Title 5

"Title 5, section 55204. Instructor Contact. In addition to the requirements of section 55002 and any locally established requirements applicable to all courses, district governing boards shall ensure that: (a) Any portion of a course conducted through distance education includes regular effective contact between instructor and student."

In addition, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) requires that Distance Education courses ensure that there is "regular substantive interaction" between instructor and student.

SBVC's Distance Education Committee has stipulated that Title 5's requirement for "regular effective contact" is functionally equivalent to ACCJC's requirement for "regular substantive interaction."

SBVC's curriculum approval process includes rigorous compliance regarding Title 5 and online classes.  Contact types are defined, and the process determines the minimum regular effective contact for each course taught in the online format.

Regular and Substantive Interaction

Below are the various contact types as set forth by the Distance Education Committee.  Not every course will require every kind of contact.  But this list can be a guide as you think through whether your online class fulfills the requirements for "regular effective contact" and "regular substantive interaction."

  1. Synchronous = in real time
  2. Asynchronous = not in real time

Inservice Day Presentation on Regular and Substantive Interaction

Student-to-Student Contact

  • These are specific hours of specific days when a student can interact with an instructor. These can be physical synchronous office hours where the instructor is present on campus in a specific office. But these synchronous office hours could also be times when the instructor is available via various technologies: telephone, audio/video conferencing (i.e. Zoom), “chat rooms,” or multi-point multi-interactive programs. Please make note that email is not syncrhonous

  • Students are required to interact with each other regularly within the online classroom. Ensuring communication is substantive can be encouraged through engaging prompts and required posts and responses. Best practices for discussion boards suggest using a clear rubric for student response guidelines, both for an initial response and what peer replies should look like.

  • Depending on the structure of the class and the function of the specific virtual space, when a student posts a message in an open, public space in an online class, the instructor usually responds within 24 hours (except weekends, holidays, and vacations) so the contact will be timely, albeit not instantaneous. This contact is effective because it responds to specific concerns and questions of individual students, yet the responses are shared in a public arena. So all students can benefit from the question of one student. (There may be spaces created where the instructor will specifically not respond to students, where students can have their “own virtual space.” But these instances should be clearly communicated to the student.)

  • Students submit assignments, which are then randomly or manually assigned for in-course peer review. Feedback is given among students, which can help students master the concepts of a course and learn from each other. Peer reviews can be assigned to show student names or display anonymously.

Instructor Contact

  • These are posts that update students on the content or the processes of the class. They can be in written, aural, or video format.  This type of contact is effective because it demonstrates that the instructor is present in the class and is moderating the progress of the class as a whole and of individual students. This type of contact should be regular.

    At a minimum, these announcements should happen once each week.  More frequent posting of announcements would almost universally enhance the effectiveness of the contact.

  • This type of interaction is very much like “Moderating a Bulletin Board,” described above. However, leading a threaded discussion is initiated by the instructor and more directly moderated, directing the messages in the threads toward specific learning objectives. This kind of interaction is effective because it directly links the subject matter of the class with the individual students in the class. Usually there are time limits to these discussions, so the responses should be timely and regular, within those time constraints.

  • Instructors can intentionally create virtual small groups in an online class.  Once these groups are created, the instructor can moderate the work and the discussions among the students. This type of interaction combines the general communal elements of Moderating a Bulletin Board and Leading Threaded Discussions (both described above) in a small groups setting where mutual interdependence can be fostered.

    Thus the contact is effective in creating a sense of social cohesiveness as well as creating a community within which the deepening in understanding of the subject matter can happen. Usually there are time limits and deadlines for group work, so the presence of the instructor should be timely and regular, within those time constraints.

  • Instructors are responsible for verifying the participation of the students in the class as well as monitoring their performance status. When faculty give students feedback on their work, this type of contact is effective because it allows the student opportunities to adjust their performance and adjust their understandings or misunderstandings of the material.

    As in the on-ground classroom, this contact is crucial in the learning process. The timing of this feedback is at the discretion of the instructor and dependent on the type of learning that is being achieved.  But timely appropriate feedback is essential.  Computer generated exams can provide immediate feedback.  Feedback on written work will not be instantaneous, but students should be made aware of the parameters of the feedback.  The feedback can consist of written, aural, or video material.

  • In a face-to-face class, much of the contact between instructors and students is the instructor presenting material to the class, in the form of lectures or handouts or other prepared instructional material.  In an online class too, this is one mode of effective contact between the instructor and the student. These materials, combined with publisher produced material or material found on the Internet, create the functional equivalent of the content of the class. The timing of posting these materials is a function of the schedule of the course and should be regular within the parameters of the rhythm of the course.

  • This contact can be synchronous or asynchronous, in person or mediated through technology, individual or group, and highly moderated or lightly moderated. But instructors may facilitate conversations between students. Instead of the effective regular contact being between instructor and student, in this case the effective regular contact involves interaction between learners.  As with on-ground classes, this type of communication is very effective in providing opportunities for students to bond with the material and with members of their class.  The timing of this interaction is a function of the schedule of the course and should be regular within the parameters of the rhythm of the course.

  • There may be times when individual students need to be contacted by the instructor. These contacts might be for the purposes of checking the status of the student in the institution, reminding the student of responsibilities, asking the student questions about the material, or increasing the role of an individual educator in the academic lives of a student. This type of contact is effective because it enhances the one-on-one interaction between student and instructor. Chickering and Gamson’s “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” indicate that this is a primary element in success. Although this type of contact may be regular and periodic, it happens more often on an ad hoc basis.

Requirements of including Regular and Effective Contact into the Curriculum are integrated into the Curriculum Review process through the Curriculum Committee.

Also available through CurricUNET, the DE Addendum form for Regular and Effective contact may be found here.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

"Title 5, section 55200. Definition and Application. Distance education means instruction in which the instructor and student are separated by distance and interact through the assistance of communication technology. All distance education is subject to the general requirements of this chapter as well as the specific requirements of this article. In addition, instruction provided as distance education is subject to the requirements that may be imposed by the American with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. §12100 et seq.) and section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended."

FERPA

  • If the courses are stacked, you may combine online sections in Canvas. This means that if held in-person, the courses would be meeting at the same days/times with the same students. As of Fall 2021, stacked sections have been combined automatically by District tech specialists.

    If you have multiple sections of the same course (e.g. MUS 100-01, MUS 100-02, etc.), sections cannot be combined. If held in-person, these students would not be in the same course with each other.

  • If your recordings do not have students present, re-using for future material is not an issue. If there are students present, you should NOT re-use the online recording. This is a privacy issue with those students present in the original recording.

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