1. Overview

   Ohio University encourages educational innovation and experimentation in the use of techniques that improve instructional effectiveness and efficiency. Television should be one of the educational tools available to the student and teacher.

   Faculty activity in preparing and utilizing educational TV programs should be encouraged through the mechanisms that follow. (In this context, "faculty" is taken to include all those who have a teaching role within the university established by contract.) All such activities, depending upon their nature, shall be regarded as scholarly research or as service to the university.

2. Ownership

   Ohio University shall be the sole and exclusive owner of video-recorded programs of instruction produced through the facilities of the university by faculty members on contract to the university.

   It is recognized, however, that the faculty member reserves to himself or herself exclusive rights to the ideas, notes, and literary effort developed in connection with the preparation of such programs.

3. Control

   Control over the content of these programs shall be retained by the faculty member or faculty members participating in their preparation.

   Ohio University shall have full use of programs of televised instruction produced with its facilities, consistent with the purposes for which they were produced, for a period of five (5) years with the understanding that normal review and revision should occur after that period of time.

   These programs may, during that time, be duplicated or rendered in various recording formats, and transmitted via broadcast or closed circuit systems for use in appropriate university courses wherever they may occur.

   These provisions are to be embodied in agreements signed by individual faculty members and by representatives of the university prior to the initiation of substantial production planning. Such agreements will also treat related questions of liability.

4. Compensation

   Compensation to faculty members for participating in educational television activities should normally take the form of load remission. Generally speaking, educational television production activities should not be looked on by the faculty member as a source of additional income. Suggested load remission formulas are provided in section (E), below. However, financial compensation may be made available to faculty members for the production of educational television materials for off-campus use. These compensation arrangements are subject to approval by the Dean of the College of Communication.

   Production of occasional lectures or demonstrations for television should be recognized as a part of the faculty member's service to the university.

5. Production and utilization practices

   1. Planning and production

      Since it is the intent of this policy to assist departments and faculty members in their efforts to strengthen educational programs, the time and resources provided faculty members to plan and prepare educational television materials should be sufficient to produce a professional result. It is understood that planning for these purposes encompasses all elements of the educational system, not just the television presentations themselves. The amount of time needed will vary, but it will normally be substantially more than that required for conventional methods of instruction. This investment in time may be recovered in varying degrees depending upon the extent of use of the resulting materials. Such time requirements should be taken into account in the total allocation of responsibility to the faculty member or members concerned. Ordinarily the time allocated to educational materials development should be scheduled in such a way that it will provide adequate release time without additional financial compensation. A rule of thumb is that a teacher is often given a total of three credit hours of class remission, which may be extended over more than one semester, for each credit hour of televised instruction he or she is preparing.

   2. Utilization

      One of the great values to be derived from educational television is that it can be used to provide students and their teachers with closer professional contacts. Therefore, to the extent possible, televised lessons should be recorded by instructors who will remain close to the class using the TV materials. Any instructor who maintains an active personal involvement with the students in such a course should have the time required for appropriate utilization included in his or her course load.

      Having been provided with load adjustments for preparation and production, the faculty member who opts to disassociate himself or herself from further utilization of the TV course materials will receive no further compensation for their use in Ohio University programs.

   3. Review and revision

      Following the expiration of the first contract period, the university will not use the educational TV programs until they have been reviewed by the office of Educational Telecommunications and the faculty member or faculty members who produced them. Such approval shall be granted for a specified period of time not to exceed five (5) years.

6. Extended sale or lease

   The primary purpose of the university educational TV program is to assist departments, regional campuses, and faculty members in their efforts to strengthen their own educational offerings. However, production of outstanding educational materials at Ohio University may be expected in some instances to produce requests from other institutions for their use either through lease or purchase arrangements. In those instances faculty members, departments, or regional campuses primarily involved in the preparation of such materials should share in any net income. Those expenses which were incurred in preparing the materials for extended sale or lease (but not the original production expenses) will be deducted from the gross income to arrive at the figure available for further distribution. In the absence of unusually high costs accruing to either the department or the appropriate campus, the suggested mix might be 25% returned to the department or regional campus division, 25% returned to the university, and 50% to the faculty member or members. ("Appropriate campus" means campus at which production was made.) Grant-funded productions may require external distribution in a manner specified by the granting agency.

   Administrators do and will continue to develop TV programs for services training, and educational purposes. Administrators doing so are granted the same privileges and protections as are granted to faculty within this policy.

Reviewers

Proposed revisions of this policy should be reviewed by:

1. General Counsel

2. Dean, College of Communication

3. Assistant Vice President for Research for Economic and Technology Development

4. Faculty Senate

5. Graduate Student Senate

Forms, References, and History

1. Forms

   There are no forms that are specific to this policy.

2. References

   The following item is relevant to this policy:

   1. Policy 15.015, "Copyright."

    

3. History

   Draft versions of this policy that were circulated for review, their cover memos, their forms, and Reviewers' comments on them are available on the password-protected Review site.

   Prior versions of this policy were approved on:

   1. April 30, 2003

   2. July 1, 1987

   3. February 6, 1974