Courseware Development for Distance Education: Issues and Policy Models for Faculty Ownership

The issue of who owns courseware is of great concern to faculty and universities. Until recently, when technology entered the picture, the issue was straightforward: faculty typically held copyright with everything except patents. One of the most interesting and complex issues of intellectual property in the digital environment is faculty ownership of online courses, sometimes referred to as courseware. Regardless of the type of institution, intellectual property policies that address ownership are essential to ensure incentives to create courseware, avoid litigation, and avoid competition between institutions. This paper provides an overview of current policies of higher education institutions concerning faculty ownership. The paper discusses the issues that universities should consider when creating intellectual property policies that address the emerging area of courseware development and reviews the current models available for adaptation. Examples currently in use for faculty ownership are also presented. (AEF)