The Approval of UCLA Extension Instructors - AA122

Last Reviewed: May 2016

Intent

UCLA Extension employs approximately 2,500 instructors each year, drawing from the faculties of the University of California and other regional research and comprehensive universities, the California State University System, and the Community College Districts; in some cases apprentice instructional personnel who are graduate students at the University of California; and a significant number of persons distinguished in southern California’s diverse business, industrial, and professional practice communities.

In accordance with Standing Orders of the Regents and the regulations of the Academic Senate, all persons designated as instructors in charge of Extension courses bearing academic credit will be approved through the agency of the Academic Senate. Such endorsement ensures that Extension’s instructors are competent to present the material described, and that they are qualified to assess the work presented to them by their students – the successful completion of which leads to the award of academic credit.

This policy restates the source documents and authorities for the benefit of Extension’s program development staff engaged in the selection and oversight of instructors. It also defines the procedures which will ensure compliance with Senate regulation and University policy which have been promulgated to fulfill public expectations of excellence, and to protect and enhance the reputation of the University of California.

Compliance

UCLA Extension courses bearing academic credit may not meet under the supervision of an instructor who has not been approved.

The Dean of Continuing Education and UCLA Extension (hereafter “the Dean”) delegates to the Continuing Educators (CEs) responsibility for selecting and proposing new instructors qualified to conduct courses, and for assembling the dossiers of both new and continuing instructors who stand for review. Additionally, CEs are responsible for ensuring that only those persons approved will be permitted to engage in instruction.
The Dean delegates to Extension’s Registrar responsibility for maintaining records regarding the approval status of Extension’s instructors, and providing program department personnel with realtime reports regarding the status of instructors who have been proposed, but whose approval has not yet been received. The Page 2 of 9 Registrar is also responsible for providing training programs and manuals to acquaint new and continuing staff with the provisions of this policy and its attendant procedures.

Regulatory Environment

The following Senate regulations, Senate legislative rulings, and Standing Orders of the Regents define the perimeters of UCLA Extension’s policy and procedure regarding the approval of instructors.

UC Academic Senate Regulation 800 (A)
- All members of the University Extension staff who offer courses that are announced as yielding credit toward an academic degree or a professional credential or certificate shall be members of University departments in which instruction is offered, or in the case of lower division, "100" series upper division, and "200" series graduate courses bearing the prefixes "X," "XB," "XSF," etc., shall be endorsed by the Committee on Courses of Instruction concerned (or other committee having jurisdiction over corresponding regular courses) acting in consultation with the departments in question, and in the case of "X300" and "X400" series graduate professional courses, must be approved (1) by the department or school or college and (2) in accordance with requirements established by the Committee on Courses of Instruction of the Division of the Academic Senate on the campus where the courses received departmental approval.
Legislative Ruling 10.65 of the Senate Committee on Rules and Jurisdiction
- Regulation. . . 800(A) empower[s] each Divisional Committee on Courses (or its equivalent) to determine what endorsements by Senate agencies (including reviews by Divisional committees) must be obtained by University Extension before a suggested X300-X400 course may be presented with a proposed instructor in charge. Approvals by the Dean of University Extension and the department, college, or school concerned are necessary, but they are sufficient only to the extent that the Committee on Courses determines.
Standing Orders of the Regents 105.2 (b)
- The Academic Senate shall authorize and supervise all courses and curricula offered under the sole or joint jurisdiction of the departments, colleges, schools, graduate divisions, or other University academic agencies approved by the Board, except that the Senate shall have no authority over . . . non-degree courses in the University Extension.

Los Angeles Senate Division Delegations and Oversight

The Undergraduate Council of the Los Angeles Division has direct approval authority for instructors teaching credit bearing courses prefixed with an "X" or "XL" and numbered in the series 1 – 199. The Graduate Council of the Los Angeles Division has direct approval authority for instructors teaching credit bearing courses prefixed with an "X" or "XL" and numbered in the series 200 – 299. Under Senate Regulation 800 (a), these oversight, review, and approval authorities are in addition to endorsements that are required by Schools, academic departments and/or faculty executive committees. These Senate Committees and UCLA academic departments reserve the right to revoke an Extension instructor’s approval to conduct these courses.
The Senate Committee on Continuing and Community Education (“CCCE”) of the Los Angeles Division consults and advises on general requirements for instructors proposed to teach credit bearing courses prefixed with an "X" and numbered in the series 300 – 399, and 400—499. On March 24, 1969, the predecessor to CCCE delegated its immediate approval authority regarding Extension instructors under Senate Regulation 800(a) to UCLA’s College, Schools, and academic departments for the review of Extension instructors.

Re-delegation Agreements

On January 22, 2008, the CCCE, without objection from the Graduate Council, further approved a procedure by which UCLA’s academic departments and Schools could elect to re-delegate certain pro forma approvals to the Dean (viz. for certain instructors proposed to teach courses in the series 300 – 399 and 400 – 499). Such redelegations may be made by department chairs or equivalent School authorities where:

the proposed instructor has a PhD, (or other terminal degree such as EdD in Education or MFA in Art) in a discipline relevant to the course being taught plus a minimum of two years of professional experience in the field; or,
the proposed instructor has an MS/MA in a discipline relevant to the course being taught plus a minimum of five years of professional experience in the discipline; or,
the proposed instructor possesses other appropriate relevant qualifications as defined by the related School or academic department; and
for courses numbered in the 300 series only, the proposed instructor has BS/BA and a teaching credential plus a minimum of five years of teaching experience at a level relevant to the course being taught.

To reduce costs attendant with the administration of approval processing, CEs are encouraged to negotiate and secure agreements with their respective departmental authorities for re-delegation to the Dean as described above. Agreements once obtained shall be renewable every five years as recommended by the Senate committees. Instructors so approved under this provision shall nevertheless be approved indefinitely.

Each year the Dean’s Office will identify and announce to CEs the newly appointed, incoming chairs of UCLA academic departments. Following distribution of each year’s Dean’s Annual Letter to the Chairs, CEs will introduce themselves to new chairs in whose discipline Extension will be proposing new courses or instructors in the ensuing year. The CE will offer to further explain the academic approval processes, and may elect to propose a re-delegation agreement for instructors of the 400-series. Requests for redelegation agreements will be made in writing (by email), with a copy to the Dean.

When obtained, re-delegation agreement letters will be forwarded to the Program Services unit of the Dean’s Office for record and to facilitate the quarterly update of approval records. Student Services will display and maintain a web-accessible internal report showing all re-delegation agreements and the quarter/year they expire; and a template for an agreement letter fully annotated to ensure consistent and correct terms. Records of re-delegation agreements and the instructor approvals to which they give rise shall be kept in perpetuity. Staff personnel in Program Services will flag an instructor approval based on a re-delegation agreement only in cases where the proposed instructor meets the exact terms of the re-delegation agreement on file.

The UCLA academic departments retain post-audit review authority – which is to say – academic departments may from time to time request reports from the Dean regarding instructors teaching at the professional level at UCLA Extension, and investigate questions of extra-procedural practice raised by UCLA faculty.

The Dossier

Whenever required for review by UCLA departments or Senate committees, dossiers of instructor-candidates proposed to teach creditbearing courses through UCLA Extension will include the following elements:

A biography, current to within 24 months, which will identify earned and honorary degrees, and educational institutions attended; identify teaching credentials which may be on file; identify employment history and professional experience relevant to the course(s) and discipline proposed, and the organizations in which these positions were held; list books and articles authored or edited; and identify honors and awards other than honorary degrees.
The course listings ("descriptions") for all courses for which instructor approval is sought.
The course outlines for all courses for which instructor approval is sought. The outline will identify the text to be used in the course, if any; a list of the topics to be covered in each course meeting, a statement regarding the techniques to be used in the evaluation of student work, (exams, papers, presentations, etc.); notation regarding program meeting format and the number of hours outside of class to which students will typically be expected to commit; the number of contact hours of instruction, and the value of academic credit the contact hours represent.
Cumulative scores and reports of instructor and course evaluations from other institutions, if available.
A minimum of three letters of reference from persons familiar with the academic background of the instructor-candidate, and their assessment of the candidates’ qualifications for teaching in the proposed field of specialization. Whenever possible, local references or references by members of UC faculty will be obtained.
Letters of Reference
To conform to statewide Academic Planning Manual section 160 and attendant procedures, authors of letters of reference for instructors proposed to teach credit-bearing classes, and instructors who are the subject of such letters, will be advised of the following:
That their identity will be held in confidence, but that an Extension instructor may, upon request, be provided access to such letters in redacted form. Redaction is defined as the removal of identifying information (including name, title, institutional affiliation and relationship to the candidate) contained either at the top of the letterhead or within and below the signature block of the letter.
That the full text of the body of the letter will be provided to the instructor if so requested. Thus, if the author provides any information that tends to reveal his or her identity in the body of the Page 6 of 9 letter, that information may become available to the instructor. Authors will be advised they are welcome to provide a brief factual statement regarding their relationship to the candidate on the back of their letter. This brief statement will be subject to redaction and will not be made available to the candidate.
That we cannot guarantee that at some future time a court or governmental agency will not require the disclosure of the source of confidential evaluations in our instructor files, we assure authors and advise instructors that the University will endeavor to protect the identity of the authors of letters of reference to the fullest extent allowable under the law.
Instructors will be advised of this provision through the Instructor Contract website. Authors of letters of recommendation will be advised via a webpage to which Program Representatives and prospective instructors can point.

Dossiers of Extension instructors whose renewal/endorsement is required and sought will include the above; however, in lieu of letters of reference, cumulative scores and reports of instructor and course evaluations will be presented. Extension will provide instructor and course evaluation score reports, using instruments and report formats similar to those used by UCLA’s Office of Instructional Development to facilitate analysis and review by academic departments.

Instructor approvals subject to expiration (for undergraduate and graduate level courses) will expire together with all previously approved courses for each instructor. Courses added to an instructor’s portfolio since its last expiration will expire when the oldest approval expires. (With the exception of regular UCLA faculty and lecturers and as noted above, all instructor approvals in the X and XL 1 – 199 and 200 – 299 series expire.) In cases where an instructor teaches a number of degree credit courses, all approvals will therefore expire and be submitted for renewal simultaneously, going before the appropriate UCLA faculty and Senate committee just once every five years for all courses ensemble.

Dossiers are not necessary for instructors subject to pro forma approvals arising from a re-delegation agreement. CEs need only forward a signed copy of the course proposal, or a brief note to the Program Services unit of the Dean’s Office citing a proposed instructor’s degree and professional experience qualifications, referencing a current, unexpired and relevant re-delegation agreement. The Dean’s Office will keep a record of CEs correspondence for audit purposes, then update approval records accordingly.

Initial Review

Dossiers, as described above, for professional level instruction will be forwarded to UCLA’s academic departments for review and approval at least 4 weeks prior to the first scheduled day of instruction. Dossiers to Page 7 of 9 be reviewed for undergraduate level instruction will be submitted to the Undergraduate Council at least four weeks prior to the quarter term start, with departmental endorsements having already been obtained. Dossiers to be reviewed for graduate level instruction will be submitted to the Graduate Council at least 12 weeks prior to the first week of scheduled instruction, with departmental endorsements having already been obtained.

Special criteria for renewals and the schedule for such renewals, are described below.

Renewal

Non-Credit Instruction. Instructors engaged in non-credit instruction, whose continuing participation in Extension’s program in the opinion of his/her sponsoring Continuing Educator continues to advance the objectives of the program, will be allowed indefinitely to oversee those courses, subject to the periodic review of the Dean.

Professional Level Instruction. Instructors engaged in credit-bearing instruction in courses designated in the X300 and X400 series, whose continuing participation in Extension’s program in the opinion of his/her sponsoring Continuing Educator continues to advance the objectives of the program, will be allowed indefinitely to oversee those courses subject to the periodic review of the Dean and of the Extension program department.

Graduate Level Instruction. Approval for Extension instructors to teach courses in the X or XL 200 – 299 series will expire at the department/School/College level after the quarter of approved instruction. At the option of the academic department, instructor approvals may be extended for as many as three additional quarters without resubmission to the Graduate Council. Council approvals will expire annually.

Undergraduate Level Instruction. Regular UC faculty and UC lecturers, teaching courses in their area of recognized competence, are approved to teach such courses indefinitely.

For all other instructors, approval to teach a course in the series 1 – 199 expires five years after the initial approval to teach that course, or sooner if the original approval was returned by the Undergraduate Council with a restriction calling for shorter duration:

Regular UC faculty teaching courses outside area of recognized competence;
Regular teaching faculty of an accredited college-level institution, teaching courses in the area of recognized competence;
Other PhDs, whose biographies offer evidence of satisfactory teaching competence and experience, teaching courses in the area of recognized competence;
Recipients of the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) or equivalent from UC, with evidence of satisfactory teaching competence, who may conduct courses in the field of training at the lower division level, only;
Persons with extensive teaching or professional experience may conduct courses in the field of training;
Graduate Students holding a Master’s Degree, or a BA with UCLA TESL Certificate, may teach courses in the lower division, only.

Exam Proctoring: Distance Learning Format

The approval of courses and the approval of instructors to teach courses in the series 1 – 199 is predicated on a general test for congruence in learning outcome with the course it mirrors in the UCLA curriculum. Whereas the methodology for assessing students’ mastery of material is also expected to be the same and is frequently by exam, and whereas a properly secured testing environment is necessary to prevent various forms of academic misconduct, UCLA Extension requires all exams in courses numbered 1 – 199, including those presented in the distance learning format, to be proctored.

Liaisons and Recording

For every academic discipline at UCLA, there may be one or more CEs at Extension with primary liaison responsibility. This liaison role is important both to build, maintain and reinforce internal quality controls and to facilitate the approval processes. This primary liaison is expected to acquire an understanding of the standards, expectations and procedures of the approving school or academic department.

To facilitate approvals, in cases where more than one Extension department is programming in the same discipline, the CE for whom the use of the discipline is secondary or unusual will obtain a countersignature on proposals from the CE with the primary liaison role, and do so prior to forwarding it to the UCLA academic department or school for approval. The Associate Dean of Academic Affairs will have delegated authority for clarifying liaison roles, and for making exceptions to this provision.

Program department staff will forward copies of completed approvals which have been returned from academic departments, and copies of Advisory Notices which have been sent to academic departments, to the Program Services unit of the Dean’s Office where the approvals and evidence of advisory notice will be noted and expiration schedules, if applicable, will be maintained.

References and Listing

This policy will be publicly listed. Questions and comments are welcomed by the Office of the Dean, Continuing Education and UCLA Extension, (310) 825-2362; DeansOffice@uclaextension.edu.

The Approval of UCLA Extension Instructors - AA122