CSU East Bay’s Executive Committee on the Academic Senate, which serves as the official voice for the faculties of CSU in regards to system wide concerns, has voted unanimously to oppose current Senate Bill 520 unless it is amended.

“SB 520 is merely giving Massively Open Online Campuses or MOOCs, a form of acceptance at the CSU, and there is no accounting for what these non accredited bodies are actually teaching students,” said Watnik.

Senate Bill 520, proposed by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, would allow CSU students to take online courses from third parties and count them as courses that were taken at a university, said Watnik.

“The bill aims to alleviate the problems of overcrowding and budget cuts the CSU system has been undergoing, especially for students in lower division courses,” he said.

For CSUEB’s Executive Committee on the Academic Senate, SB 520 may alleviate the problem of overcrowding, but it does not promote academic honesty or excellence. SB 520 in its current state would not be suitable to replace existing quality review processes as it wishes to do because its aim is to bypass current course quality assurance procedures, the committee argued.

“CSU faculty from the academic department to the system wide level employ a wide variety of strategies to ensure student access and success,” reads the Executive Committee’s letter to the Office of the Chancellor Timothy White. These strategies include everything from double counting classes to conducting program reviews.

“MOOCs have thousands of students. What’s that going to do for the quality control or the quality of education that students will be receiving?” asked Watnik. “Maybe it dates me, but I can’t envision doing some of the things online that you get here, especially the lower division courses.”

Other issues SB 520 must factor into their amendment are situations in which students are undeclared in their major as well as students who fail and repeat a course, reads the Executive Committee’s letter.

Another bill pushing online higher education is Assembly Bill 1306. This bill which was proposed by state assembly member Scott Wilk, requests a “New University of California” — an online, exam-based university without professors, physical attendance or tuition, reads the bill.

“I think it’s about a lot more than passing tests,” said Watnik. “One of the things you don’t get from online education is a curriculum, which is about how it all fits together. It’s about building up a toolbox of knowledge and skill sets needed to function in society.”

Empirical evidence suggests that the wholesale expansion of online courses, especially lower division courses, is not the most effective or efficient way to achieve academic success, reads the Executive Committee’s letter.

Although SB 520 is currently being voted on by the Senate Education Committee said Watnik, the Executive Committee does not see the bill as the magical cure it is outlined to be.