Apparently, a meeting on the legislative proposal to create
some kind of commission for approving online courses at UC, CSU, and the community
colleges took place Tuesday. Exactly
what transpired at that meeting, however, is unclear. The only
comment so far has come from the legislative side. Excerpt from the Contra Costa Times:
...(State Senate President Darrell) Steinberg, D-Sacramento,
said the first-of-its-kind legislation is aimed at
relieving classroom bottlenecks that are making it more difficult to graduate. Faculty
leaders counter that course access is not an acute issue within the UC system,
which has some of the highest graduation rates among public universities. In
addition, UC already has more than 100 online courses and is developing many
more, they said. The UC Academic Senate is responsible for overseeing
curriculum and course development and has no plans to give that up, said (Academic
Senate Chair Robert) Powell, a chemical engineering professor at UC Davis. "These
students are expecting a certain level of rigor when they come to UC, and
that's what we want to make sure they get," he said.
Steinberg's press secretary, Rhys
Williams, said the legislation is written to give faculty control over the
course-approval process and ensure high academic standards. During a Tuesday meeting with Powell,
Steinberg emphasized that "faculty must be central to any policy
discussion on post-secondary education and that the primary goal is to help
students and their families," Williams said.
Full story
at http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_22832202/uc-faculty-leaders-blast-bill-internet-courses
The Academic
Senate letter is at: http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/RP_BJ2AllSenate_SB520_031513.pdf
Actually, we did pick up a bit of audio from the meeting:
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