The University of Vermont Faculty Senate has approved an intellectual-property policy covering distance education that would offer copyright protection to the faculty and staff members who contribute to an online course’s creation.
Officials ther
The University of Vermont Faculty Senate has approved an intellectual-property policy covering distance education that would offer copyright protection to the faculty and staff members who contribute to an online course’s creation.
Officials there hope it will entice professors to participate in the online education program that’s just starting to get off the ground at the university.
The policy will not go into effect until it is approved by the acting president, Rebecca Martin. She is withholding comment on the proposal until the university’s lawyers review it.
Jean Richardson, president of the Faculty Senate, says the policy is unusual in that it would split the ownership of the online course into content, which would be controlled by the professors, and instructional design, which would be controlled by the institution’s staff.
The details of individual professors’ rights would be determined on a case-by-case basis through contract agreements, Ms. Richardson says. But the guiding principle of the policy is that faculty members would always have control over the content of the course material.
That means that if a professor left the university or a course was sold to another organization, the professor would continue to receive royalties and could decide whether the material should be used in the course at all.
"We’ve ended up with one of the most faculty-friendly policies in the nation," Ms. Richardson says.
Mark F. Smith, associate director of governmental relations for the American Association of University Professors, says the proposed Vermont policy is unusual in that it protects both faculty and staff members’ intellectual property. "I’ve looked at quite a few of these policies," he says. "I’ve never seen one outlined like this with such a division of ownership."
Ed Twarty, dean of the division of continuing education, says the intellectual-property policy will prove necessary as the new distance-education program expands.
Eleonora Panto
Dario Zucchini