Unregulated Servers in SIAT Instruction
From LaurasWiki
From: [SIAT Admin]
Date: November 15, 2004 12:54:43 PM PST
To: [SIAT Faculty]
Subject: Unregulated servers used in SIAT instruction
All:
We have become aware of non-SIAT servers used to deliver course content. This activity may expose us to substantial risk. Here are some of the issues:
1 Copyright and intellectual property have not been institutionally vetted. This exposes us to considerable liability if materials are used without proper permissions.
2 Unreliable operation and maintenance. We have a contractual obligation to deliver course materials on time as described in the calendar and as approved by Senate. If servers fail, operate poorly and otherwise endanger the timely delivery of course materials, we are liable. The only approved means of delivery is via servers SIAT owns, operates, maintains or authorises.
3 Course content at significant variance from the course as described, approved. Again, we are liable and responsible. There are procedures for changing course content that require SIAT faculty and University approval. These should not be by-passed.
4 Faulty security and unregulated access. We are obliged by provincial law to keep student records and materials secure. We cannot be assured of this on servers we do not maintain or authorise.
5 Experimental use of alternative instructional models. Regularly scheduled courses should not be “experimental” unless described as such in the calendar or students have given their informed consent. In extreme cases, human subjects review may be necessary.
We have no desire to micro-manage your teaching or intellectual freedom. But we have statutory responsibilities to assure the quality of instruction. So please be sure of the following:
1 Do not use an “outside” or unauthorised server for the delivery of course materials, keeping of student records, delivery of exams and so on without our approval on both means (for reliability, security) and content (for intellectual property purposes).
2 We need to be aware of “outside” servers even if they are only partially relied upon (e.g. for recurrent class examples, exercises or for holding student records, data). Clearly, we don’t mean use of public websites or your links to them as a normal part of CMS web pages. When in doubt, ask.
3 Major modification of delivery models must be negotiated with us. Work loads and staff balance are based partially on “contact hours”. The approved delivery models take such matters into consideration. We may be called to question if it appears we are shorting students of this expected faculty contact.
We are in the process of developing a general policy for alternatives to delivery via the CMS, particularly the effective use of eLINK’s valuable services. Meantime, please consider the above. Thanks.
--[SIAT Admin]
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