BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 46
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 25, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Das Williams, Chair
AB 46 (Pan) - As Amended: August 5, 2014
SUBJECT : California State University: Online education
SUMMARY : Requires the California State University (CSU)
Trustees to make specified data available upon request to the
Academic Senate. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires, for the purposes of evaluating the quality of online
educational programs, the CSU Trustees to, compliant with all
relevant student privacy laws, make specified information
available to the Academic Senate of the CSU and the campus
academic senate, upon request.
2)Requires the information to relate to all matriculated CSU
students and include:
a) The number of students enrolled in online courses;
b) With respect to each major course of study, the course
completion rates for online courses and for courses other
than online courses;
c) The grades earned by each student enrolled in an online
course; and,
d) The course completion rates for students who are
enrolled in online courses.
3)Requires the following information, if data is available:
a) Data relating to a student's use of university
resources in connection with online coursework, including,
but not necessarily limited to, analytic data concerning
access to course materials; access to linked materials;
performance on quizzes, tests, or examinations; and
interactions with faculty, mentors, coaches, and other
students in the online course. This data shall include any
available information about the average amount of time it
takes a student to complete an online assignment.
AB 46
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b) Demographic data relating to students enrolled in online
courses, including, but not necessarily limited to, the
ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender of those
students, and the cumulative grade point averages of those
students disaggregated by those demographic categories.
EXISTING LAW :
1)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
and to report key performance data on online courses, as
specified, to the Legislature by January 1, 2017, and every
two years thereafter.
2)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.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, a negligible fiscal impact was determined pursuant to
Senate Rule 28.8.
COMMENTS : Purpose of this 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 massive open online courses provider, for purposes of
a pilot program to examine online learning. The author's office
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's office also
asserts that the company failed to comply with federal
guidelines that protect student information. The author's
office 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
AB 46
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and collaborative system of traditional and online course
offerings, partnerships with third-party contractors are
expected to become more common.
CSU opposition . CSU specifically opposes provisions of this
bill requiring that data be disclosed, if that data is
available, regarding a student's use of online resources (See:
Summary (3)(a)). CSU argues that, although the data is only
required to be disclosed if it is available, this bill could
result in subsequent requirements for tracking students who have
chosen to take online courses and programs to meet their degree
objectives. CSU argues this is inappropriate and unnecessary,
and a violation of students personal privacy.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Faculty Association
Opposition
California State University
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960