Distance Education

Our mission is to support accessible, equitable, innovative, and student-centered instruction in a variety of modalities.  Fullerton College offers online courses in three modes – asynchronous online, synchronous online, and hybrid. For the purpose of this handbook, the modes that use online technology are defined below. 

• Asynchronous Online: This class is fully online and does not require in-person meetings. 
• Synchronous Online: This class is scheduled similar to an in-person class with set meeting time in Zoom, Big Blue Button, or other types of video conferencing during the scheduled class time. 
• Hybrid: This class is partially online with some required in-person class meetings on campus on specific days and times. In-person dates are listed in the schedule, or this class is online with some instruction via videoconferencing, dates are listed in the schedule. 

Since Fall 2020, courses have provided justification for Distance Education (DE) through a DE Addendum (DEA), attached to the course proposal. Please make sure that the application for DE (online/hybrid or one or the other) is mentioned on the Justification for Proposal. You need to check the appropriate boxes: online, hybrid, Emergency DEA, DEA.

Please note: as of Spring 2021, we are using the DEA as demonstration of online readiness. Faculty originators do not have to complete the “Contact Types” screen, with ONE exception: Use Other, and write something like “Please see DEA attached.” (CurricUNET won’t let us leave the screen without adding something to “Contact Types.”) Courses approved for “Emergency DEA” delivery should also complete a “permanent” DEA if online or hybrid delivery is to continue once emergency conditions no longer apply. If a course was already approved for Distance Education (online and/or hybrid) before 2020, a revision proposal should have a completed DEA attached, since updates to federal guidelines require more information than was required on CurricUNET before 2020.

In order to be approved for Distance Education (online and/or hybrid), a CurricUNET course proposal need not be created. However, a DEA must be completed, and brought to the Curriculum Committee for “fast-track approval.” Once approved, it goes to DCCC and the Board of Trustees (BOT). After BOT approval, the course can be scheduled for online or hybrid. Fullerton College Curriculum Committee Handbook, Revised Fall 2022 

Faculty who teach in a distance education modality at Fullerton College must be certified to teach online. This includes teaching asynchronous or synchronous, hybrid, and Zoom courses. Four options exist for faculty to receive online teaching certification, all of which have been approved by the Distance Education Advisory Committee.

Option 1 – Equivalency

You may submit materials that demonstrate completion of an Online Teaching Certificate from another college or educational organization. To begin the equivalency process, download, complete, and submit the Online Teaching Equivalency Application. Directions for submission are on the form.

Option 2 – FC Online Teaching Certificate

The Fullerton College Online Teaching Certificate builds faculty capacity to teach their courses in Canvas according to the principles of online pedagogy. The training includes recommendations for regular and substantive interaction and accessibility. This six-week, fully asynchronous online training is offered twice a year. For more information, email the Distance Education office at online@fullcoll.edu. The Fullerton College online teaching certification consists of the following modules:

• The Pregame and Kick-Off – specific skills that help participants set up a Canvas shell
• Accessibility 101 – the importance of accessibility; how to design accessible Canvas content, Word documents, PowerPoint slides, Google Docs, etc.; video captioning options
• The Canvas Challenge – how to make your course student-friendly, utilize various Canvas tools, and create an accessible syllabus
• Training Camp 1 – the Online Education Initiative (OEI) rubric, regular and substantive interaction, and instructor-to-student interaction
• Training Camp 2 – content presentation, objective alignment, and instructional video creation
• Training Camp 3 – student-to-student interaction, advanced Canvas functions, and the use of accessibility tools in Canvas
• Canvas Post Challenge – assessment, campus support for online learners, home pages, announcements, Office 365, designing for equity, and more!

Option 3 – @ONE Courses

Enroll in the facilitated versions of the two approved courses: 10-10-10 Communication That Matters and Creating Accessible Course Content. The self-paced versions of these courses do not count toward certification. These courses are currently free for CCC faculty. Certificates of completion must be submitted to the Distance Education Office. Browse the @ONE Course Catalog for current course offerings.

Option 4 – ACTE (CTE Faculty Only)

Offerings certified by the Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE) were researched to select courses that cover all requirements for the Fullerton College Online Teaching Certificate Equivalency. Required courses: EL 103R – Teaching Online: A Student-Centered Approach; EL 111 – Assistive Technologies for the Online Learner; EL 113 – Active Learning in an Online Environment; EL 201R – Online Communication: Engaging & Retaining Online Learners. Certificates of completion must be submitted to the Distance Education Office.

After obtaining initial online teaching certification, faculty must do both items listed below every three years to remain certified.

One: 3 Hours of Professional Development Related to Online Teaching

Faculty members are responsible for tracking their individual professional development, so ensure you have a system in place for doing this. Faculty will be notified when it is time to recertify and will be added to the OTC Recertification Canvas shell to complete recertification.

Professional development options may include:

• Fullerton College-sponsored professional development
• @ONE course(s)
• Third-party professional development that may be approved on a case-by-case basis by the DE Director and/or DEDR

Two: Online Course Survey (OCS)

In November of 2018, the Fullerton College Faculty Senate approved the Online Course Survey to create a structured process to monitor course quality and to confirm that the level of faculty-to-student and student-to-student interaction in online courses meets state and federal requirements. This Online Course Survey is designed as a tool to assist faculty in achieving quality online pedagogy in their courses. There are two brief surveys (Interaction and Accessibility), each with a set of questions/elements that faculty use to survey their online courses.

The OCS Process

• Instructors will complete the course survey once they are assigned an online course.
• The Distance Education Division Representative (DEDR) will review completed surveys.
• For instructors whose courses are in alignment, the DEDR will recommend to the Distance Education Director (DED) that the instructor’s certification for online teaching be renewed for three years.
• If a course is not in alignment, the DEDR and the instructor will work together to make needed changes. If alignment is achieved, the DEDR will recommend to the DED that the instructor’s certification for online teaching be renewed for three years.
• If the DEDR and instructor are unable to bring a course into alignment, the instructor will have one year to make changes and do the survey again the following Spring.
• The DEDR will review the course again in the Spring and make recommendations to the DED.
• If the course is still not in alignment, the DEDR will recommend to the DED that the instructor’s certification for online teaching be suspended.

FC Course Design Resources

• Canvas Course Design Tools
• DesignPlus Templates and Content Blocks

Regular and substantive interaction is a California requirement for distance learning. Instructors must initiate meaningful contact with students on a regular and timely basis to ensure instructional quality and verify participation and performance standards. At Fullerton College, we also emphasize student-to-student interaction to foster engagement and community.

Below are the criteria for Section B. The eight elements in this section address instructor-initiated and student-initiated communication.

Section B: Interaction

Section	Aligned	Exemplary
B1: Pre-Course Contact	Instructors initiate contact before or at the start of the course	The instructor provides multiple resources to help students successfully start the course
B2: Instructor-Initiated Contact	The instructor provides a communication plan	The instructor’s communication plan includes a wide array of communication tools
B3: Technology Support	The instructor explains their role in technology support	Links are provided to technology support where they may be needed within the course
B4: Instructor Contact Info	Contact information for the instructor is easy to find	Students can choose from a variety of tools to contact the instructor
B5: Student-Initiated Contact	Opportunities for student-initiated contact are available	Student-initiated interaction contributes to the learning in the course
B6: Student-to-Student Interaction	Student-to-student interaction that contributes to the course is required	Student-to-student collaboration is designed to build authentic skills
B7: Learning Community	The course includes communication activities that are designed to build community	The communication activities are designed and facilitated to support diverse cultures and communication styles
B8: Participation Levels	Guidelines explaining required levels of student participation are provided	A rubric or equivalent grading criteria explaining participation levels is included

FC Interaction Resources

• Pronto
• Qwickly Course Tools
• Starfish

Online assessments should measure progress towards learning outcomes, and provide feedback to students and instructor. Instructors should use assessments as an ongoing means of measuring and assessing student learning. Within our online courses, the interplay of informal assessments, such as discussions, quizzes, and activities, creates an opportunity to provide feedback to our students and support growth and learning.

Below are the criteria for Section C and some ways you can think about potentially revising and refreshing the assessments in your course:

Section C: Assessment

Section	Aligned	Exemplary
C1: Authenticity	Assessments allow for the demonstration of  learning outcomes	Assessments are designed to mimic or transfer to authentic environments
C2: Validity	Assessments are aligned with objectives	Learners are directed to the appropriate objective for each assessment
C3: Variety	Both formative and summative assessments are used	Multiple types of formative and summative assessment are used
C4: Frequency	Assessments are administered throughout the course	Assessments are both frequent and provide timely feedback
C5: Rubrics	Rubrics or descriptive criteria are included	Rubrics or descriptive criteria include models of good work
C6: Instructions	Assessment instructions are clear	Assessment instructions are clear and include exemplary detail
C7: Feedback	The course includes a plan for providing meaningful, timely feedback	Instructions are given to students on how to access feedback, and guidance is provided for applying that feedback
C8: Self-Assessment	Opportunities for self-assessment with feedback are present	Multiple opportunities for self-assessment with feedback are present

FC Assessment Resources

• Respondus/LockDown Browser
• Turnitin

All course materials meet legal and institutional accessibility standards (including, but not limited to, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA). Faculty must design Canvas content, Word documents, PowerPoints, lecture videos, and all other instructional content so they are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for all students.

Below are the criteria for Section D of the rubric. Use the FC Distance Education Accessibility Guide to assist you.

Section D: Accessibility

Section	Aligned	Incomplete
D1: Headings	Heading styles are consistently used	Heading styles are not consistently used or are not used
D2: Lists	Lists are created with the list (bullet or numbered) tool in Canvas	Numbers, letters, or symbols have been manually inserted to create lists
D3: Links	Links are unique and descriptive	Links are a URL or are not unique or descriptive
D4: Tables	When appropriate, cells have been designated as row or column headers	Tables do not use designated header cells.
D5: Color Contrast	There is sufficient contrast between the background and foreground colors	There is an insufficient color between the background and foreground colors
D6: Color and Meaning	Visual elements are not used as the sole method of conveying importance or information	Visual elements have been used as the sole way to convey meaning
D7: Images	Every image in the course has alternative descriptive text, including any text within the image, and does not contain phrases such as “image of” or file extensions such as .jpg	Alternative text is missing, improperly formatted, or not descriptive
D8: Reading	Reading order is correctly set so that content is presented in the proper sequence when using screen readers and other assistive technologies.	The reading order is not correctly set, and pages will not be read properly with screen readers
D9: Slides	Slides are created using built-in accessible slide layouts, each with a unique title. All text is visible in Outline View to ensure it can be read by assistive technology.	Slides do not use layouts, and all text is not visible in Outline View
D10: Spreadsheets	Spreadsheets include labels for the rows and columns and detailed labels for charts and are accompanied by textual descriptions that draw attention to key cells, trends, and totals	Spreadsheets do not use labels or textual descriptions
D11: Accessibility Checkers	Files and content pages pass any built-in accessibility check available in the software	Files and content pages do not pass any built-in accessibility check available in the software
D12: Video	All videos have accurate captions. Videos with no audio or instructionally relevant soundtrack are noted as not including audio.	Videos are not captioned. Videos without are not marked as no sound.
D13: Audio	Complete and accurate transcripts accompany audio files.	Audio files do not contain complete and accurate transcripts.
D14: Flashing Content	Blinking or flashing content, including gifs, should only be used if instructionally needed and not merely for decoration or emphasis. Flashing content must flash at most three times in any second or exceed the general and red flash thresholds.	Unnecessary blinking or flashing content is included. Blinking or flashing content does not meet the time and red flash requirements.
D15: Live Captions	Live broadcasts and synchronous video conferences include a means for displaying synchronized captions if requested.	Live content does not include a means for displaying captions.
D16: Auto-Play	Audio and video content are not set to auto-play. Any audio on a web page using auto-play for over three seconds includes a mechanism to pause, stop, and control the volume.	Auto-play is used on pages, or auto-play without controls on linked websites.

Course Shells: Official course shells are created for you and are tied directly to the district’s registration system. Course shells for future semesters are generally available once the searchable class schedule for that semester is live.

Practice/Sandbox Shells: At Fullerton College, faculty can create practice shells in Canvas. Use the Start a New Course button on your Canvas Dashboard to create a practice shell.

Canvas Instructor Guide to Starting a New Course

Canvas courses are organized by term. Each term is set to begin a week before the semester starts and ends a week after grades are due. These dates can be changed by the instructor in the course Settings menu. However, be aware that if you change the start date, you must also enter an end date. If the end date field is left blank, your course will be available and on your students’ Dashboards indefinitely.

Canvas Instructor Guide to Start/End Dates

Import previous semester’s courses into new Canvas course shells using the Course Import Tool:

1. In your new Canvas shell, use the Import Existing Content button on the home page
2. Select Copy a Canvas Course in the Select Content Type dropdown
3. Search for your old Canvas course in the Search for a course field
4. To copy the entire course, select the All content radio button
5. Select the Adjust events and due dates checkbox and select one of the options (Shift dates or Remove dates). If you do not select one of these options and the due dates are past dates from your old course, you may run into issues in your gradebook.
6. Use the gold Add to Import Queue button once you are ready to import your content

Canvas Instructor Guide to the Course Import Tool

Course navigation is the menu on the left side of your screen. You and your students use the course navigation menu to move between the various tools inside the course. By default, the course navigation displays many links, which can cause student confusion as they attempt to navigate the course.

Adjust your course navigation, so students only have access to the areas of the course they will use during the semester:

1. Select Settings in the course navigation menu
2. Select the Navigation tab
3. Drag and drop items, or use the kebab menu to the right of each item to enable/disable links
4. Scroll back down and use the Save button to save your changes

Canvas Instructor Guide to Managing Course Navigation

All Fullerton College Canvas courses should be organized using Modules.

Modules are used to control the flow of your course content by breaking the course up into weeks, units, or any other organizational pattern that works for your course. With modules, you are creating a linear flow of what you would like your students to do. Once you create modules, you can add content (Pages, Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, etc.) and module requirements to ensure students move through the content in the way you intended.

Canvas Instructor Guides:

• Modules Index Page
• Add a Module
• Add Content to a Module
• Add Prerequisites to a Module
• Add Requirements to a Module
• Publish a Module

There are many ways to foster interaction and stay connected with your students in Canvas.

• Announcements: allow you to communicate with your students about course activities, post course-related topics, and inform students about campus events
• Discussion Boards: excellent for building community, instructor-to-student interaction, and student-to-student interaction
• Inbox: an email system specifically for Canvas
• Pronto: an easy-to-use communication/messaging platform that Fullerton College has integrated into Canvas

The Canvas Gradebook is powerful tool with many capabilities and settings for instructors to use. Some of the most popular tips and tools are listed below. There are also links to the Canvas Instructor Guides throughout, so you can explore settings further and become more familiar with using the Canvas Guides whenever you have a “How do I do this in Canvas?” type of question.

Gradebook Settings

• Setting Late and Missing Submission Policies
• Weighting Assignments

Grade Posting Policy Options: The default setting is automatic posting, so all grades are posted and visible to students as they are entered. You can change to manual posting policies for the course or for individual assignments.

• Change to a manual grade posting policy for the course
• Set manual grade posting for individual assignments

Gradebook Tips

• Add a Notes column to keep track of important student information that you may need to remember throughout the semester (DSS testing accommodations, preferred names, etc.)
• Set a default grade for an assignment as needed
• Use the Message Students Who feature to contact students about individual assignments

Fixing Zeroes in the Gradebook

You may encounter an issue in your Canvas Gradebook with courses imported from a previous semester. The issue occurs when you have published Assignments, Discussions, or Quizzes with due dates/available until dates that have already passed, and the gradebook set to automatically apply a grade for missing submissions. The FC Distance Education team created a guide to show you how to prevent this issue from happening and how to fix it if it has already occurred in one of your courses.

Submitting Grades in Canvas

Faculty can submit grades in Canvas using the Submit Grades link in the course navigation menu.

The step-by-step instructions for this tool are located under FC Resources in the blue global navigation menu in Canvas.

The Distance Education team has developed a Pre-Semester Course Checklist to assist faculty in preparing their courses for the new semester. In each section of the checklist, the relevant Canvas Guides are linked with step-by-step instructions and videos for each task.

If you need additional support, please email the Distance Education team at online@fullcoll.edu.