College of Humanities Online Teaching Policy
This policy offers a series of general guidelines to help guide the implementation of online course offerings in the College of Humanities. We have purposely designed these guidelines to remain flexible in order to recognize equity and diversity issues that may vary across the College, departments, and programs.
A) College of Humanities’ Commitment to Equity in Online Teaching
1. The College, departments, and programs, will use principles of equity to guide the creation of OL classes and the allocation of these classes to faculty. CSUN defines equity as “‘the state, quality, or ideal of being just, impartial, and fair.’ The concept of equity is the guarantee of fair treatment, advancement, opportunity, access, and resource allocation for the individuals while striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. Equity is focused on obtaining equal outcomes for all individuals and groups” (“Road Map Definitions”).
2. The College will, when at all possible, support ongoing faculty training and related professional development through forms of support for this labor (these forms of support may include reassigned time, stipends, or other material support).
B) Guidelines for faculty training and evaluation
1. Faculty who teach in online modalities should demonstrate competency to teach online through any of the following:
a. Receiving training through an online training module with certification
b. Showing expertise through ongoing online courses in which faculty are instructors of record or equivalent
c. Demonstrating evidence of other experience (pedagogical training and tools, etc.)
2. Chairs and/or faculty who have demonstrated online competencies (outlined in B.1.a-c) should, whenever possible, serve as evaluators of online teaching qualifications.
3. Faculty teaching online courses should occasionally have their online courses reviewed as part of the normal RTP and lecturer evaluation cycle. These evaluations will be filed as part of the regular review process, as outlined in sections 620-645 and 703.2.8 and 706.3-4.
4. Evaluations of online teaching will be performed whenever possible by chairs and/or faculty who have demonstrated online competencies (outlined in section B.1.a-c).
5. Training is strongly encouraged when there are major updates to the Learning Management System, including campus-wide moves to a new Learning Management System. Ongoing professional development outside of formal training opportunities is also encouraged.
6. Online instructors acknowledge that peers and administrators will periodically evaluate online courses as part of the RTP/lecturer evaluation process.
C) Guidelines for assigning online teaching responsibilities
1. Chairs and directors should follow principles of equity as they assign and allocate online course offerings to faculty, including allocating classes equitably across full-time, tenure-track/tenured, and part-time faculty.
2. The college guideline is that faculty members will not be assigned more than two fully online classes per department/program each semester (not including online hybrid). However, department chairs and program directors may assign more than two fully online courses based on departmental/program needs and other considerations outlined in C.3.a. Online instruction that supports matters of equity for faculty and/or students should receive consideration.
3. Online teaching assignments for departments and programs must fall within WASC accreditation guidelines. COH recommends a maximum of 30 percent of classes available as fully online across the College– NOT including courses that meet face-to-face in a hybrid format, or OH designation. While we recommend Departments and Programs work to stay within this percentage, we recognize that there will be variability across different units in the college depending on department/program, faculty, and/or student need, and/or other factors (including environmental/public health needs, as outlined in C.3.a below).
a. Departments should consider a range of factors when choosing to offer courses online, such as:
i. a course’s status (GE, upper division, graduate, etc.) and best practices for the students these classes serve;
ii. the appropriateness of content for different online modalities,
iii. enrollment targets
iv. student needs
v. faculty needs
vi. other departmental/program considerations
b. Departments and Programs are encouraged to create clear pathways for students to take a certain ratio of OL classes while also meeting WASC guidelines for face-to-face instruction.
D) Basic guidelines for offering online courses
1. Departments should develop guidelines that are pedagogically appropriate and informed by disciplinary norms for evaluations of online teaching.
2. Online courses must meet COH accessibility standards.
3. Faculty should use relevant strategies to encourage academic honesty in online testing and other written forms of evaluation.
Note: Departments may develop departmental-specific policies that are not identified above but follow the general guidance provided.