By Michael Higham, IVN Unfiltered News
Last week, IVN covered California Senate Bill 520. The bill would grant online course accreditation to private companies allowing students to earn academic credit while attending a public college. Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacrament0) introduced SB 520. The University of California (UC) Academic Senate responded with an official letter opposing the bill. SB 520 aims to provide fifty of the highest demanded introductory courses in California public colleges and universities through online educators like Udacity and Coursera. Sen. Steinberg says this process will improve graduation rates by increasing access to over-enrolled classes. The UC Academic Senate stated the university system was not included in the construction of the bill. The March 15 open letter written by UC Academic Council chair, Robert Powell, said: “We were not consulted in the writing of this legislation, which purports to address course access problems experienced by students in public higher education.”
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