Skip to main content

This policy provides guidance to faculty in achieving the following outcomes through the utilization of Open Educational Resources (OER) at Central Virginia Community College: (1) improve student success through increased access and affordability, and (2) improve teaching efficiency and effectiveness with the ability to innovate, focus, analyze, augment, and redesign course materials directly aligned with course learning outcomes.

Definitions

Copyright - Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished work. http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html 

Creative Commons licenses - These licenses manage the copyright terms that attach automatically to all creative material under copyright, and allow that material to be shared and reused under terms that are flexible and legally sound. http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ#What_are_Creative_Commons_licenses. 3F 

Open Educational Resources (OER) - Freely accessible, openly licensed documents and media that are useful for teaching, learning, educational, assessment and research purposes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources 

Public Domain - A work of authorship is in the public domain if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.

The Commons - Refers to the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing. 

OER Course - A CVCC course that is either openly licensed (zero-cost) or uses some additional content which is copyrighted but used with expressed permission from the copyright owners granted to the faculty on a case-by-case basis, or is taught with materials that have a total cost less than $40. 

  1. Zero Cost Textbook: OER. Materials published under Creative Commons License, or any of the several public copyright licenses, or are in the Public Domain.
  2. Low Cost Textbook: OER. Other CC BY-licensed materials that students must purchase to defray printing cost.
  3. Zero Cost Textbook: non-OER. Copyrighted materials from library subscriptions and other resources which are provided free to students through the Learning Management System (LMS).
  4. Low Cost Textbook: non-OER. Materials with a total cost of less than $40.

Policy

Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) shall make use of OER materials in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 (Intellectual Property) of the Virginia Community College System Policy Manual; the Creative Commons licensing standards; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998; applicable state laws (HB 454; HB 2380) and federal copyright laws; accepted best practices of the OER community; and college policies and academic standards. Faculty who incorporate OER materials into their courses shall assume all responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the course content as related to copyright and scholarly merit.

Responsibilities

The Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs and the Academic Division Associate Vice President, in conjunction with the OER Advisory committee shall be responsible for overseeing and approving procedures that are consistent with this policy and comply with applicable regulations, policies, and procedures of the Virginia Community College System, and the laws and regulations of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

Prior to course scheduling, the Academic Division Associate Vice President or their designee will contact their faculty to ascertain which course sections will be taught as OER.  Faculty choosing to teach OER courses will notify the academic division administrative assistants which course sections will be OER, before student registration opens. Upon notification, the academic division administrative assistants will duly mark in the course catalog course sections that are OER.

Procedures

  1. OER Training and Professional Development
    1.  CVCC will offer an Introduction to OER Faculty Development Orientation Course for faculty interested in adopting, adapting, or developing OER materials. The course will be taught by faculty or staff designated by the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. 
  2. Course creation
    1.  Faculty who propose to develop an OER course must obtain permission from the Academic Division Associate Vice President and program head to undertake the project. Upon approval, the faculty member must successfully complete the Introduction to OER course.  Once the course is developed, the faculty will complete the OER Course Development Agreement Form, and the OER Checklist. 
      The completed course will be reviewed by the program head, Academic Division Associate Vice President, and the OER Advisory Committee, for quality, impact on student success, compatibility with broader program level OER efforts, and adherence to OER Course standards. Final approval for OER course designation will be the responsibility of the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs. 
  3. Course Modification
    1. In order to modify an OER course, the faculty member must successfully complete the Introduction to OER course, the OER Course Development Agreement Form, and the OER Checklist. Faculty are encouraged to follow the OER Community standards in the adoption of OER: Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix and Redistribute.
  4. Course Adoption
    1. A faculty member may adopt and teach an existing OER course without completing the Introduction to OER course provided that the adoption is approved and recommended by the program head or Academic Division Associate Vice President and that no modification is done to the adopted course.   
  5. Fair use and fair dealings
    1. Faculty must comply with the Fair Use doctrine and be aware of the permissions afforded by the Creative Commons Licenses, the Public Domain, and their intersections with Fair Use and Fair Dealings.      
  6. Quality Standards for OER
    1.  All OER materials selected for inclusion in any course must align directly with the approved CVCC student and course learning outcomes. In courses where there are VCCS articulated learning outcomes, the instructor is expected to align with these statewide standards when developing the OER course materials.
  7. OER course publication
    1.  All OER courses will be published in an electronic format in a manner that permits access to the course content and other learning materials.   
  8. Licensing for faculty original content 
    1. Faculty who create original content that is incorporated as OER material should choose one of the Creative Commons licenses or adopt a CC0 “no copyright reserved” option. 
  9. OER Support
    1. Librarians will provide support for all faculty wishing to incorporate OER into a course. Support provided by designated Librarians include preparing and maintaining the OER LibGuides and assisting faculty in the location and curation of OER content. Additional support will be provided by faculty leaders, administrators, and the Distance Education Department. 

Resources and Attachments

VCCS Policy Manual, Section 12, Intellectual Property, subparagraphs 12.0 through 12.0.11 
Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org

 

Policy #: CVCC0117
Effective: 04/16/2019
Last Reviewed/Revised: 12/19/2025
Responsible Dept.: Academic and Student Affairs
Other Policy References: NA