Get advice on avoiding the legal landmines in distance education
A Legal Primer for Online Instructors
It’s no secret that teaching online carries its own set of challenges, and not just in terms of pedagogy. Online instructors must be aware of legal issues as well, including copyright and intellectual property infringement, harassment, defamation and privacy issues. Step on one of these legal landmines in the online environment, and you could be in for a costly, embarrassing public legal battle.
You are eminently knowledgeable about your course content and the technical aspects of conducting online instruction. What do you know about the legal risks of online education?
If you’re like most faculty members, the answer is: not much. That’s because colleges often overlook liability concerns when implementing or expanding online offerings.
As online programs grow, so does the potential for legal liability. Some online programs are growing faster than the training available to support them.
Faculty members and administrators involved with distance education need to understand the legal ramifications of copyright infringement, intellectual property, online defamation, online harassment and other key issues so that they can protect themselves and their institution. Failure to do so can be costly—both financially and in terms of damaged reputations.
In A Legal Primer for Online Instructors, presenters Debi Moon, J.D. and Rob Jenkins, M.A. use real life examples to review avoidable legal hazards that online programs must address.
In A Legal Primer for Online Instructors, presenters Debi Moon, J.D. and Rob Jenkins, M.A. will introduce faculty members and administrators to the top legal concerns of online programming. They will explain how to avoid the biggest legal mistakes and ways to safeguard your institution’s distance education offerings.
As a participant in this audio online seminar you will learn:
• Ways to protect your school’s reputation and finances from legal threats based on online programming
• What constitutes harassment and defamation, for faculty and for students
• Strategies for steering clear of legal problems online
• How to identify potential problem areas at your colleges or in your courses
• How to construct websites and course materials that conform to the law and to college policies
• Faculty rights when it comes to intellectual property creation
• Ways to safeguard course materials and other proprietary information
• Personal faculty liability in an online teaching environment
• How to create reasonable and responsible computer use policies
• How to review existing online material for potential copyright violations
• Effective strategies to avoid defamation or harassment problems
Who will benefit from this seminar?
This seminar is recommended for:
• Professors and instructors with online teaching responsibilities
• Department chairs
• Academic affairs administrators
• Faculty developers
• Distance education professionals
• Technical support staff
• Anyone else with an interest in avoiding potentially costly mistakes related to online courses!
If you have any questions contact Customer Service at 800-433-0499 or (608) 246-3590 or email us at support@facultyfocus.com.
Debi Moon, J.D. has served as the assistant vice president of Educational Affairs at Georgia Perimeter College, the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and as an associate professor of Business. She is the recipient of the National Teaching Excellence Award and was a Governor’s Teaching Fellow in the State of Georgia. She was awarded the national Wagner Award for Innovation for her work in faculty development in distance learning.
