Copyright and Intellectual Property:
Considerations for Israeli Higher Education
Claudine SchWeber, Ph.D.
Office of Distance Education and Lifelong Learning
cschweber@umuc.edu
www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/
Israel, University of Haifa, February 2002
Fulbright Senior Specialist Program
Issues
• Plagiarism
• Course Ownership
• Course Materials-Copyright Permission
Plagiarism
• The prevalence of cheating:
– Reports estimate that 40% to 60% of students cheat
during their college careers
– Famous authors “Cheat” (S. Ambrose)
• Why students cheat:
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–
–
–
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Procrastination
Grade pressure (for an “A”)
Time pressure (too little of it)
Task pressure (too many of them)
The Professor ….let’s discuss
Faculty Response Continuum
Pedagogical
Response
Appropriate
Judicial Response
Appropriate
Patchwriting
Failure to cite
Failure to Quote
Fraud
Plagiarism
Reasons for plagiarism in the Digital Environment
• No face-to-face contact (community)
• Inability to verify a student’s work
• Prevalence of paper mills
• Ease of “cutting and pasting” digital text
• Others?
Plagiarism
What Can Be Done?
• Be straightforward on the issue, be clear on your
expectations
• Be creative in developing assignments
– Avoid “topic only” assignments
– Avoid applying textbook readings to as case
• Do segmented assignments
• Include decision making, investigations,
experimental inquiry, problem solving, and
invention in the assignment
Detecting Plagiarism (1)
• Use resources
– www.firstuse.com (Digital Integrity by search)
– www.plagiarism.org
– www.turnitin.com
Detecting Plagiarism (2)
• Web search engines
• Search your institution’s databases
• Know the “paper mills”
– www.sparknotes.com
– www.essaymill.com
Scenario
• Scenario:
• Dr. Gray receives an excellent portfolio of writing
from a student. In ever way, the writing is superb.
Dr. Gray recalls he read some of the writing
before, he just can’t remember where. He does
some searching and finds the student’s writing
was taken verbatim from an article Dr. Gray
assigned several semesters ago. Dr. Gray
confronts the student. The student explains she
was dealing with a sick infant and could not
concentrate fully on the project. She explains she
did not realize she had plagiarized. What should
Dr. Gray do?
Action Steps
• Establish an institutional policy and distribute
widely
• Detail policy and serious consequences in each
class
• Investigate plagiarism software detection tools
• Identify and keep up with “paper mills”
• Develop assignments and activities that are
unique and require application
• Enforce the policies-punish violators
Intellectual Property
Copyright
Course Ownership in the
online content
Copyright–USA
What is Copyright?
• Exclusive rights to publish, copy, and
distribute an author’s work, conferred on
the owner of copyright by 17 USCS 106,
vest in author of original work from the
time of its creation.
• Intent: to advance the progress of
knowledge by giving the author of a work
an economic incentive to create new works.
Copyright–USA
What Can Be Copyrighted?
• Tangible, original expression
• Three Fundamental Requirements:
– Fixation
– Originality
– Minimal Creativity
• Literature, drama, art, and music
Copyright–USA
Policy Context of Ownership
with the Online Course
• Current Policy Framework:
– Ownership resides with the institution expect for
traditional scholarly or teaching-related words OR
– Works created without the use of university facilities or
services
– Less often, ownership determined on a case-by-case
basis
– Typically, no specific policy for online course
development or ownership
– Also, little discussion of royalties without copyright,
primarily with patents.
Copyright–USA
Issues to Address
•
•
•
•
•
•
Course Development
Course Delivery
Extent of Use of University Resources
Competitive Advantage
Incentives
Control
Copyright–USA
I own it!? - One end of the continuum
Q: At what point does my claim of ownership begin to erode?
Scenario 1: Overload + no resources + on my own time + contract
to teach, not develop
Scenario 2: Above, but use university laptop
Scenario 3: Above, but do some work at office
Scenario 4: “Publish” materials on university services and in the
university developed and supported Web classroom
Scenario 5: Use University Staff to put materials on server
Copyright–USA
The university owns it!?
Scenario 1: Contract to design and develop
lecture and other class materials
Scenario 2: Negotiate release time + work at
office
Scenario 3: Online instructors are PAID more
for training, preparations and
delivery
Copyright–USA
Issues that muddy the waters
• In what ways is development of a Web course
different from writing books and articles?
• Faculty as publisher, university as distributor–
rights and obligations?
• Protection for university and faculty against
liability claims (eg., copyright infringement)?
• Do rights shift if Web materials become a factor in
salary increase and promotions?
Copyright–USA
Summary: Three Views
1. If ANY university resources are used to
produce, then university owns 100%
2. Shared rights, responsibilities, and benefits
3. Faculty owns 100% and university may not
use or benefit in any way without
permission
Copyright–USA
Issues to consider in Policy Formulation
• How to create incentives?
• Unbundling rights
• What should belong to the creator?
The University?
• Is it feasible to share ownership?
Copyright–USA
Possibilities to Consider
• Share ownership. Copyright resides with the
institution for a period of time and then reverts
back
• Have both parties retain certain privileges. Limit
competition, for example.
• Establish a royalty schedule for the course, if
licensed from course author.
Copyright–USA
Options
• Does not have to be “all or nothing”
• The online environment requires new thinking
about ownership
• Institutions and their faculty need to avoid past
mistakes
• Need to debate and discuss to find solutions
• Establish policies acceptable to all
Course Ownership
• UMUC National Study Results
• ? What are the policies in Israel?
Materials with Electronic Classroom
• Must follow your country’s copyright laws
• Penalties (in USA) for the university, plus
others
Conclusion
Plagiarism, Copyright, Electronic
Classroom resources
ongoing
challenges and change
Toda Raba
Sheelot?