WHEREAS, at Palomar College we comply with Title 5 for distance education; and WHEREAS we evaluate our distance education courses according to the following specific Title 5 regulations:

instructor-student contact
identifying at-risk students
student access to resources
accessibility
security
evaluation
faculty selection according to established minimum qualifications
WHEREAS, our approval of courses delivered via Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) should be based on the same scrutiny of compliance with Title 5 regulations and student success for all online courses.
WHEREAS, faculty at Palomar College are concerned with the following issues:

diversity
non-independent learners working independently in online MOOCs
faculty as evaluators of student success as well as course content and delivery

WHEREAS, there is ample evidence of poor completion rates for MOOCs (please see recent research on documented completion rates of less than 20% in MOOCs: http://www.katyjordan.com/MOOCproject.html), in particular those classes that are impacted.

Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED that the faculty at Palomar College strongly oppose accepting MOOCs as substitutions or equivalent courses for college credit.
The motion carried.