Course Modality Timeline and Contingency Planning

Effective Date

ACC approved Jan. 24, 2023

Faculty Senate approved Jan. 30, 2023

Background

In May 2021, the ACC and Faculty Senate charged departments and programs and/or colleges with putting into place their own policies and guidelines outlining criteria that are to be used to make decisions about the modalities in which courses are to be offered. At this time, the ACC paused consideration of proposals for permanent modality revisions until such policies could be put into place, and in June 2021, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution imposing a full-year moratorium upon the ACC’s consideration of modality changes through permanent curriculum approval processes. At the time these actions were taken, it was anticipated that department and/or college-level policies would be operational by 2022-23, thus a temporary modality approval process was initiated, with temporary approvals set to expire in Summer 2023.

In May 2022, the ACC and Faculty Senate adopted new policies (rescinded by ACC in April 2024) on Modality Changes and Temporary Modality Changes, thereby making a temporary modality change process available on an ongoing basis, with approvals extending for up to four consecutive quarters.

The ACC and Faculty Senate also developed new modality definitions, issued guidance regarding the development of college and/or department/program-level modality policies, and approved an ACC Policy on Credit Hours with associated guidance. All these important steps have slowed the development and approval of college-level modality policies, and as of January 2023, the Provost’s Office is still awaiting policies from a number of colleges. Provost Brad Johnson has indicated that college-level policies will not be approved until policies have been received from all colleges. The 2023-24 Catalog curriculum deadline is fast approaching, and in order to alleviate pressure on curriculum approval processes and on the Provost’s consideration and approval of college-level modality policies, the ACC has determined that it is necessary to extend temporary modality approvals for an additional year.

As of the ACC’s most recent meeting on 10 January 2023, 182 temporary online modality requests and 161 temporary hybrid modality requests (including courses identified as pre-existing hybrid) have been approved since the ACC paused its consideration of proposals for permanent modality revisions. Fourteen additional temporary modality requests are currently pending in the Curriculog system, and about 36 permanent modality requests have been initiated in Curriculog, many of which are for courses that already have temporary modality approvals in place extending through Summer 2023 or later.

In order to address these circumstances, the ACC proposes to take the following actions:

  • All temporary modality approvals set to expire between Spring 2023 and Spring 2024, encompassing both temporary modality approval that occurred prior to Fall 2023 and temporary modality approvals that have been made since the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year under the ACC’s May 2022 Temporary Modality Changes policy, will be extended through Summer 2024.
  • The end date of all temporary modality requests currently pending in the Curriculog system or initiated before the end of the current academic year will be updated to Summer 2024, and regular enforcement of the ACC’s policies on Modality Changes and Temporary Modality Changes will resume during the 2023-24 academic year.
  • All permanent modality requests currently pending in the Curriculog system will be handled as follows:
    • If the course in question does not have a prior temporary modality approval and is requested to be offered between Spring 2023 and Summer 2024, the type of proposal will be updated in Curriculog from “permanent modality request” to “temporary modality request,” and the ACC will review the proposal;
    • If the course already has a temporary modality approval, the temporary approval will be extended per the terms outlined above, and the proposal will be suspended in Curriculog until college modality policies are approved and permanent modality proposals can be considered. Once review of permanent modality proposals resumes, proposals can be reinstated for review. Colleges will be asked to affirm that all such proposals conform with the terms of their approved modality policies, and, if required, proposers will have the opportunity to update proposals that have already been initiated.
  • If a new course proposal for the 2023-24 Catalog includes a request for modalities other than face-to-face and is approved by the ACC, approval for modalities other than face-to-face will be temporary, extending through Summer 2024. The ACC will take action at a later date to determine the process by which such approvals may become permanent.
  • The deadline for colleges that have not already done so to submit their modality policies to the Provost’s Office for review and approval is [17 March 2023].
  • In the event that the Provost’s Office has approved all college modality policies prior to the conclusion of the current academic year, new permanent modality requests may be initiated after approved college modality policies are in place but will not be reviewed by the ACC prior to Fall 2023. The earliest possible term start date for permanent modality requests will be Fall 2024.