August 1, 2022

This message is distributed to All-Instructors, Academic-Student-Employees, and Dept-Chairs. (Click here to view description of distribution groups.)

To: Deans, Chairs, and Instructors
   
From: David Marshall, Executive Vice Chancellor
  Susannah Scott, Academic Senate Chair
   
Re: Instruction in 2022-23 (Online and Remote Teaching, Absences from Campus)

 

We hope that instructors are taking advantage of the respite that the summer offers to rest and refresh themselves. Although the journey to a post-pandemic society has been longer and more complicated than we had hoped, we look forward to the second year of our return to in-person teaching and the rewarding residential educational experience that characterizes a University of California education. Departments, instructors, and students should plan for normal policies and requirements regarding residence and in-person teaching in the 2022-23 academic year. Unless public health requirements conditions change, emergency measures that temporarily allowed remote teaching and other teaching adjustments will not be in effect. Appended below, you will find a summary of the Senate and administrative policies that govern in-person, online, and remote instruction. 

The policy and philosophy behind our expectations for instruction are aligned with the June 23, 2021, University of California Guidance Regarding Return to Onsite Work for Academic Appointees, in which the UC Office of the President wrote: “Administration and Senate Leadership are united that the default mode of instruction and research be in-person. This means that as an in-person institution, the University will conduct its regular business, including teaching and research, with faculty, staff, and students physically present….” This statement emphasizes that “the connectivity and common experiences afforded by campus presence are essential for building, strengthening, and maintaining a robust and inclusive university culture that supports our innovative work as a student-centered, research-focused, service-oriented university.” It continues: “in order to fulfill obligations to students, colleagues, and to the University as a whole, academic appointees must maintain a significant presence on campus, meet classes, keep office hours, hold examinations as scheduled, be accessible to students and staff, be available to interact with University colleagues, and share service responsibilities throughout every quarter or semester of active service.”  

The UCOP Guidance also reiterates UC policy (APM 700 – 760), echoed in UCSB policy (Red Binder VI-1), which states long-standing requirements regarding short-term absences from campus: during the academic year, most absences of more than seven calendar days require approval by the dean. Non-teaching quarters have normal service and residential expectations and may not be treated as if they were sabbatical leaves. Our campus recognizes that occasionally faculty have professional obligations or research opportunities that require brief absences during the academic quarter, and we trust that they will act conscientiously to make alternative arrangements if they must miss a scheduled class. For example, faculty have arranged for a guest lecture, provided an opportunity for a Teaching Assistant to give a lecture, or scheduled a make-up class or an exam, to cover for an occasional absence. 

In this context, current instructional technology might allow an occasional pre-recorded lecture or a class delivered over Zoom to substitute for an in-person lecture. However, it is not acceptable to teach online or remotely for an extended period of time during the academic quarter. Senate policy sets an upper limit for online instruction in hybrid courses of 50%, calculated on a weekly basis, from the point of view of the student. These expectations apply to all instructors—Academic Senate faculty, Unit 18 Lecturers, Teaching Assistants and Associates, and Visiting Professors – and, individually, to all course components, such as discussion sections. 

The Chancellor’s COVID-19 Working Group and Response Team continues to assess COVID-19 policies and public health data, and to review, revise, and update campus mitigation protocols, as needed, consistent with CDC, State, County, and UC guidance.  As we prepare to enter an endemic phase of COVID, we will need to exercise continued flexibility if students and instructors must be absent for brief periods of time due to illness, isolation, or quarantine. Everyone should expect continued enforcement of the UC requirement that faculty, staff, and students be fully vaccinated, which may include additional booster shots, unless they have an approved exemption. Requirements for annual flu shots also will continue. 

Thank you for your ongoing dedication and commitment to our students. 


Online and Remote Teaching Policies

Approved Hybrid (Partly Online) Courses.  Academic Senate policy currently allows instructors to offer on-line instruction if less than 50% of the class is online, with the following restrictions. 

  • The fraction of online instruction must be less than 50%, on a weekly basis, from the student’s perspective. 
  • In a lecture course with discussion sections, all components of the course count towards the 50% limit. 
  • This limit now applies to both the entire course and to each individual section. It is not acceptable to have a TA-taught discussion section that is entirely online or remote, even if this does not represent 50% of the entire course content.
  • Beginning Fall 2022, instructors must obtain written approval from their department chair to teach a course in hybrid mode, prior to the start of the quarter, following a written request justifying the pedagogical rationale for the online component. A list of all approved hybrid courses must be submitted by the chair to the dean by the second week of each quarter. 
  • Students enrolled in a course with hybrid instruction should be informed at the time of registration or, when required by unforeseen circumstances, must be notified well before the start of the quarter.


Approved Fully Online Courses. Online courses are allowed if they have been reviewed and approved by the Academic Senate. Online courses are designated in the course catalog with a “W.”  Approval is based on pedagogical design, not on the convenience of department, instructor, or students. 

Disabled Students Program-approved Accommodations. Students with documented medical situations that prevent their participation in classroom instruction may be approved for a remote learning accommodation. 

  • Disability accommodations are certified by the Disabled Students Program (DSP), and administered after consultation with instructors to determine how a “reasonable accommodation” would be offered.
  • DSP and the instructor are required to discuss how the student will be provided reasonable access without materially altering the nature of the class or unduly burdening the instructor’s workload. 
  • If the DSP office facilitates an accommodation by sending an “Access Ambassador” to the classroom to live-stream the lecture, the lecture is not recorded; nor is it made available to other students in the class. 


Dual-mode (Simultaneous In-person/Online) Instruction. Now that emergency conditions no longer apply, instructors are not allowed to provide dual-mode instruction for the entire class by teaching an in-person course with a fully remote alternative available for all students (for example, by live-streaming or classroom recording).

  • Instructors may, at their discretion, record their lectures and make them available for subsequent review by students as study aids. These recordings must supplement rather than replace in-person instruction.
  • Instructors may provide remote access to classes for individual students if they and DSP agree that this would be a practical and reasonable accommodation to a certified disability. 


Brief absences due to illness. As the pandemic shifts to an endemic stage but variants continue to be present, there may brief, temporary periods in which both students and instructors must miss class for a medical reason, including a positive COVID-19 test or required isolation or quarantine.

  • Instructors should ensure that reasonable alternatives are available to students who must miss class for brief periods for medical reasons. Instructors will decide how to provide access to course content; this may or may not include the recording of lectures or discussions. Instructors should state their policy at the beginning of the course.
  • Instructors who must miss class for brief periods for medical reasons should consult their department chair to determine whether they are able to teach remotely or record their lectures or whether substitutes are needed to cover their classes. 


Workplace Accommodations. Instructors with documented medical conditions that limit their participation in classroom instruction may be eligible for a temporary remote teaching accommodation at the conclusion of a formal Human Resources Workplace Accommodation process, in consultation with the chair and dean, to determine what would constitute a reasonable accommodation. 

  • Late requests may limit the flexibility of the campus to incorporate remote instruction into its teaching plans, and remote instruction might not be considered a reasonable accommodation if it has a negative impact on students registered for a course. 
  • If an accommodation is granted to one of the instructors in a course with multiple instructors, it applies only to the individual instructor and not to the entire course, and counts towards the 50% online allowance.