Distance Education

The Faculty Association has been intimately involved with distance education at Suffolk Community College since the beginning, and we have worked hard over the years to bargain contract and policy language that ensures we're offering distance education (DE) courses of high academic quality, keeping in mind the best interests of faculty, students, and the college. Appendix J of our contract, as well as the subsequent memos of agreement, clarify the negotiated terms of agreement for DE courses. The links under Professional Matters > Distance Education provide access information about the contract language and policies and procedures that govern DE at SCCC.

In addition, in Appendix J the FA contract establishes the college Distance Education Committee (DEC), which consists of an FA representative, two governance reps from each of the three campuses (six governance reps), and four other members. In 2022, the college president asked that a faculty member serve as co-chair which has been the practice since.

DEC's seven-point charge is identified in Appendix J Section VIII.B:

  1. Establish guidelines to determine the level of technological proficiency required by a faculty member to teach in DE formats.
  2. Make recommendations as to which courses/programs are academically appropriate for online delivery.
  3. Ensure that established DE procedures (e.g., course proposals, course assignments) are followed properly and fairly.
  4. Develop support services, professional development and training opportunities for faculty.
  5. Make recommendations to the College community concerning changes in available technology, support services and training opportunities.
  6. Recommend policies regarding privacy, security and surveillance of electronic work activities as they affect DE, such as email, internet access, usage, etc.
  7. Recommend policies regarding workload issues.   

Our agendas and minutes (after approval) will be made available below.