Contra Costa College
Distance Education Addendum
This form, an addendum or supplement to the Course Outline of Record, is used by the CCC
Distance Education (DE) Coordinator and Curriculum & Instruction Committee (CIC) to
document the approval of course sections offered fully online and/or partially online. It can be
used for both course modifications and new courses. All fields must be completed for a proposal
to be reviewed and approved by the DE Coordinator.
Relevant Title 5 Sections
§ 55202. Course Quality Standards
“The same standards of course quality shall be applied to any portion of a course conducted
through distance education as are applied to traditional classroom courses, in regard to the course
quality judgment made pursuant to the requirements of section 55002, and in regard to any local
course quality determination or review process. Determinations and judgments about the quality
of distance education under the course quality standards shall be made with the full involvement
of faculty in accordance with the provisions of subchapter 2 (commencing with section 53200) of
chapter 2” (Title 5, section 55202).
§ 55206. Separate Course Approval
“If any portion of the instruction in a new or existing course is to be provided through distance
education, an addendum to the official course outline of record shall be required. In addition to
addressing how course outcomes will be achieved in a distance education mode, the addendum
shall at a minimum specify how the portion of instruction delivered via distance education meets:
“(a) Regular and effective contact between instructors and students and among students as
referenced in title 5, section 55204(a), and
“(b) Requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. § 12100 et seq.) and
section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, (29 U.S.C. § 749d)
The addendum shall be separately approved according to the district's adopted curriculum
approval procedures” (Title 5, section 55206).
§ 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 students, and among students, either synchronously or
asynchronously, through group or individual meetings, orientation and review sessions,
supplemental seminar or study sessions, field trips, library workshops, telephone contact, voice
mail, e-mail, or other activities. Regular effective contact is an academic and professional matter
pursuant to sections 53200 et seq.
“(b) Any portion of a course provided through distance education is conducted consistent with
guidelines issued by the Chancellor pursuant to section 409 of the Procedures and Standing
Orders of the Board of Governors” (Title V, section 55204).
I have read and understand the Title 5 regulations above:
Yes
No
Course Information
Date:
Department:
Course number & title:
Total units of course:
Lecture hours/Lab hours:
First semester to be offered via DE:
Format (Fully Online/Hybrid/Both):
Recommended Preparation to Submit this Proposal
It is recommended that faculty preparing to teach this course through a distance education
delivery mode should have knowledge and training in the following areas (see the DE Faculty
Handbook and DE website for more information):
CCC policies and procedures for distance education
College-adopted Learning Management System (LMS) (Canvas)
Accreditation requirements for online courses:
regular effective contact requirements and options for providing substantive
interaction to and among online students;
section 504 of federal Rehabilitation Act regarding student access to
accommodations and Section 508 of Rehabilitation Act regarding accessibility of
course material, instruction, and student services for students with disabilities.
Academic integrity, student authentication, student privacy, and online attendance
accounting
Standards for quality course design and delivery
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Regular & Effective Contact
The Title 5 term “regular effective contact” means that the instructor regularly initiates
interaction with enrolled students and provides regular opportunities for interaction among
students. The frequency of instructor-initiated contact should be equivalent to contact in a
face-to-face delivery of the course, following the Carnegie Unit. For example, in a three-unit
course, an instructor should initiate a minimum of three hours of contact with students per week,
using a variety of the methods below.
Faculty-to-Student Contact
I agree that if an instructor designs a section of this course for distance education delivery, they
will meet all of the regular and effective contact requirements below:
Establishing Contact
Email a welcome letter 1 week prior to the course start date to guide students how to
begin the course successfully. Make sure to archive your welcome email in your
orientation module and/or announcements for late add students
Include a plan or policy for regular and effective contact (ex: Communication Plan) in
your syllabus and orientation module (See the CVC-OEI Example Communication Plan
in the DE Faculty Handbook)
Send an announcement on the first day of class to remind students that the course has
started and what to do first
List all contact information methods in multiple places (homepage, orientation module,
syllabus, communication plan, etc.) along with your response times (24-48 hours)
If possible, provide a captioned video to welcome students (recommended)
Maintaining Contact
Send out 1-3 weekly announcements
Respond to students who ask questions in the questions forum within your stated
response times
Communicate with individual students (ex: email, Canvas Inbox, Canvas Chat) within
your stated response times
Hold online office hours during your stated times (ex: Video conference using Zoom,
Canvas Chat)
Participate in required discussions or other student-to-student interaction activities
Provide timely and frequent, meaningful and individualized, qualitative and quantitative
feedback on student work within your stated response times
Contact students who need help, are falling behind, etc.
Inform students and your manager when you cannot have regular effective contact for
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any reason, and inform them again when it does resume
Student-to-Student Interaction
Provide an icebreaker or introduction activity in week 1
Provide ongoing questions forum with student replies
Provide a cyber cafe/student lounge/water cooler/study groups activity
Allow comments on announcements
In the space provided below, explain how you will maintain student-to-student interaction by
using at least 2 of the following larger-scale interactions:
weekly discussions with required student-to-student interaction
group discussions with required student-to-student interaction
group assignments with required student-to-student interaction
group presentations
group projects
peer reviews
activities with required student-to-student interaction (Padlet, Flipgrid, etc.)
collaborative annotation assignments with required student-to-student interaction
student video assignments with required student-to-student interaction
Zoom for synchronous student-to-student interaction activities
For questions about these requirements, contact the DE Coordinator.
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Accessibility
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
require that all public institutions’ electronic and information technology be accessible to persons
with disabilities. At CCC, this means that all courses - whether face-to-face, hybrid, or fully
online - must have accessible online content.
I agree that if an instructor designs a section of this course for distance education delivery, they
will meet the accessibility requirements below:
Any images will have alternative text or alternative descriptions to provide access for
students with visual impairments.
Instructional videos will have accurate closed captioning.
Audio recordings will include transcripts.
Pages will use levelled headings (such as Header 2 for section headings) accessible to a
screen reader.
Hyperlinks will be presented using meaningful link text rather than URLs.
Content will provide adequate color contrast (such as black on white background), font size
(such as 12-14), and font style (such as Arial or Tahoma) to ensure readability.
Any required files (ex: PDF, Word, PowerPoint) should be accessible.
For questions about these requirements, contact the DE Coordinator or Accessibility Specialist.
Publisher Content
According to Title 5 regulations, all distance education courses at CCC must be delivered
through the college-adopted LMS (Canvas). If your course requires students to engage with a
publisher application within Canvas or a publisher website outside of Canvas, it should be
accessible, require student authentication, and protect student privacy.
I agree that if an instructor designs a section of this course for distance education delivery using
a publisher application/website, they will meet the requirements below:
The publisher application and/or website meets section 508 requirements for accessibility.
The publisher application and/or website requires students to validate their identity.
the publisher application and/or website safeguards student privacy, including student grades.
I agree that if an instructor requires students to purchase publisher content for this course, the
materials must comply with the following Title 5 regulations:
Students cannot be required to pay for access to electronic materials “designed primarily
for administrative purposes, class management, course management or supervision”
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(Title 5, section 59400(b)).
“Where instructional materials are available to a student temporarily through a license or
access fee, the student shall be provided options at the time of purchase to maintain full
access to the instructional materials for varying periods of time ranging from the length
of the class up to at least two years. The terms of the license or access fee shall be
provided to the student in a clear and understandable manner prior to purchase” (Title 5,
section 59400(c)).
For questions about these requirements, contact the DE Coordinator.
Signature
Date
Faculty originator:
DE Coordinator:
Department Chair:
DIC Chair:
Division Dean:
CIC Chair (after CIC approval):
VP of Instruction or designee:
Approved by the CCC Distance Education Committee: 5/8/2020
Approved by the Academic Senate Council: 5/18/2020
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