Mission
As a standing committee of the MiraCosta Academic Senate, the mission of MiraCosta Online Educators (MOE) is to provide leadership and guidance to the Academic Senate and MiraCosta community regarding online education and its varying communities of practice and modalities. Areas of focus include pedagogy, technology, support services, and student experience. MOE’s focus is to fulfill the mission expressed in the Online Education Plan: to create and support an engaging, equitable, and student-centered learning experience through online instruction, resources, and services. Members commit to enacting equity principles of diversity, antiracism, accessibility, and inclusivity, to create a supportive collegial environment, and to foster the academic and holistic success of diverse learners.
Functions
MOE fulfills its mission through functions including:
- Making recommendations on matters of faculty purview to the Academic Senate and other
governance committees, the Faculty Coordinator of Online Education, and the Office
of Instruction, with specific support for:
- CPC on curriculum policies and procedures related to distance education, especially AP 4105 and the DE Addendum for the Course Outline of Record
- PDP on needs particular to professional development of faculty in online education
- TREC on matters of faculty evaluation related to online education
- Faculty and department chairs on pedagogy and course design.
- Developing, maintaining, and supporting implementation of key documents guiding Online
Education at MiraCosta
- Online Education Plan
- MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines
- MiraCosta Distance Education Handbook
- Seeking input and collaboration, and providing leadership on topics pertaining to
online education, including:
- diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility
- closing equity gaps, especially for disproportionately impacted populations identified in the college’s Equity Plan
- MiraCosta’s status as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI)
- faculty support
- student support
- program review
- budget and planning
- learning environment technology evaluation, planning, and support
- state and federal regulations
- accreditation
- engagement with regional, state, and national online education collaboratives, initiatives, and professional organizations
- annual reporting to the Board of Trustees.
Composition
MOE’s membership typically comprises 10-12 members. Full-time faculty serve two-year terms; associate faculty terms are one year. Terms are renewable. From among its members, MOE elects a chair to serve a one-year term. MOE members are voting members unless otherwise indicated. MOE’s membership includes:
- At least 8 full-time faculty, at least 5 of whom should have online or hybrid teaching experience. Areas that should be represented include non-credit, library, CE, and GE. These faculty shall include the Online Education Faculty Coordinator.
- At least one associate faculty member
- One classified staff member in an Instructional Designer position
- It is desirable but not required to include:
- a counseling faculty member, transfer center faculty member, or articulation officer,
- C3 Teaching and Learning Center Coordinator,
- and a student representative from the Associated Student Government (non-voting).
Meeting Practices
MOE follows these practices in each meeting to establish and maintain an equity-minded, collegial environment:
- Hold HyFlex meetings to enable access and participation of the community (following Brown Act regulations on online member participation).
- Include brief check-ins at the start of each meeting to promote inclusion and community.
- Use practices to uphold equitable opportunities to speak, such as:
- raising hands (in person and on Zoom),
- pausing conversations periodically to allow folks to reflect prior to discussion,
- talking circle where everyone has a choice to speak in turn.
- Use online chat primarily for supportive/reinforcing/community-building contributions. Discussion of agenda items should be primarily by voice or within collaborative documents/activity structures.
- Share facilitation/leadership role responsibilities among members, e.g.:
- Leading check-ins
- Taking minutes
- Monitoring meeting: Assist with agenda, monitor Zoom, and support interaction among members during the meeting.
- Leading task forces
- Include a variety of methods of participation to meet different preferences and needs
of members. Methods should allow for online participation (subject to Brown Act regulations)
as well as in-person interaction. Committee members should be prepared to use technology
for collaboration during meetings. Participation methods may include:
- Quiet, individual reflection and/or contribution to collaborative resources prior to open discussion
- Use of breakouts to enable smaller group interaction
- Use of online and/or physical collaboration tools such as shared documents, visual brainstorming and ideation tools, etc.
- Use of a variety of activity structures for collaborative discussion and decision making
- Reduce information-sharing during meetings. Important information items may be shared to the committee and college community (via audio or video when possible) no later than the publication of the meeting agenda. Agenda items about the information should prioritize discussion and action by the committee as needed.
Annual Practices
MOE follows these practices over the course of each academic year:
- Committee holds first meeting as a retreat
- Building community as the primary focus
- Developing shared understanding of how the committee implements diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and anti-racism in collaboration with DEqCC and/or other MiraCosta DEIA leaders
- Onboarding new members
- Reviewing and solidifying meeting practices
- Discussing needs assessment to inform committee work, including insights from the previous year
- Early in the fall, committee sets set goals and success metrics for the year, informed by needs assessment
- Committee chair meets with professional development leaders (C3TLC Coordinator, PDP Chair, Instructional Designer, etc) and relays needs to MOE
- Committee chair facilitates a mid-year feedback opportunity to review committee practices and inclusion
- Spring practices may include:
- campus-wide survey and/or other methods to assess online education progress and needs
- review of annual success metrics and goals
- annual report to the Academic Senate
- when required, formal committee governance evaluation
- exit interviews with those leaving the committee to inform continuous improvement of the committee
- election of committee chair for the next year.
Meetings
For 2024-25, MOE meets 4th Fridays of each month, 10 am - 12 pm, in OC 250 and online via Zoom in accordance with AB 2449. Satellite meeting locations at other MiraCosta College locations may also be included when noticed in a meeting agenda. See themeeting schedule & online access page for access details, and see the current agenda for the in-person location for the next meeting. See the agendas & minutes page for published information on past meetings; agendas for upcoming meetings are published at least 3 days before the meeting.
History
MiraCosta Online Educators (MOE) served as an ad hoc Academic Senate committee following the MiraCosta governance reorganization of 2009 until the fall of 2014, when it was approved as an AS standing committee. You may view MOE's annual reports to AS:
