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Thursday, October 17, 2024

Gone Missing

A promised Annual Report on online education at UC seems to have gone missing:

October 1, 2024

YVETTE GULLATT, VICE PRESIDENT & VICE PROVOST

GRADUATE, UNDERGRADUATE AND EQUITY AFFAIRS

Re: Request for UC Online Annual Report

Dear Vice President Gullatt,

At its September 2024 meeting, the Academic Council endorsed the attached letter* from the University Committee on Educational Policy (UCEP) requesting an annual report from UC Online on its systemwide course offerings. This request reflects the Senate’s ongoing interest in the success of UC Online, as well as a desire for greater transparency regarding enrollment trends, student demographics, and academic outcomes. As UC Online continues to grow, it is important that the unit be equipped with the means to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of its impact on student access to courses, students’ performance, and overall program effectiveness.

UCEP has identified several key areas that should be addressed in the annual report, including:

1) The number of students who applied for, enrolled in, and completed UC Online courses over the past academic year.

2) Demographic breakdowns for these students, including transfer, firstgeneration, underrepresented, and other historically under-served groups.

3) A list of all UC Online courses offered, including course names, sponsoring campus, numbers, units, and enrollment/completion data, along with average final grades.

4) A report from the UC Online Advisory Council outlining its membership, meeting dates, and key decisions made.

The Academic Council believes such data as outlined above will provide valuable insights into UC Online that can help inform strategic planning and resource allocations. These data will also enable the Senate to better understand the program’s role in advancing the University’s educational mission and addressing student equity gaps.

We would appreciate a response confirming whether this request for an annual report will be accommodated, and if so, a timeline for when we can expect the report. If there are any concerns or reasons that the request cannot be met, we kindly ask that you communicate this to the Senate so we can determine next steps.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Steven W. Cheung, Chair, Academic Council

Cc: Academic Council, UCEP, Executive Director Moe, Senate Division Executive Directors, Senate Executive Director Lin

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*The letter above and the attached letter to which reference is made are at https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/ac-yg-request-uconline-annual-report-10-1-24.pdf. Excerpt from the attached letter:

...UC Online’s new executive director, appointed in May 2023, met with UCEP for the first time in December 2023. The executive director reviewed the seven recommendations delineated in the July memo and stated that the program is committed to ensuring data is appropriately collected, secured, and analyzed. The committee was informed that UC Online would begin producing an annual report and the executive director anticipated that the first report would be available to share with UCEP later this academic year (expected by Spring 2024). When the executive director joined UCEP on May 20th, 2024 the committee was informed that the annual report would not be available until the fall...

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