Table of Contents
Distributing materials to students
Instructors are responsible for preparing and distributing course materials for their home campus students.
For students at remote locations, OULN staff can help distribute your materials. To ensure enough lead time for printing and distribution, please contact the appropriate OULN Staff Contact(s) in advance and allow at least 48 hours for printing and delivery to the appropriate OULN classroom(s). If you contact an OULN staff member and do not hear back within a reasonable time frame, please follow up with the OULNSupport@ohio.edu.
Methods for Distributing Course Materials
Please use one of the following ways to distribute materials to your students.
Blackboard Learn
Documents can be uploaded to your course's Blackboard Learn page. For help using Blackboard Learn, contact the IT Service Desk.
Email
Documents can be emailed to the appropriate OULN staff contact(s).
FedEx
FedEx shipping is available between OULN locations. To send materials via FedEx:
- Prepare enough copies in advance for each student.
- Deliver the copies to the appropriate OULN contact on your campus at least two business days in advance:
Fax
Faxing is a last resort and is not recommended. If you must fax course materials to a remote location, contact that location's Operations Coordinator as soon as possible. Please keep in mind that OULN operators are there to provide technical support rather than clerical support. If an operator is busy faxing, copying or scanning, he or she will not be available to operate your class.
Recordings
Each OULN class is automatically recorded. If a faculty member does not want their class recorded, please inform the OULN Service Desk. Class recordings will be retained for one semester and then deleted, unless the faculty member requests they be retained for a longer time period. Copies may also be downloaded. Deleted recordings cannot be retrieved.
A class recording can be viewed via a web link provided by OULN to the faculty member. Students with high speed internet can view classes synchronously or asynchronously with the instructor's permission. Recordings can be password protected.
To obtain a link to a recording or to change how long a recorded class session is retained, contact the OULN Service Desk at oulnsupport@ohio.edu or (740) 597-2934.
Copyright Guidelines
Fair use
Copyright law dictates that for educational purposes copyrighted materials may be shared in the classroom under "Fair Use" doctrine. To decide if something qualifies as "fair use" consider these four factors.
- The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
- The nature of the copyrighted work
- The amount and sustainability of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
- The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
Learn more about "Fair Use"
Section 110 exemptions for performances and displays
Section 110 also provides exemptions of certain performances and displays.
"Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the following are not infringements of copyright:
(1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title, and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made;"
Learn more about Section 110
It is up to the professor to prove that the portion of the copyrighted material being used qualifies for fair use or section 110 exemption and that it has been acquired legally.
Final Exams
Proctoring
It is expected that the instructor, teaching assistant, graduate assistant, or other appropriate person selected by the instructor will serve as a proctor to quizzes, exams and finals. Please do not expect student operators to serve as proctors. OULN student operators should not serve as proctors.
As many of you know conducting a final exam at a distance can create challenges. When managing a final at one site with students at several locations, academic integrity of the testing environment is difficult to control. Academic dishonesty is always a concern. Please use whatever feasible testing method that you feel is appropriate to your class(es); however, please consider practical security issues associated with testing at a distance. Create an environment that will ensure reasonable and fair testing; envision your testing policies so that you may develop a strategy that works for you. Depending on how much your subject matter allows, on-line and take home exams may be appropriate for your course.
Scheduling Final Exams
The OULN distance learning classes exam schedule will follow that of the regional campuses' exam schedule. Every class session relies on the audio/video ‘real-time’ connection of each participating site’s unique classroom; these connections are vital to an OULN course.
We will post the upcoming semester's OULN final exam schedule to the OULN website at the beginning of each semester. Please check our website to obtain the OULN final exam connection time scheduled for your OULN course.
Instructor Compensation
The information below is effective as of Spring 2017. Please refer any questions about this section to the Office of Regional Higher Education. Additional information about instructor compensation can be found at Regional Higher Education Teaching Rates.
Instructor salary
Instructor salary compensation for overload/adjunct courses taught on the Ohio University Learning Network (OULN) will be at the normal overload/adjunct rate as long as income generated by student credit hours equals (breaks even with) faculty base salary for the course. Compensation for an OULN course that is less than break-even will be pro-rated up to normal overload rates based on average fee income per student credit generated in the course.
For on load teaching OULN teaching assignments, there will be no salary beyond additional compensation for travel and/or delivery as applicable (see below).
Travel reimbursement
OULN instructors will confirm reimbursement for travel expenses with the receiving campus(es)/center(s) associate dean(s) before the course is offered. This includes faculty who are eligible by university policy for mileage reimbursement given the large amount of expense that can be associated with mileage. Each campus may determine limits for travel reimbursement.
More information on Reimbursement Policies
College Credit Plus
Because of the discounted College Credit Plus tuition and the added cost to the broadcasting campus/center, delivery compensation will normally be excluded for OULN sections broadcasted to schools under the CC+ program.
Course preparation
All faculty scheduled to teach on OULN for the first time will be offered training before the start of the semester that the course will be delivered on OULN. Basic preparation will include an orientation session and/or handouts on operation and features of OULN equipment and how various aspects of OULN courses are conducted, e.g. testing and course evaluations, as well as copyright concerns with media utilized over the OULN system. There will be no compensation for course preparation/development.
Broadcasting campus compensation
For overload/adjunct OULN courses, the broadcasting campus will obtain compensation from the receiving campus(es)/center(s) in the amount equal to their proportionate shares of the overload instructor salary according to the number of students enrolled.
For OULN courses taught on load, the broadcasting campus/center will obtain compensation from the receiving campuses in total equal to the cost of an overload course including associated benefits (retirement, medicare and worker compensation). The receiving campuses will share that cost proportionately according to the number of students enrolled.
Delivery compensation and agreed upon travel compensation will be supported by receiving campuses/centers according to the proportion of students taught off-site by the instructor.
Point-to-point agreements
This agreement supersedes all past OULN and Point-to-Point Agreements. It does not preclude campus/centers from entering into alternate cost sharing structures for point-to-point classes. However, alternate agreements will provide standard instructor compensation amounts as noted above.
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