District Distance Education Committee

Minutes, April 12, 2007 Meeting

Present: Pamela Atkinson, Wendy Bass, Gary Colombo, Linda Delzeit, Kanthi Edirisinghe, Victor Flores, Eric Ichon, Mark Lampert, Paul McKenna, Bob Ponek, Bob Richards.

1. Minutes from the last meeting were previously distributed electronically by Eric Ichon.

2. Automation of instructors into Etudes-NG. Bob Richards provided an overview of the procedures that are being developed with the District IT Department to automate the uploading of instructors. A procedures manual is under development and will be distributed prior to implementation. Kanthi demonstrated use of the LACCD Portal for focus reports. Some members of the committee may need to obtain access to the portal, it was recommended they contact their campus IT Department for access approvals. As the process is close to completion Bob Richards agreed to contact Vivie Sinou to request a one week delay in uploading the faculty for the summer term.

3. Accreditation, Substantive Change. Linda Delzeit summarized the results of a pre-accreditation visit at Trade-Tech. Colleges that offer more than 50% of their classes for a program, certificate of degree online or at a remote location must notify the Accreditation Commission. A lengthy discussion ensued. Associate Vice Chancellor Colombo reiterated Linda’s comments, colleges that offer more than 50% of a certificate on degree at a distance must inform the Commission. He advised any college that is near the 50% limit to discuss the issue with their Academic Vice President and the Commission. Copies of the Distance Learning Manual from the Accreditation were distributed. The Distance Education Annual Reports are due in the State Chancellor’s Office on April 16th.

4. Linda discussed an issue with an unauthorized person getting into Moodle classes at Trade-Tech. This was possible due to students self-enrolling in Moodle. Linda is working with the District IT so students will automatically be uploaded into Moodle as they are with Etudes. The District intends to renew the Moodle contract for all colleges for the next year. Both Pierce and Trade-Tech are getting their own Moodle servers due to the size of their respective programs.

5. Linda and Kanthi demonstrated a new eLearning System: kzonetworks. The system allows faculty expanded options for distance education including closed captioning, the ability to switch between stills, video and DVDs. A link and password information was distributed by Linda for those who wish to explore the site further.

6. Eric Ichon informed the committee of a Tech-Ed Fair that West LA was conducting the following week. All were invited to attend; Eric would distribute the schedule via email.

7. Paul McKenna spoke briefly about a workshop he attended at Tech-Ed in Ontario about providing Library Database Orientations online.

Next meeting: Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 10:00 AM City College in the Staff Development Center, Franklin Hall.