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L&S Statement Regarding Online Lecture Notes Services and Authorized Presence in Classroom
This statement was developed in response to an emerging trend in which students were offered opportunities to sell lecture notes. This guidance was offered to help faculty who preferred to retain their intellectual property.
In response to concerns instructors raised about students’ recording and publishing notes from lectures they attend, the discussion below suggests actions instructors might pursue under current university and UW System policy. We would like to know more about this issue, and will share what we learn with the Office of Legal Affairs. If instructors choose to pursue any of these actions, we would like to hear about their experiences.
Contact: Associate Dean of Academic Planning Elaine Klein (elaine.klein(at)wisc.edu or 265-8484).
Recent years have seen a remarkable increase in entrepreneurial activities online and on campus -- and, often, in the intersection between these two zones. One such activity that has provoked concern among educators and administrators across the nation is the placement of lecture notes online (sometimes for sale) by for-profit companies that claim to provide the notes as a service to students. The notes are usually accompanied by extensive commercial advertising and exhibit widely varying degrees of quality. As some instructors report, these notes commonly fail to convey the lecture completely or accurately, for example, by ignoring shifts in tone assumed for pedagogical purposes (irony, sarcasm), or by the misattribution of controversial statements quoted in lecture. While such concerns have always applied to student notes, they have only recently gained a worldwide audience.
This burgeoning industry has raised questions in the areas of pedagogy, academic freedom, copyright law, and freedom of speech. Some universities have banned companies that sell class notes as unauthorized commercial activity. Others have decreed that taking, selling or using online notes is academic misconduct. Some faculty members and instructors have embraced having access to class notes and recordings as a practice that provides an additional resource for students: by comparing notes, students learn to verify whether they understand important concepts; by participating in "chat rooms," students engage in scholarly discussions with their peers.
On our campus, responses have varied. Since the issues are complex and we have a tradition of honoring the autonomy of instructors and their academic freedom, we encourage faculty and staff to be aware of this issue and determine what, if any, individual response they would like to pursue.
Responses
Instructors who are concerned about students taking and selling notes or otherwise recording instructional content may wish to consider one or more of the following short term responses. To some degree, all of these responses are likely to affect the instructor-student relationship and the overall tone of the classroom; therefore, instructors should proceed with due caution before adopting any of these approaches.
Should professors choose to assert their personal copyright, or should instructors choose to notify students of the university's copyrights, they may want to consider placing the following statement on their syllabi:
Implications
We cannot pass these suggestions along without recognizing that employing them will, invariably, affect the tone of the course. Beginning a course with a discussion of these issues may draw more attention to them than they would otherwise attract; expressing opposition may draw still more. Keep in mind that when an individual asserts a property rights interest, that person is responsible for securing and protecting those rights. This is not a University responsibility. It can be time consuming to monitor for infringement, to give the student written notice that he or she has engaged in an infringing activity, and to bring an infringement action against a student who fails to adhere to your notice.
Note 1: In the past, ASM Student Print offered notetaking services for students; however, this service appears no longer to be available.
Note 2: We are indebted to our colleagues at the University of Texas for providing the initial model for this document, which has been adapted over the years as new policy and new issues have emerged. For more information about their approach, please refer to the University of Texas statement on "Ownership of Lectures: Commercial Note Taking in University Course" at www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/lectures.htm.
_________
University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters and Science
Original L&S version date: November 23, 2010
Updated: 8/10/2017
Recent years have seen a remarkable increase in entrepreneurial activities online and on campus -- and, often, in the intersection between these two zones. One such activity that has provoked concern among educators and administrators across the nation is the placement of lecture notes online (sometimes for sale) by for-profit companies that claim to provide the notes as a service to students. The notes are usually accompanied by extensive commercial advertising and exhibit widely varying degrees of quality. As some instructors report, these notes commonly fail to convey the lecture completely or accurately, for example, by ignoring shifts in tone assumed for pedagogical purposes (irony, sarcasm), or by the misattribution of controversial statements quoted in lecture. While such concerns have always applied to student notes, they have only recently gained a worldwide audience.
This burgeoning industry has raised questions in the areas of pedagogy, academic freedom, copyright law, and freedom of speech. Some universities have banned companies that sell class notes as unauthorized commercial activity. Others have decreed that taking, selling or using online notes is academic misconduct. Some faculty members and instructors have embraced having access to class notes and recordings as a practice that provides an additional resource for students: by comparing notes, students learn to verify whether they understand important concepts; by participating in "chat rooms," students engage in scholarly discussions with their peers.
On our campus, responses have varied. Since the issues are complex and we have a tradition of honoring the autonomy of instructors and their academic freedom, we encourage faculty and staff to be aware of this issue and determine what, if any, individual response they would like to pursue.
Responses
Instructors who are concerned about students taking and selling notes or otherwise recording instructional content may wish to consider one or more of the following short term responses. To some degree, all of these responses are likely to affect the instructor-student relationship and the overall tone of the classroom; therefore, instructors should proceed with due caution before adopting any of these approaches.
- The "honor system" approach : Discuss the practice of selling notes with students, formally (perhaps by including a position statement on the syllabus) or informally (as an early point made regarding general course policies or recommended study habits). Students, invariably, will be confused or miss class occasionally: while they will want to seek out every resource available, remind them that the quality and reliability of these notes could not substitute for the classroom experience. Offer alternatives -- for example, e-mail clarifications, meeting with the instructor or the TAs, setting up study groups. Finally, instructors may wish to make it clear that they do not allow any for-profit note taking services in the classroom. [Note 1]
- The "technology approach": Given the potential of online resources to enhance in-class learning, instructors should consider posting their own materials online. These might move beyond course descriptions and syllabi to notes, readings, and quizzes. Course management technologies offer instructors the ability to publish high quality materials in a password-protected space (limiting access to registered students). An appropriate use of UW-Madison Libraries' Library Course Reserve system (http://www.library.wisc.edu/lcp/), available through the MyUW portal may also be useful.
This approach essentially allows instructors to provide a competitive product of superior quality. They have control over the content and distribution of the materials, and the relationship between the instructor and the student is not be impinged upon by the commercial interests of a third party unaffiliated with the university. And if the instructors' materials (to which a proper notice of copyright should be attached) should find their way onto commercial websites, that may be a violation of Federal copyright law.
- The "copyright approach" : In the academic environment, students copy lectures in the form of notes—that permission is implicit, and until now, has not required any explanation that students have limited rights regarding the use and distribution of those copies. [Note 2] If a lecture is not reduced to a tangible medium (e.g., PowerPoint, detailed outline, recording, etc.) at the time it is delivered, the student's notes from a given lecture are the student's intellectual property which may be used or transferred as the student deems appropriate. However, if the lecture is reduced to a tangible medium for copyright protection, the intellectual property interest belongs to the person who is delivering the lecture, or, in certain circumstances, to the university.
Should professors choose to assert their personal copyright, or should instructors choose to notify students of the university's copyrights, they may want to consider placing the following statement on their syllabi:
Copyright Statement – Note Taking and Recording LecturesOther rules and laws prevent individuals who are not enrolled in the course from being present and making records or recordings of the course and/or course materials. An instructor should may also find it useful to remind students of the Federal Regulations that protect their privacy:
This syllabus and all lectures and materials are copyrighted 20__ [insert date and professor's name or UW Board of Regents]. As a student in my course, you may take notes for solely your personal use. Students are prohibited from providing or selling notes to anyone else or being paid for taking notes by any person or commercial firm without my express written permission. Unless you are considered by the university to be a qualified student with a disability requiring accommodation, you are not authorized to record my lectures without my permission. [Regent Policy Document 4-1]. Unauthorized use of my copyrighted materials constitutes copyright infringement and may be addressed under the university's policies, UWS Chapters 14 and 17, governing student academic and non-academic misconduct.
Authorized Presence in ClassroomIn order to secure these rights, instructors must secure protection by reducing their lectures to a tangible medium (as noted above) and keeping those materials on file as long as necessary -- at least until the end of the semester or until the course is no longer taught. Last but not least, instructors who choose to protect these rights also assume responsibility for monitoring whether those rights are encroached upon and for taking individual action when they are.
Only students who are officially registered for the course and in good standing may be present in the classroom. [UWS 18.11(6)(b) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)]. In addition to protecting the privacy of your education record, the closed and smaller class structure is intended to create a trust-based environment conducive to open and intensive discussion of key issues that form the basis of the course.
Implications
We cannot pass these suggestions along without recognizing that employing them will, invariably, affect the tone of the course. Beginning a course with a discussion of these issues may draw more attention to them than they would otherwise attract; expressing opposition may draw still more. Keep in mind that when an individual asserts a property rights interest, that person is responsible for securing and protecting those rights. This is not a University responsibility. It can be time consuming to monitor for infringement, to give the student written notice that he or she has engaged in an infringing activity, and to bring an infringement action against a student who fails to adhere to your notice.
Note 1: In the past, ASM Student Print offered notetaking services for students; however, this service appears no longer to be available.
Note 2: We are indebted to our colleagues at the University of Texas for providing the initial model for this document, which has been adapted over the years as new policy and new issues have emerged. For more information about their approach, please refer to the University of Texas statement on "Ownership of Lectures: Commercial Note Taking in University Course" at www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/lectures.htm.
_________
University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters and Science
Original L&S version date: November 23, 2010
Updated: 8/10/2017