Distributed Learning Meets Intellectual Property Policy: Who Owns What?

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Distributed Learning Meets Intellectual Property Policy: Who Owns What?

8/2/2005

By Dr. Veronica Diaz,
Learning Technologies Manager,
Adjunct Professor
University of Arizona

The rise of eLearning and technology in higher education—including distance education, digital repositories, and electronic courseware products—has changed the way faculty and institutions regard ownership and control of these materials. A new market exists for products that previously had little or no commercial value, especially as institutions become more adept and profitable at delivering and marketing distributed learning courses and programs. In turn, this has created a need for higher institutions to revise their existing intellectual property (IP) policies.

The authority and responsibilities of faculty members in this digital era regarding how courses are developed, taught, and maintained are in flux, and many existing institutional policies fail to address important questions raised in this changing environment. Distributed learning is vastly different from what has traditionally been covered with copyright (books, articles) and brings with it several important areas that must be addressed to ensure its long-term viability and proliferation.

One area is that of ownership—who owns what. In university intellectual property policies, it is not unusual to find little or no faculty involvement in the development of the policy. Few colleges and universities clearly grant IP interests exclusively to the faculty. It is far more common to find that the college or university has a policy that views courses as the property of the institution.

Another question involves all the other individuals involved in the creation of intellectual property. Current institutional IP copyright policies often include detailed distributed learning scenarios describing the participation of various individuals (media specialists, designers, instructors) in the production of instructional materials and corresponding ownership determinations. Some policies are particularly unique in addressing issues of content to include credibility and relevance and in assigning responsibility for such tasks beyond the original creator(s).

A well-developed IP policy should meet the diverse needs of those constituencies involved in development and delivery: faculty members, administrators, subject matter experts, instructional designers, and media specialists. Despite the rapidly changing distributed learning environment, institutions well-crafted IP policies create stability and foster productivity. The following recommendations come from a review of best practices of over 40 higher education IP policies addressing distributed learning and copyright.

Inclusive and Collaborative Policy Development

Institutions should develop clear policies, contracts, and agreements in order to create an environment in which all involved parties clearly understand their rights to ownership and control. This helps to prevent disputes and encourages innovation and participation over time. It is not unusual to find IP policies that focus on work of individual faculty. However, this traditional focus ignores the contributions of specialists when teams are used and fails to address new development models.