Monday, June 14, 1999

Association Urges a Greater Voice for Professors in Distance Education By ALISON SCHNEIDER Washington The American Association of University Professors adopted policies over the weekend insisting on more of a faculty role in distance learning, and greater protection of academic freedom in medical schools. ALSO SEE: 2 Colleges Are Censured by Faculty Group; 7 Others Are Deemed Rehabilitated With on-line universities sprouting like kudzu and a growing cadre of professors incorporating the Internet into their teaching, it was only a matter of time until the A.A.U.P. decided to weigh in on the nexus between technology and the traditional rights of faculty members. Its new policy on the matter, "Distance Education and Intellectual Property," was unanimously adopted here Friday at the association's annual meeting -- with minimal fanfare and no fighting. Technology in the classroom is all well and good, the A.A.U.P. leadership said, but there need to be some checks and balances to insure that teaching quality and faculty rights don't get destroyed in the process. "Some obviously extravagant claims -- and even more extravagant investments -- have been made about the prospect of distance education as the universal solvent for higher education," said Mary A. Burgan, the association's general secretary. The A.A.U.P.'s policy statement is a "reasoned, somewhat skeptical" response to the situation, she added. Given that it was the A.A.U.P. issuing the policy statement, it comes as no surprise that the group advocates that, as with all curricular matters, professors should be the primary decision makers on distance education. Any university rules governing distance education should be approved by a faculty vote, the policy maintains, and departments should determine the extent to which new technologies will be used in their courses. The amount of credit that students can earn from a distance-education classes should also be left to the faculty to decide, the A.A.U.P. insists, as should issues pertaining to teaching-load credit. That's an essential component of the statement in the eyes of many A.A.U.P. members. Many distance-learning classes are "add-ons," heaped onto a professor's regular teaching load without giving the faculty member additional credit or compensation, said Jeffrey Butts, a professor at Appalachian State University and the chairman of the A.A.U.P.'s Assembly of State Conferences. "Even if they're not an add-on, they're not considered a normal part of their teaching load." This policy statement will be a "critical piece" of A.A.U.P. legislation, Mr. Butts added. "Administrators are looking for guidance about how to handle this because everyone is inventing the wheel." Maintaining quality control over the classroom is essential whether it's a wired one or not, A.A.U.P. leaders said. In practical terms, that means that faculty members preparing an on-line course should be given ample time to familiarize themselves with the new technologies, the policy states. They should have the same responsibilities for choosing and presenting materials on line as they do in a traditional classroom setting. And the tenets of academic freedom apply, the A.A.U.P. insists, whether a professor teaches students face to face or from afar. Faculty members should also retain control "over the future use and distribution of recorded instructional material" and be left to determine "whether the material should be revised or withdrawn from use," the policy says. Too often, Ms. Burgan explained, professors are finding out that on-line or audiovisual materials that they prepared for a specific course are being used by their institutions in other classes without their permission. That's unacceptable, Ms. Burgan said. (See a story from The Chronicle, June 5, 1998.) The A.A.U.P. also weighed in on copyright issues and who owns the rights to course materials developed for on-line classes -- the institution or the professor. Not surprisingly, the A.A.U.P. sided with faculty members. Universities may retain ownership interests in materials created by professors if they are works made for hire, if it's a joint work with the institution, or if the professor contractually agrees to transfer the copyright, the A.A.U.P. says. But the fact that a college videotapes a professor, edits on-line material, or provides marketing services for a distance-education class does not give the institution an ownership interest in the course materials, the association maintains. On the other hand, if the institution contributes to detailed matters like the substantive coverage of a course or provides creative graphic elements, it may have a stronger claim to co-ownership rights, the policy states. Because the technology is so new and faculty rights are so uncertain, the A.A.U.P. urges institutions to enter into contractual arrangements with professors outlining ownership, control, use, and compensation for distance-education materials. Alternatively, and less enthusiastically, the association encourages colleges to develop explicit internal regulations dealing with copyright issues. "Whoever owns the copyright, the institution may reasonably require reimbursement for any unusual financial or technical support," the policy states -- either in the form of future royalties or a license to use the work for internal purposes. If the institution holds the copyright, professors should retain the right to reproduce the work for instructional purposes, include it in future scholarly work, and have the right of first refusal if new versions of the materials need to be made. The point of the policy is not to stand in the way of technology, Ms. Burgan said, "but there are a lot of corporate people hired by colleges not just to fix these machines but to make sure that there are more machines to be fixed." The A.A.U.P. is not composed of a bunch of Luddites, she insisted, but it does want to inject some healthy skepticism into all the hoopla about technology in the classroom. "Take some advice," Ms. Burgan urged college administrators. "Not every criticism is an obstruction." In addition to the statement on distance education, the A.A.U.P. also endorsed a statement on academic freedom in medical schools. The policy had been thoroughly discussed at an association conference last month in Boston, which focused on corporate influence over academic research in medicine. (See a story from The Chronicle, June 4.) That left little for the group to talk about at its annual meeting, and the policy passed muster without much discussion. As competition for grants tightens, research subjects are being affected and, in some instances, medical scientists are finding it difficult to secure financing for unorthodox or politically sensitive research, the A.A.U.P. warns. "Academic freedom should be especially nurtured and supported because of the constraints surrounding medical research," the policy states. Background stories from The Chronicle: Medical Professors See Threat in Corporate Influence on Research (6/4/99) Professors and Universities Anticipate Disputes Over the Earnings From Distance Learning (6/5/98) Documents: The full text of the American Association of University Professors' new policies on distance learning and academic freedom in medical schools.