Materials (4)
Only four contracts included an explanation of the materials to be included in a distance education course. Since most of the terms found attempt to define what materials should be used in distance education courses, this term is included as a subtopic of Definition. This is a permissive topic for bargaining.
The AAUP recommends that faculty have responsibility of material selection. However, the type of language recommended by the AAUP for this topic was not found in the contracts reviewed for this study.
Examples
Observations. Only four contracts specifically discuss distance education materials, as this is a topic that campuses may more frequently address in policy rather than in a contract. The nature of distance education materials is frequently changing and may be more appropriately addressed in a way where it can be changed more easily to meet the changing situation. Were the topic addressed more as the AAUP recommended, specifying faculty responsibility for content selection, it would be more appropriate for inclusion in a contract.