“Who Owns What: Policy and Practice Regarding Online Course Ownership in Community Colleges”

This report is free and online.

The report found that:

· Most IPR policies clearly state that the institution owns tuition revenues from online courses, but were unclear about who or what owns course-specific domains and/or usage rights for derivative works, distribution and resale.

· The IPR policy should be less ambiguous and include specific language about online course ownership.

· Colleges should offer training on how staff should interpret their IPR policies.

· Colleges should create written agreements to augment their IPR policies that include explicit language that delineates the rights of the institution, faculty and students. Colleges should include language from the work-for-hire clause to protect the institution and faculty.

· Colleges should make the IPR policy accessible to all faculty and staff members.

Fred Lokken, chair of ITC, noted the importance of this study for community colleges. “This report provides valuable survey data regarding the status of intellectual property rights on college campuses nationally. The results will be of great value to administrators as they assess where they are, and where they need to be.”

Community colleges are the largest provider of online courses to students in the United States. Enrollment growth is expected to continue. ITC provides leadership, information and resources to expand access to, and enhance learning through, the effective use of technology. An affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges, ITC represents higher education institutions within the United States and Canada that use distance learning technologies.