The following information is provided for Austin Peay State University faculty and staff for review and consideration in the development of online courses. 

• Online course development software
• Training and Support
• Hardware
• E-syllabus
• Online Syllabus
• Copyright Issues
• Template Contracts
• Compensation for online course development
• How to Develop Your Online Course
• Resourse Links
  • Online Syllabus
  • Regents' Degree Program Copyright Issues
  • Guideline A-075.
  • Copyright ownership flowchart
  • Copyright Ownership Scenarios
  • Employee Work for Hire Agreement
  • Copyright License Agreement
  • Partial Assignment of Copyright Ownership Agreement
  • Independent Contractor Work Made for Hire Agreement
  • Joint Ownership of Copyright Agreement
  • Tennessee Board of Regents
  • Distance Education Course Adaptation Form Guidelines*
  • TBR RODP Proposal Form*
  • APSU Courses for Credit through Extended Education Worksheet*

 *  Requires Acrobat Reader

Online course development software 

Blackboard Course Info (Bb) is the current software of choice at APSU. APSU holds a Blackboard CourseInfo license for faculty and staff. 

• APSU and/or faculty and staff retain ownership of the online course as the course developed is placed on the APSU server
• APSU faculty should not choose to place online courses on the server that is owned and controlled by Bb unless they want to share ownership with Bb.

WebCT option of course development is currently open to faculty who are developing courses for the Regents Online Degree Program (RODP). The WebCT software utilized to develop courses for the RODP resides on the TBR server. In the near future WebCT software may be made available through a server located on the APSU campus.

• Faculty developing RODP courses should use the WebCT software to place their courses online.

Microsoft Front Page, Dream Weaver and several other HTML editors may be used to develop materials and be moved to the software of choice for online course presentation. It is recommended that all course materials be developed with software such as Front Page and Dream Weaver and saved to folders of you choice prior to placing them onto the course delivery software. 

Training and Support
The office of Distance Education and the office of Computer Services provide computer and software training. 

Hardware
The office of distance education will provide hardware for faculty who do not have computer hardware that meets the criteria for online course development. The hardware is intended for use while an online course is being developed and taught. Some hardware used for online course development may be housed in the media center of the APSU library. 

E-syllabus 
Faculty should place the syllabus online for each course he/she teaches online. It is recommended that the syllabus for each online course be posted using an edited version of the TBR syllabus template. The URL at the end of this section is the location of the template. It is also recommended that the e-syllabus be posted in advance of the course so that prospective students may see the content of the course prior to registration. 

Online Syllabus 

• Intellectual Property 
  Intellectual property issues are dependent on the approach each faculty member takes in developing a course for online presentation. The options vary and are explained in the following TBR documents:  Regents' Degree Program Copyright Issues  

Copyright Ownership

• TBR Policy Guideline  
  TBR Policy Guideline A-075 lays out the general principles under which ownership of copyright associated with digital distance education materials shall be evaluated. The following link will take you to the Guideline: Guideline A-075.  
    
• Examples of how the Guideline is applied  
  The following flowchart and accompanying synopsis of ownership scenarios provide specific examples of how Guideline A-075 is to be applied to determine ownership interests of copyright in distance education materials:
  • Copyright ownership flowchart
  • Copyright Ownership Scenarios  

Template contracts  
Corresponding to the various ownership outcomes detailed in the foregoing flowchart and scenarios, the TBR Office of the General Counsel has developed standard contracts. Those template contracts be used by the TBR and their TBR Institution. 

• Employee Work for Hire Agreement
• Copyright License Agreement  
• Partial Assignment of Copyright Ownership Agreement  
• Independent Contractor Work Made for Hire Agreement  
• Joint Ownership of Copyright Agreement  

Compensation for online course development  
Compensation is dependent on the choice of the faculty in regard to the above agreements. If faculty choose to allow ownership to be passed to APSU after the course is developed they will receive compensation in one of two ways. 

1. Faculty may choose remuneration of $2500 for the development of each three credit hour course. 
     
2. Faculty may, with department chair's approval, choose one course release time. The following information may assist those who are thinking about RODP online course. 

How to Develop Your Online Course  
Once a faculty member has decided to develop an online course he/she should discuss the matter with the department chair and complete the following forms listed below and forward to the Dean of Extended and Distance Education. 

Forms Checklist: 

• Adaptation Proposal 
• Signature Sheet
• Intellectual Property (Copyright) Agreement 

For Questions or Comments, Email Dr. Stan Groppel