Interim Policies and Procedures for Adding Students to Closed Distance Education Classes 

The Chancellor’s Cabinet has requested that I (Vice Chancellor John Clerx) explore ways to minimize the difficulties that colleges are experiencing in adding student to distance education courses, specifically those difficulties encountered in cases where faculty members want to add students to distance education classes that are closed.

These problems occur because colleges are requiring the same hard-copy add cards, with both faculty and student “wet” signatures, before Admissions and Records can process the add cards. Additionally, some colleges are requiring students to provide copies of various types of documentation (e.g., picture identification or social security cards) before their adds can be processed. The obvious problem with these procedures is that they are cumbersome and delay the processing of adds because they involve mailing documents between the student, the instructor and the Admissions and Records Office.

Therefore, in order to facilitate addition of students into closed distance education courses, I am implementing interim policy for the processing of adds to closed, on-line, classes, which will remain in place until formal policies and procedures can be developed and consulted with the appropriate constituency groups.

Below is the interim policy:

·         Up to the day before a class’s census date, a closed distance education class can be added based upon the student’s request and the instructor’s permission.

·         The request and permission can be done through an e-mail exchange between the student and the faculty member and will not require the completion of a hard-copy, signed add card.

·         The student will initiate the request to add the closed, distance education, class by sending an e-mail to the instructor. The request will include the students ID number, date of birth, the semester (or term) when the course is being offered, the course name and section number.

·         If the instructor grants the student permission to add the closed distance education course, the instructor will respond to the students e-mail, indicating that the student can add the class. The instructor will also copy the Admissions and Records Director (or designee) and the Vice President of Academic Affairs (or designee).

·         Once the Admissions and Records Office  receives the  copy of the instructor’s e-mail, granting the student permission to add the course, the Admissions and Records Office will verify that the students e-mail address on the e-mail request to the add the class is the same e-mail address in the student’s record in DEC.

·         If the e-mail address of the student requesting the add is the same e-mail address in the student’s record in DEC, the Admissions and Records Office will add the student into the section and retain a printed copy of the e-mail to verify that the student requested the add and that the instructor granted permission. No additional copies of information will be required.

·         If the e-mail address on the student’s request does not match the e-mail address on the DEC, the Admissions and Records Office will reply to the e-mail notifying the student that his or her e-mail does not match the e-mail address and that the add cannot be processed until the e-mail address in the student system is corrected. The e-mail will also instruct the student on how to change his or her e-mail in the student system.

·         After the census day of the class, e-mailed permissions to add courses will not be accepted from instructor because, in order to add students after the census, the instructor is required to certify as to whether the student was enrolled prior to census and this certification currently requires a wet signature.

·         The Vice President of Academic Affairs will notify all faculty members as to who should be copied on the permission e-mailed to the student.

I have discussed this interim policy with the Office of General Counsel and, on the student side, these interim procedures comply with the policies found in the Student Attendance Accounting Manual, Chapter 4, “Audit Accountability,” section 4.02 – “Minimum Requirements for Adds and Drops.” These procedures are compliant because, by verifying that the e-mail address of the student making the request matches the student’s e-mail address in DEC, we have complied with the requirements of section 3(c), which allows the documentation of the “origin of the transaction” by means of “other record identifying the originator of the transactions” instead of the student’s signature.   Also, according to recent opinion from the LACCD Office of General Counsel, there are no current statutory or regulatory requirements for “wet” faculty signatures on adds. However, by having the instructor approve the request to add the class by e-mail, which requires a unique user ID and a PIN, we have in fact met the U.S. Departments of Education’s standards for electronic signatures.

Also, please note that, under the provisions of Administrative Regulation E-108, “Picture identification is required when a student requests to change his or her name on college records, and for all in-person transactions that would otherwise require a personal identification number (PIN), if conducted on-line or by telephone.  In all other cases, picture identification may be requested, but is not required.” Therefore, there is no need to require copies of the student’s picture identification as part of the add process. Also, the regulation states that, “Under Federal law, the District is required to request Social Security numbers from all students, but the District is not required to collect them. If a student refuses to provide a Social Security number, the student must be allowed to complete the application and registration process. Additionally, a student cannot be required to produce his or her Social Security card. Therefore, there is no need to require copies of the student’s Social Security number prior to processing the add.

I have consulted this draft policy with Carl Friedlander and he is agreeable to this interim policy. I will be working on a final policy for consultation in the Fall, but this interim policy will go into effect immediately.

John Clerx