BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 46
AUTHOR: Pan
AMENDED: June 5, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
NOTE : This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Rules. A "do pass" motion should include
referral to the Committee on Rules.
SUBJECT : California State University online education.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California State University (CSU)
Trustees to make specified information on matriculated CSU
students enrolled in online courses available to the
Academic Senate of the California State University, as
specified.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires the CSU Trustees, by January 1, 2015,
to establish a series of uniform definitions for online
education for purposes of measuring the effectiveness of
online education. Current law also requires the Trustees to
report key performance data on online courses, as
specified, to the Legislature by January 1, 2017, and every
two years thereafter.
(Education Code � 89225-89226)
Current law also provides for cross-enrollment in online
education at the CSU and outlines the requirements to be
met by a student in order to be qualified to participate.
Each CSU campus is also required to inform students who may
enroll in an online course of the technical requirements
for successful participation, any prerequisite courses or
other academic preparation deemed necessary, and any
materials, skills, knowledge, or other elements necessary
to ensure a student's opportunity to succeed in the online
course. (Education Code � 66760-66764)
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ANALYSIS
This bill for purposes of providing a high quality
educational program and correlating student success, or the
lack thereof with resource use, demographic data,
preparation, and mode of instruction, especially in regards
to online education:
1) Requires the CSU Trustees make specified information
available to the CSU Academic Senate, upon its
request, and further:
a) Requires that the information be
made available both on paper and in electronic
form.
b) Requires that the Trustees comply
with all relevant state and federal law
safeguarding the privacy of the involved
students.
2) Requires that the information provided relate to all
matriculated students of the CSU enrolled in online
courses whether the courses or programs are provided
by CSU faculty or another entity.
3) Outlines the specific information to be provided which
includes:
a) Requires that the Trustees comply
with all relevant state and federal law
safeguarding the privacy of the involved
students.
b) The number of students enrolled in
these courses.
c) The course completion rates for
online, and other than online courses for each
major course of study.
d) Grades earned by each student in
the online courses.
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e) Course completion rates for
students enrolled in online courses.
f) Data relating to a student's or
faculty member's use of university resources,
including, but not limited to use of computer
terminal and other electronic equipment, library
materials or staff support time.
g) Any available demographic
information on students enrolled including
ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender,
cumulative GPA of students disaggregated by
demographic categories.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, this bill
is intended to respond to concerns regarding a
contract entered into in January 2013 by San Jose
State University and Udacity, a MOOC provider, for
purposes of a pilot program to examine online
learning. The author contends that when members of the
CSU Academic Senate requested student data, the
information was not released by Udacity until a public
records request was filed, and the released data did
not include all information requested. The author also
asserts that the company failed to comply with federal
guidelines that protect student information.
Additionally, the author is concerned that, based upon
a January agenda item presented to the CSU Trustees on
"Enrollment Bottleneck Solutions" course and advising
redesign programs will involve partnering with private
companies to deliver public education services. As the
CSU system works towards providing a robust and
collaborative system of traditional and online courses
offerings, partnerships with third-party contractors
are expected to become more common.
The intent of this bill is to ensure that all student
data collected is received by the CSU irrespective of
whether the courses or programs in which they are
enrolled are provided by the faculty of the CSU, to
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ensure transparency and accountability in these new
partnerships, and to protect the privacy of students
and faculty.
2) Clarifying author's amendments. The author has
requested the following clarifying amendments:
On page 3, line 1, delete "both" and replace "and"
with "or" to require provision of data on paper or in
electronic form.
On page 3, line 4, after University, insert "and
campus Academic Senates"
On page 3, line 10, after "entity" insert "that is
under contract with the California State University or
with one of its campuses."
Staff recommends the bill be amended to reflect these
changes.
3) Further clarification. The stated intent of this bill
is to ensure access to information for evaluating
online education as a means of providing high quality
educational programs correlated with student success.
According to the author, it is the intent to ensure
that the Academic Senate has access to enrollment,
completion, outcome, and whatever demographic and
other information has been collected. It is not the
intention to require additional data gathering beyond
what has been collected.
To clarify this intent, staff recommends the bill be
amended on page 3 lines 19-23 as follows:
Any data available relating to a student's or faculty
member's use of university resources in connection
with online coursework, including but not necessarily
limited to, the use of computer terminals and other
electronic equipment, library materials, or staff
support time.
SUPPORT
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Academic Senate of the California State University
California Faculty Association
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
OPPOSITION
None received.