Bargaining Team Listening Session on Online Course Trainings & Article 29: Intellectual Property

AFT 2121’s bargaining team is considering changes to an article in your contract regarding online teaching. Our goal is to make the process of online teaching both efficient and fair so that faculty are better equipped to serve our students and city.

There have been some recent changes to the practices around the development of online courses. Faculty are no longer required to take a training (IOTL or AOTL) for each course. After completing IOTL once, faculty can now independently develop online courses. This new process conflicts with our contract’s provision (Article 29, Section 4.1 – 4.2) that provides faculty who have developed an online course the right of first refusal to teach the course for the next four semesters. This provision made sense when every online course that developed was tied to a training. The provision makes less sense with the decoupling of training and course development after completing IOTL. Some faculty have suggested removing this section from the contract.

Our bargaining team needs broad faculty input on this issue. Members can learn more about the issue and share your feedback at a Zoom listening session on Wednesday, May 3, from 3:30-4:30 pm. Please use this link for the zoom meeting (Meeting ID: 884 5328 5675). If you cannot attend the discussion, you can also share feedback by emailing Malaika Finkelstein, mfinkels@aft2121.org by 5/3.