Case Studies of IPRs in International e-Learning Programmes | 01/01/2006

Intrallect has coordinated research into Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in international e-Learning programmes. The study was carried out on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in partnership with Universities UK (UUK) and the Standing Conference of Principals (SCOP).

Five separate case studies were funded to investigate IPR issues. Each study investigated how IPRs are handled in international e-Learning programmes involving one or more UK universities working in association with international partners, collaborators or customers. The final reports from the case studies are available as pdfs at the end of each case summary.

Middlesex University: Global Campus Case Study Summary

The Global Campus facilitates e-Learning programmes that can be delivered by Middlesex University, in partnership with other institutions overseas. Current partnerships include institutions in Hong Kong, mainland China, Egypt and Singapore. The next academic year will involve programmes in Cyprus, Thailand, Dubai and The Lebanon.

The programme started in 1999 and almost 1000 students have graduated since. Currently there are more than 600 overseas students registered. The courses include Computing with Business (One year access to higher education), BSc Business Information Systems and MSc Business Information Technology.

Two types of partners were involved in the Programme: technology partners to produce the e-learning package; educational partners to deliver the academic programmes overseas and act as Learning Support Centres for students. The involvement of partners has raised a number of IPR issues regarding the exploitation of Global Campus material beyond the academic programmes for which the material was originally designed and the type of contracts that are required to manage IPR issues with each partner.

Case Study Project Manager

Walaa Bakry, Director of Business Development, School of Computing Science, Middlesex University

Link to project web site

Glasgow Caledonian University: Spoken Word Case Study Summary

The Spoken Word Project is transforming undergraduate learning and teaching through the integration of the rich media resources of digital audio repositories into undergraduate courses in the USA and the UK. The lead institution is Glasgow Caledonian University (UK) in partnership with Northwestern University (USA), Michigan State University (USA) and the BBC Information & Archives (UK). Other institutions which are using the materials include University of Bologna (Italy) and Columbia University (USA).

The Spoken Word project is a five year project funded as part of the JISC/NSF Digital Libraries in the Classroom Programme, which is running from February 2003 to February 2008. Currently, Spoken Word material is being used by over 400 students worldwide, based at Glasgow Caledonian University, Northwestern University, Michigan State University and the University of Bologna.

Management of intellectual property rights is necessary as the project involves the development of software and the creation of new metadata and learning objects. In addition, clearance needs to be obtained for third party materials, some of which are free for non-commercial use and some of which are subject to more restrictive conditions. The copyrighted material must be delivered across different legislative regions (UK, USA and EU) which complicates the process.

Case Study Project Manager

Anne Longmuir, Senior Research Librarian, Glasgow Caledonian University

Link to project web site.

Edinburgh University: CD-ROM on Skin Biology

The University of Edinburgh have been involved in many international projects to produce electronic learning materials for the teaching of Veterinary science including the TLTP2 CLIVE project and the EC Tempus project. This case study concentrates on a project they have lead to produce an educational CD-ROM in English, German and French. Three other Veterinary schools (Berlin, Nantes and Warsaw) were in partnership and assisted with translations, peer review and dissemination. Other partners include Dmac Scientific Consultants (UK) who contributed subject knowledge, story boards and co-ordination of peer review and Hospital Veterinaire Lvera Barcelona.

The project was funded by the EC Leonardo programme from 1999 to 2001. The output was a comprehensive CD-ROM on skin biology including basic scientific principles (intelligible to first year undergraduates) and a knowledge base aimed at all levels including postgraduate training in dermatology.

The project aimed to commercially exploit the material which was produced. This meant that IPR had to be negotiated and formalised for the consortia involved in the creation of the materials and appropriate methods of publication and dissemination had to be considered. In addition, translation of material into other languages raised integrity issues.

Case Study Project Manager

Dr Andrew Short, Royal School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh

Heriot Watt University: BA Management Degree

The Heriot Watt University (HWU) Research and Legal Information team have wide experience of assisting with the exploitation of learning materials internationally, including programmes run by the Edinburgh Business School and the Institute of Petroleum Engineering. This Case study will centre on the HWU BA Management degree which is being managed internationally by HWU and the Interactive University (which is a private company).

The BA Management degree will operates in 30 countries and currently involves some 3000 students. The degree is awarded by HWU but the course is delivered through Local Learning Partners which have been signed up by the Interactive University to provide local tutorial support to undergraduates.

It was necessary to have agreements between HWU, The Interactive University and the Local Learning Partners which requires negotiation. In particular the study will concentrate on the following issues: Contractual Relationships, Jurisdictional and Geographical Issues, Rewards and Business Models, Rights of Use, Risks and Enforcement.

Case Study Project Manager

Derek Brown, Legal Services Manager, Heriot Watt University

University of Bolton: Microelectronics teaching at postgraduate level

This case study will examine and compare the experiences of four e-learning programmes, all of which are concerned with teaching microelectronics at postgraduate level. This includes:-

• The AMI Programme partnered the University of Northumbria and Bolton Institute with students enrolled from Canada, Malaysia, USA, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Singapore and European countries (166 enrolments).
• The MIND Programme was funded by a European (Leonardo) Programme and has involved partners from universities and industry in UK, Italy and Germany.
• The CEESI programme involves ten UK University partners and a proportion of international students (380 enrolments).
• The Bolton Institute uses a selected protection model with different levels of access restriction for e-Learning material in an international context (130 enrolments).

All the programmes have been used by students internationally and have a combined total of 676 students enrolled. A variety of different business models which have been used including open access policies, sharing of academic credits from students, completion of modules and providing different levels of user access to teaching and learning materials. These models require different methodologies for dealing with IPRs.

This study will also include investigations into the case for and against open courseware at HE level in the international context and how the principle of selected protection could be applied in other disciplines.

Case Study Project Manager

Roy Attwood, University of Bolton

Programme URLS

MIND programme
CEESI programme
Stand-alone eLearning Programme