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Issue of Ownership on the Online Course Materials

This paper addresses the issue related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the context of ownership of online course materials in particular, the copyright. Several facets of ownership including issues related to the faculty owned course material and institute owned course materials have been discussed here. Just owning the course material may not bring in much benefit for the institute and the faculty. Utilization of the networking system can help tremendously in knowledge distribution beyond its boundaries, classrooms, space and time and both can be benefited. Then, who should own these course materials? The faculty who is the creditor of this bundle of knowledge or the institute which has engaged these full time facilities? This topic requires in depth study and research as the recent developments in Internet and communication technology have drastically changed the scenario of education in online context. The total system of information flow has become fuzzy and fluid. Learners are inclined more towards taking up online/distance education courses in higher education rather than classical type of education. The copyright protection of these courses materials is of major concern today, as both the institute and the faculty face the threat of losing the authority and benefit of owning these materials because of these drastic developments. Hence traditional way of dealing with IPR in the context of online course materials need be taken into consideration. The focus of the study is who should own the online course material: The Institute or the faculty involved in the development of the material.