The memo directing Oakley to create the college included a deadline to submit a plan for it by November.
Brown wrote that establishing an online college would make higher education more affordable and accessible to Californians.
The college could serve nontraditional students such as working adults, unemployed or underemployed individuals and those left behind by for-profit colleges that have been shut down.
The new college would run on a learning management platform as the supplementary courses of the 114 campuses currently offering online courses. However, the college may not follow an academic calendar. The new college could borrow classes, even entire degree programs, from existing learning management systems within the community college system.
Concerns about the college include whether it will offer bachelor’s degrees, the level of accreditation it should hold, national or international, and whether any physical infrastructure will be needed for certain programs.
Several options will be given to the governor so he can “choose an option that is a best fit for what they want to accomplish and put that in the governor’s January budget to make that a reality,” Oakley told Community College Daily.
This story was originally published by TechWire.
