The Senate Committee on Research presented its courseware policy to the university's Faculty Senate during a recent meeting.

The plan offers a broad structure for courseware development and use at Penn State.

"Our goal was to come up with a policy that would both encourage faculty to use technology and to protect the university in using these materials," said Gary Miller, associate vice president for distance education and member of the courseware committee.

The objective of this project is to provide strong incentives for the involvement of university faculty in courseware development while protecting Penn State's interests in its curriculum and in controlling students' costs.

This is intended to improve, but not replace, conventional classroom instruction.

As cited in the group's report to the senate, works of this type include slides, computer-based graphics, software applications or other instructional materials and course supplements which sustain classroom lectures but are not incorporated into complete courseware products, syllabi and class notes in addition to computer-based textbooks.

All of this information will be handled under copyright policy and the existing patent policy.

In the past, there was not as much electronics, said Wayne Curtis, professor of chemical engineering and committee member.

"In 1980, when I attended Penn State, we used punch cards. There were no screen terminals, word processors or spread sheets. Everything is changing so fast, and we are trying to work with that."

The committee outlined several recommendations in its report that would benefit the policy.

"If class notes are going to be on a computer, why not just leave them there?" Curtis said.

The first thing mentioned is that the university owns this work and manages the publication of such courseware. A written agreement between Penn State and the courseware creator stating the purpose of the work must be signed at the beginning of the project.

"Everyone on the faculty will be protected," Curtis said. "It is important to let everyone know where they stand on this matter. The faculty has been constrained to protect themselves, while the administration feels the opposite way."

Also, when the university has courseware modules as part of the author's normal responsibilities or as a special project where extra commission is given, then it is considered a commissioned work.

The author will receive 50 percent of the royalties.

However, Penn State makes no claim to copyright ownership for non-commissioned courseware modules. The authors can arrange for use of their work outside the school when it is not a conflict of interest or commitment.

Lastly, because complete courseware products serve as course replacements, faculty courseware use is only allowed under Penn State's supervision.

"This plan is unlike other policies in that it is a compromise," Curtis said. "Once we put it into place, we are going to have to continue to change and work with it. It's going along with the times."