DE Course Assignments

Per Appendix J Section III of our contract, as well as the 2005-2011 memo of agreement, the following rules apply to distance education courses with regards to the assignment of DE courses.

As with the course development and other contract provisions, this language is designed to keep academic faculty at the center of our DE program and to ensure that all of our members have equal opportunity to develop and teach DE courses at Suffolk.

Please note that, as explained in bullet #4 below, there is a seniority process for assignments to DE courses. If you have had any issues proposing a DE course in your department, please contact the FA immediately so we can ensure that the process is being followed properly.

• All DE courses offered by the college shall be taught by Unit III faculty members—that is, members of the Faculty Association, whether full time or adjunct.
• No faculty member shall be required to teach a DE format course.
• Assignment to teach a DE format course is based on a faculty member's request, proficiency that is either demonstrated or certified, and seniority.
• For the purposes of assignment and seniority, DE courses will be treated as special topics courses and will follow the existing college procedure for the assignment and duration of such assignment. This means that if more than one faculty member in a discipline requests to teach an existing course in a specific DE modality, the most senior faculty member making the request will be assigned the course for a period not to exceed two semesters. At the end of these two semesters, the next most senior faculty member making the request will be given the assignment. When all faculty members in a discipline have been given the opportunity to use a DE format, the future assignments for DE formats shall be based on seniority. This assignment process applies to both full-time and adjunct faculty.
• Synchronous and asynchronous DE courses will not be rebroadcast without the expressed written approval of the faculty member who taught the course.
• The college will not sponsor a DE course offered by any other institution or provide a reception site for any course that would compete with a course currently being taught and/or listed in the college catalog.