copyrighted students

Eva Ekeblad (eva.ekeblad who-is-at ped.gu.se)
Wed, 9 Dec 1998 09:38:29 +0100 (MET)

At 11.42 -0500 98-11-26, Luiz Ernesto Merkle wrote:
> Last month, David Noble gave an interesting lecture here at the
>University of Western Ontario.
> He criticized the practice of certain Distant Education
>Institutions in which students have to sign contracts before attenting
>classes in order to pass the copyrights to the university/company that
>sells the courses.

This has been nagging in the back of my mind (the SSW corner, once removed)
since I read it. Luiz: What does this copyrighting entail? Does it go as
far as to deny the students any rights over their own written products
(never think the same thought twice, or you gotta pay for it)? or is it
"just" the right of the institution to go on using student-produced
materials (for profit?)?

Eva
in accordance with the local practice
of occasionally linking way back
(more than a week) in the conversation