UNIVERSITY COMMITTEEON EDUCATIONAL POLICY: ANNUAL REMINDER ABOUT THREATS TO ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
This is a reminder from the University Committee on Educational Policy (UCEP) to all UC faculty to be vigilant about the threats to academic integrity and intellectual property posed by online services where students share copyrighted course materials and pay third parties for completing students’ assignments, papers, and exams.
Posting of instructor-owned course materials to third-party websites without the instructor’s permission is especially problematic because it may at once violate intellectual property rights, provide opportunities for students to cheat, and financially enrich these third-party online services. In an effort to mitigate these risks, we recommend several measures:
(1) remind students of the specific actions that constitute violations of academic integrity and intellectual property policies and of the serious consequences of committing such violations. This can be done through statements in course syllabi and announcements in class meetings at the beginning of each quarter or semester.
(2) include a copyright notice on your course materials. For some guidance on copyright notices, please see the following link: https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/faqs/#h.
(3) include the following sentence in your course materials in the header or footer of course materials: “This content is protected and may not be shared, uploaded, or distributed.” One online service, Course Hero, has indicated that its filtering tool will generally prohibit the upload of documents that contain this statement.
(4) define whether the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools is acceptable. And, if so, articulate what type of use is acceptable (e.g., are they allowed to share your course materials?). The syllabus should notify students if they are required to acknowledge use of GenAI in their coursework.
UCOP has issued similar guidance regarding the unauthorized uploading of course materials; such guidance may be found here: https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/ownership/protect-coursematerials.html. In addition, each campus has its own policies and procedures related to violations of academic integrity, and faculty should make sure they are fully aware of the most up-to-date information on this topic. The UCOP webpage referenced in this paragraph includes a drop-down menu titled “UC Resources,” which includes links to further information about policies and resources on each campus.
UCEP recognizes there are no easy solutions to the unauthorized posting of course materials onto third party websites and that dealing with these issues adds yet another item to a faculty member’s long list of responsibilities. The measures referenced in this memo are, however, relatively straightforward and not unduly onerous, especially given the seriousness and importance of the concerns they address.
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