Wiki Policy for Academic Uses

Copyright and Academic Integrity

If you are considering using Confluence for academic purposes the following information will be helpful in understanding the law and policy around the protection of students' education records as well as copyright for both you as the faculty member and for the students.

Faculty own the copyright of original content entered into Confluence according to Cornell University Copyright Policy, unless other contracts or agreements have been arranged specifically between the faculty member and the university (for example under a Faculty Innovation in Teaching Project). Please note that students own the copyright of the content they contribute to these sites as well, unless they are working in their capacity as a Cornell employee or other holder of a university appointment.

Moreover, both faculty and students are advised to use wiki resources responsibly by observing all laws and university policy that are incorporated into the Codes of Conduct and Academic Integrity. Some specific aspects of law and policy that might be well to remember are prohibitions against copyright infringement, plagiarism, harassment or interference with the underlying technical code of software. For more information visit the CIT site on Digital Literacy, http://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/ .

Family Education Rights Protection Act (FERPA)

Faculty should be aware that the content students enter into Confluence constitutes an education record and that FERPA regulations apply. Those regulations require that the content be protected from disclosure without student consent. Disclosure in this context includes posting student content openly on the Internet. University authentication (Kerberos sign-in) that is automatic to accessing these sites provides technical protection of education records. Faculty who intend to have students post original work openly on the Internet (for example, language classes where students' posts invite Internet user participation) may do so with the students' permission or by providing an opt-out option for individual students.

University Policies

The terms and conditions of this service fall under the University's computer-related policies (see below).

Related Policies

• 5.1 Responsible Use of Electronic Communications
• 5.10 Information Security
• 5.8 Authentication of IT Resources
• 5.9 Privacy of Information Technology Data