Logistics for Running Your DE Class

In short, ONLINE courses meet completely online whereas HYBRID courses have one or more class meetings on campus (such as a lab, orientation, or proctored test). For a more complete definition of these courses, please refer to the Types of Distance Education Courses page.

All distance education courses at PCC must be taught using Canvas, the College’s Learning Management System (LMS). This is to ensure that there is consistency, reliability, and dependability in the delivery of online and hybrid courses. In addition, Canvas LMS has tools that help to protect student privacy, ensure authentication status, and aid instructors in creating courses that are accessible to all students.

For accreditation purposes, the College also needs to have documentation that instructors maintain regular and substantive interaction with their students, that is, that instructors are engaging students in teaching, learning, and assessment, on a consistent and timely basis. Regular and substantive interaction is a state requirement to make certain that online and hybrid courses deliver the same quality of instruction as their face-to-face counterparts. While you are encouraged to explore other interactive media and social networking, the starting point for this must originate through the Canvas LMS system.

For these reasons, you cannot be assigned to teach or deliver a distance education course that does not use Canvas LMS.

If you have never taught distance education courses before, they do require a new set of skills – technical, pedagogical, and organizational.  Learn more about PCC's Training and Experience Requirements for teaching online.

The Pasadena Area Community College District Distance Education Administrative Procedure states that all new online and hybrid faculty must pass PCC's Online Teaching Certification (or equivalent) or successfully pass a distance education equivalency review before teaching any distance education modalities. 

The process to develop an online or hybrid course can take up to a year, and depends on several different factors, such as:

• If it is an existing course.
• How much experience and training you have in online instruction.
• If a DE Addendum is already on file for the course.

For more detailed information, see the Program and Course Development module in the PCC Distance Education Faculty Handbook.

Publishers "add value" to traditional textbooks by offering online resources that complement or even replace the text. These resources typically include a digital version of the text along with exercises and activities that can supplement your own course design. These options can make publisher course materials very attractive, but some may conflict with current regulatory requirements. Before selecting publisher materials for use in your course, contact the Distance Education Department to make sure it complies with legal, privacy and accessibility requirements.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are basically free or low-cost resources that have been openly licensed (or licensed under Creative Commons, meaning often you can use or modify materials as long as you attribute the author). You’ll find that there is a wide range of courses (called Courseware), eTextbooks, eBooks, and multimedia content available.

OER are great resources to use in the online classroom! With the rising costs of educational materials, they are an affordable alternative for many students. To find out more about OER and other cost saving alternatives, see the Content Options section of the Distance Education Faculty Handbook.

The process to enroll in distance education courses is the same as face-to-face classes. Students can register using the online registration system, https://lancerpoint.pasadena.edu/.

It is important, however, for students to take note of any additional information or requirements for their course listed in the Schedule of Classes, such as on-campus meetings or other specific instructions, like emailing the instructor directly prior to the first day of class.

In order to log in to Canvas, you must have a PCC Network ID and a password. You can use this to log in directly onto the Canvas system, https://canvas.pasadena.edu/.

Student usernames are their LancerPoint ID and passwords. They can use this to log in directly onto the CANVAS system, https://canvas.pasadena.edu/.

The problem is probably that you have not been officially assigned to the course in the Schedule of Classes. Contact your Department Head to make certain that you are listed as the Instructor of Record on the course. Once you have been officially assigned to a course and listed as the Instructor of Record, the course should show up on your Canvas Course List.

If you are still having problems, please contact Distance Education for assistance.

If students are having trouble logging into your Canvas course, it can be one of two things. First, make certain that you have published your course. If the course is available, then the student hasn’t been officially enrolled in the course yet. If it is a student who has just added the course, you can remind them that it can take up to 24 hours to see their course listed on their Canvas Course List.

Courses in Canvas can have a College/Student Assistant as a TA. In order to do so and to comply with FERPA privacy considerations, faculty members must submit a written request to the Distance Education Department. The TA must be employed by PCC and have paperwork on file with HR. They will only be given the role of TA in the system and not Instructor.

• Attendance and Participation
• End of Semester Course Checklist
• Student Authentication (Verifying Student Identity Online)
• Module Organization

The Add/Drop Policies for distance education courses generally follow the same guidelines as face-to-face courses. However, you will need to take into account a few key considerations unique to the distance education environment.  Please see the Drop Policy and Add Policy sections of the PCC Distance Education Faculty Handbook for more information.

The class size limit for a distance education class shall be the same as for traditional classes (face-to-face).

All distance education instructors shall conduct virtual office hours. The number of virtual office hours shall be no less than the percentage of the faculty member’s contract load that is designated as distance education held in proportion to the professor’s distance learning load. Virtual office hours can be conducted from any location. The virtual office hours schedule and the synchronous method of interaction shall be communicated to division offices via established division procedures and to students via the course syllabus.

The District shall notify the Instructional Faculty unit member of Record in advance of any plan to enter a Distance Education course for evaluation reasons. Such visitors to a faculty member’s online course shall be added to the LMS in the “Observer” role.

Distance Education Student Surveys are different from faculty evaluations. The data from these surveys will be used to assess course compliance with Title 5 and WASC regulations and will not be linked to faculty course evaluations.

The Distance Education Department is committed to providing you with any support you will need to develop and teach your courses. We provide technical support, orientations, and workshops for professional development, and are happy to consult with you on an as-needed basis.

We’ve also created the PCC Distance Education Faculty Handbook which has a lot of information and many resources about developing and teaching online/hybrid courses.