching certification course - e.g., RCCD Course Design Camp
  • Any RCCD district college's Peer Online Course Review (POCR)
  • Faculty who have already completed an online certification process should review the Equivalency Online Teaching Certifications header.

Certification Time Frame and Evidence

  • Online teaching certification is valid for three academic years from the completion date of the certification requirements. Note: Faculty who need to complete certification will be notified one academic year in advance.
  • New and uncertified Faculty have one academic year to complete the required certification (or its equivalent) and may teach online concurrently. 

Equivalent Online Teaching Certifications

  • Faculty who completed online teaching certification or graduate degrees in online teaching from colleges, universities, or professional development associations and organizations other than RCCD can upload completion evidence to an online tracking system. The District Distance Education Department will review and confirm that the evidence submitted is equivalent to the district's designated local online teaching certification requirements. Faculty and their respective VPAA or designee will be notified of the results of the review. If there are unmet competencies, the following will be provided:
  • A one (1) year completion date
  • Information on how to fulfill unmet competencies utilizing assigned district training or other agreed-upon resources - e.g., RCCD Online Teaching and Design Course
  • In the event that the review is challenged, a second review will be conducted, and the final decision will be made by the majority of the reviewers.

 

District DE Resources

Need Canvas Support?

DE Faculty Training (DEFT) Resources

  • RCCD DE Instructor Resource Shell
  • Check out our resources and guides on Canvas instructional tools, media and accessibility tools, and other useful apps and Canvas LTIs. (Self-enroll through Canvas).
  • Accessibility
  • View policies and FAQs, find resources, and get assistance to make your course and documents accessible.
  • Video Library
  • Review these recorded webinars on instructional pedagogies as well as how-to tutorials on using Canvas tools and features.
  • Courses & Learning Modules   
  • Self-enroll in these self-paced training courses to learn about Canvas, online instruction, accessibility, and more.
  • Tools & LTIs 
  • Learn how to use LTIs, apps, and other tools available to faculty.
  • Quick Start Guide & Templates
  • Learn how to refresh your courses or get a new course up and running quickly with the help of templates and Course Developers.

FERPA Certification Submission Form  

Learn how to get FERPA certified so that you can upload your certificate to the FERPA Certification Form (scroll to the bottom of the Forms page). Additional information about FERPA concerns for merged courses is available in the RCCD DE Instructor Resources shell.

1:1 Appointments

Meet individually with DE personnel to get answers to questions, brainstorm new ideas, learn new tools, and build course content. If these days/times don't fit your schedule, feel free to email specific DE personnel your availability to set up appointments. Click on the links below to see available days/times. See below for appointment Registration Directions if you need assistance booking an appointment.

Distance Education Newsletter

District DE posts a newsletter twice a month during Fall/Spring and once a month during Winter/Summer. You can access the current newsletter from the RCCD DE Instructor Resource shell Home Page. (If you're not already self-enrolled in this shell, use this self-enroll link to get access to DE resources and the newsletter today.) If you missed a previous newsletter, you can visit our newsletter archive to catch up on articles, updates, and other important information.

 

What is Regular and Substantive Interaction?

 

In short, regular and substantive interaction (RSI) is one of the key elements distinguishing distance education from correspondence education and thus one of the central determinates for students' ability to use Title IV funds (federal financial aid funds). Its two parts are best examined separately:

  • providing direct instruction;
  • assessing or providing feedback on a student's coursework;
  • providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency;
  • facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency; or
  • other instructional activities approved by the institution's or program's accrediting agency."
  • Providing the opportunity for substantive interactions with the student on a predictable and regular basis commensurate with the length of time and the amount of content in the course or competency; and
  • Monitoring the student's academic engagement and success and ensuring that an instructor is responsible for promptly and proactively engaging in substantive interaction with the student when needed on the basis of such monitoring, or upon request by the student."
  • Initiated by instructor.
  • Frequent and consistent.
  • Focused on course subject.
  • Set clear expectations.
  • Send messages at regular intervals.
  • Provide timely, individualized, and in-depth feedback.
  • Actively facilitate online discussions.
  • Use easy-to-document communication.
  • “Substantive Interaction is engaging students in teaching, learning, and assessment, consistent with the content under discussion, and also includes at least two of the following: 
  • "An institution ensures regular interaction between a student and an instructor or instructors by, prior to the student's completion of a course or competency:
  • Characteristics of RSI
  • Recommendations
 

 

What is the CVC-OEI Consortium?

 

The California Virtual Campus – Online Education Initiative (CVC-OEI) is a collaborative effort among California Community Colleges (CCCs) to ensure that significantly more students can complete their educational goals by increasing both access to and success in high-quality online courses.

Much of this work is done through the CVC Exchange, a platform that students can use to register for online courses offered at other colleges. While students already had this option prior to the CVC Exchange, the CVC-OEI streamlines this process by removing several barriers. When students from member colleges enroll in classes outside the college:

  • they do not have to fill out a CCCApply application, 
  • the class they take counts towards their full-time status for financial aid and that process is streamlined between colleges, and 
  • the transcript process is streamlined as well once they complete a course. 
  • Additionally, the CVC-OEI incentivizes high quality online education through a voluntary course review process (POCR) that enables colleges to put their “Quality Reviewed" courses at the top of student search results.

The CVC-OEI Consortium benefits colleges as well:

  • Non-member colleges lose funding whenever a student takes a course outside the college. Member colleges split funding between the two colleges. 
  • Additionally, enrolling in this system allows colleges to track which classes their students are enrolling in at other colleges, giving colleges an opportunity to close the loop.