Online Education Initiative at MiraCosta

MiraCosta is one of 24 pilot colleges in the California Community College system's Online Education Initiative (OEI). In addition to the OEI website, the following resources can help you learn more about OEI:

MOE worked with the Academic Senate and Faculty Assembly to host a forum on October 31, 2014. Discussants included Ric Matthews, a member of the OEI launch team, and Bonnie Peters, the OEI Chief Student Services Officer and the lead for MiraCosta's pilot group of 8 colleges.

Based on information shared at that forum, MOE developed an FAQ document to keep MiraCosta informed about the OEI. This document will continue to be updated as new developments occur. View the document below or in a separate window. If you wish to follow any of the links in the frame below, it's recommended that you right-click and select "Open Link in New Tab" or "Open Link in New Window".

CCC Online Education Initiative (OEI) and MiraCosta College: FAQs

last update September 2016

FAQ Quick Links

What should I know about the fundamentals of the Online Education Initiative (OEI)?

The OEI’s initial focus is on helping students to access and succeed in online classes that are C-ID approved and are part of an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) in order to increase completions. OEI conducted analysis in summer 2014 to determine 19 courses that were a good fit for this effort.

A student remains primarily associated with a home college which will get credit for completion when the student finishes their educational goals; teaching colleges offering classes through the OEI Course Exchange will receive FTES for the classes they offer. Student support comes from the teaching college and, over time, increasingly from the OEI itself (eg online tutoring, 24x7 tech support, online counseling and advising, etc.). It is intended that support technologies and services procured and developed through the OEI eventually will be available for free or at a reduced cost to all CCCs, including a Common Course Management System (CCMS).

How did OEI get started?

In early 2013, CA state officials became especially interested in online education for community college student access/completion. Though the hype of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) may have fueled this, the CCCCO was able to channel the interest toward the development of a $57 million/5 year project intended to improve student access and success by enabling more access to high-quality online classes available from colleges around the CCC system. In Nov. 2013, the project was awarded to Foothill-DeAnza in partnership with Butte-Glenn, to develop the OEI in tandem with the Common Assessment Initiative and Education Planning Initiative.

How is OEI organized? Who is in charge?

Joe Moreau of Foothill-DeAnza is the Executive Sponsor. A launch team of retired administrators (including Ric Matthews) was hired to get the project started. In early summer 2014, Pat James was hired as the permanent executive director; several more permanent hires were announced in August 2014. The project governance includes a Steering Committee with a number of members appointed by the statewide Academic Senate. The project also includes numerous working groups with participants from across the CCC system, and partnerships with external entities for technology development and research/evaluation support.

What are the OEI’s stated goals?

  • Increase graduates and transfers
  • Improve retention and success of students enrolled in OEI courses
  • Increase access for underserved and underrepresented including individuals with disabilities and those with basic skills needs
  • Increase ease of use and convenience of the online experience
  • Decrease cost of student education
  • Significantly increase demand for online courses

What is the timeline for the OEI?

Fall 2013-Spring 2014: RFP awarded; launch team in place; steering committee created; workgroups established

Summer 2014: Permanent leadership hired; 24 pilot colleges selected into 3 groups: Readiness, Tutoring, and Full Launch; 19 pilot courses identified; course design rubric created.

Fall 2014: 30 course reviewers selected and trained; initial OEI classes selected for review from submissions by interested pilot college faculty (up to 3 per college); Memorandum of Understanding drafted for pilot colleges and OEI to sign off; RFPs issued for CCMS and online tutoring; online tutoring vendor selected.

Spring 2015: OEI pilot classes offered by Readiness and Tutoring pilot groups. CCMS selection announced as Canvas. Link-Systems (NetTutor) selected as the OEI online tutoring service/resource. Readiness resource “Quest for Success” incorporated in Readiness pilot classes’ course management systems.

Summer 2015: Continued Readiness and Tutoring group pilot classes. Quest for Success was not available as it was being redeveloped in Canvas to be in full compliance with WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines. Colleges may buy-in for use of online tutoring resources beyond OEI classes.

Fall 2015: Initial Full Launch pilot classes running in the Canvas CCMS. Continued and additional Readiness and Tutoring group pilot classes. Readiness resources available for use outside of OEI pilot classes and colleges. Quest for Success offered via Canvas for OEI pilot classes. Launch of “OEI Consortium” to involve pilot colleges in planning and implementing the Course Exchange.

Spring 2016: All OEI pilot classes running in the CCMS. Online proctoring/authentication tool Proctorio made available to pilot colleges. NetTutor made available for all online classes at OEI pilot institutions.

Spring 2017: Full Launch OEI pilot colleges begin offering classes through the Course Exchange.

Fall 2017: The other 16 OEI pilot colleges (including MiraCosta) begin offering classes through the Course Exchange (as long as they have been run as pilots in the CCMS for at least one semester).

2018: Interested non-pilot colleges begin participation in the Course Exchange.

What else is OEI working on?

Development of additional resources (e.g. online counseling and advising, central portal, statewide proctoring network, online faculty development resources, and more). Integration of OEI, Common Assessment Initiative, and Education Planning Initiative. Availability of OEI resources to colleges for local usage. Gradual additional involvement of more programs, courses, class sections, and colleges. Admissions & Records-related issues for the Course Exchange: admission, matriculation, registration, priority, prerequisites, articulation, transcripting, financial aid, etc. Interconnecting the CCMS and other centralized systems with local student information systems.

What are the details of MiraCosta’s involvement with the OEI?

The initial call for pilot college interest went out in May 2014. With support from the VPI and the outgoing and incoming AS presidents, MiraCosta applied to participate. With much stronger than expected interest, the OEI issued a more detailed pilot application in July 2014, and out of nearly 60 applicant colleges, MiraCosta was one of 24 selected. The pilot colleges were initially divided into 3 groups of 8 with different foci: student readiness (ours), online tutoring, and “full launch” (first to use the common course management system and course exchange). Our pilot group is overseen by Bonnie Peters, Chief Student Services Officer for the OEI.

In September 2014, the OEI identified 19 courses of interest for initial offering via OEI; of those, as of fall 2016, MiraCosta offers 12 which are eligible for the OEI (taught online and C-ID approved): ADM 100, CHLD 113, COMM 215, ECON 101, ENGL 100, HIST 110, HIST 111, MATH 103, PHIL 101, PLSC 102, PSYC 101, and SOC 101. These departments and faculty are invited to apply to offer these classes via the OEI pilot. In fall 2014, two MiraCosta faculty completed applications and began teaching classes as OEI pilots in Spring 2015. These classes were reviewed by peer CCC faculty according to the OEI course rubric. Three additional MiraCosta faculty are teaching OEI pilot classes starting in fall 2016.

The OEI Memorandum of Understanding was developed to describe the expectations of participating colleges, and to address concerns and questions of some faculty members about the implications of OEI involvement, including clarity that intellectual property associated with any OEI classes remains entirely with the faculty member, regardless of use of OEI technologies and/or instructional design support. The Academic Senate and Faculty Assembly reviewed and approved the MOU in April and May 2015, and key MiraCosta representatives then signed the document.

How do MiraCosta faculty teach a class as an OEI pilot class?

The following MiraCosta courses are eligible for teaching as an OEI pilot class: ADM 100, CHLD 113, COMM 215, ENGL 100, ECON 101, HIST 110, HIST 111, MATH 103, PHIL 101, PLSC 102, PSYC 101, and SOC 101. For details, see the OEI Training & Support FAQs for Faculty, especially the Course Review Schedule. If you have questions about the application or review processes, please contact Autumn Bell, who is coordinating this for the OEI. Also notify Jim Julius of any interest, since he is MiraCosta’s Single Point of Contact (SPOC) with the OEI.

Besides the faculty directly involved, why should other faculty pay attention to this?

Faculty may find the course design review tools helpful for their own use. Faculty will certainly want to keep an eye on 10+1 and working conditions issues as this initiative develops. And resources developed/provided by the OEI may eventually be adopted locally for broad use, such as:

  • technical systems such as the course management system and student portal;
  • online student services such as tutoring, proctoring, counseling, readiness for online learning, and tech support;
  • faculty development resources, tech support, and instructional design support.

This FAQ developed and maintained by the MiraCosta Online Educators committee of the MiraCosta Academic Senate. Please send comments and unanswered questions to MOE chair Jim Julius (760.795.6745).