Open Education Consortium Terms of Use
Additional Terms of Use, Open Education Professional Directory
The Open Education Consortium’s Privacy Policy
Open Education Consortium Terms of Use
1. General Information Regarding These Master Terms of Use (“Master Terms”).
Please read these terms carefully because they apply to your use of all of the websites owned by the Open Education Consortium (collectively, the websites to which these terms apply, the “Websites”), including the products and services provided through the Websites (collectively, the “Services”). Websites include, but are not limited to, the websites operated atwww.oeconsortium.org, www.openeducationweek.org and http://conference.oeconsortium.org. The Open Education Consortium, Incorporated (OE Consortium or OEC) is a Massachusetts corporation with a primary mailing address of PO Box 251, Newton, MA, 02464, United States.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing with the OE Consortium, your use of any Website or Service will always be subject to, at a minimum, the terms and conditions set out in this document. These are referred to as the “Master Terms.”
In addition, your use of any Website or Service may also be subject to the terms of any legal notice applicable to the Website or Service, in addition to the Master Terms. All such terms supplementing these Master Terms are referred to below as the “Additional Terms.” Where Additional Terms apply to a Website or Service, these will be accessible for you to read either within, or through your use of, that Website or Service.
The Master Terms, together with any Additional Terms, form a binding legal agreement between you and the OE Consortium in relation to your use of the Websites and the Services. Collectively, this legal agreement is referred to below as the “Terms.” If there is any contradiction between the Additional Terms and the Master Terms, then the Additional Terms shall take precedence in relation to the Website or Service to which the Additional Terms apply.
2. Your Agreement to the Terms.
YOUR ACCESS OR USE OF ANY WEBSITE OR SERVICE IN ANY WAY SIGNIFIES THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS. By accessing or using any Website or Service you also represent that you have the legal authority to accept the Terms on behalf of yourself and any party you represent in connection with your use of any Website or Service. If you do not agree to the Terms, you are not authorized to use any Website or Service.
3. Changes to the Terms.
From time to time, the OE Consortium may change, remove, add to (including without limitation by way of Additional Terms) or otherwise modify the Terms, and reserves the right to do so in its discretion. In that case, we will post the updated Master Terms or Additional Terms, as relevant, to the applicable Website(s) and indicate the date of revision. We encourage you to periodically review the Terms. In addition, if our modifications are material, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to notify you electronically. For example, we may send a message to your email address, if we have one on file, or we may display a notice on the Websites indicating that the Terms have changed. All new and/or amended Terms take effect immediately; provided, however, that if deemed material by the OE Consortium in its sole discretion, such new and/or additional material terms will be marked as such and will take effect 30 days after they are posted on the applicable Website. Notwithstanding the foregoing, (i) no modification to the Terms will apply to any dispute between you and the OE Consortium that arose prior to the effective date of any modification and (ii) if you do not agree with any modification to the Terms, you may terminate this agreement by ceasing use of the Websites and Services. Your continued use of any Website or Service after new and/or revised Terms are effective indicate that you have read, understood and agreed to those Terms.
4. Provision of the Websites and Services Generally.
The OE Consortium makes the Websites and Services available to you on the Terms. You may only use the Websites and Services in accordance with these Master Terms and any applicable Additional Terms. In particular but without limitation, you may not use the Websites and Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Master Terms, any applicable Additional Terms, or any other conditions or notices that are made available on any Website or Service.
5. Location of the Websites and Services.
The Websites and Services are controlled and offered by OEC from its facilities in the United States of America. OEC makes no representations that the Websites or Services are appropriate or available for use in other locations. If you are accessing or using any Website or Service from other jurisdictions, you do so at your own risk and you are responsible for compliance with local law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Websites may contain or provide links to Content (defined in Section 8, below) hosted on websites located outside of the United States of America.
6. User Conduct.
Users agree not to use the Websites or Services to:
- Post, use or transmit Content that you do not have the right to post or use, for example, under intellectual property, confidentiality, privacy or other applicable laws;
- Post, use or transmit unsolicited or unauthorized Content, including advertising or promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of unsolicited or unwelcome solicitation or advertising;
- Post, use or transmit Content that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment or otherwise interfere with or disrupt the Websites or Services or servers or networks connected to the Websites or Services, or that disobeys any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the Websites or Services;
- Post or transmit Content that is harmful, offensive, obscene, abusive, invasive of privacy, defamatory, hateful or otherwise discriminatory, false and misleading, incites an illegal act, or is otherwise in breach of your obligations to any person or contrary to any applicable laws and regulations;
- Intimidate or harass another;
- Use or attempt to use another’s account, service, or personal information;
- Remove, circumvent, disable, damage or otherwise interfere with any security-related features that enforce limitations on the use of the Websites or Services;
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Websites or Services, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to the Websites or Services, through hacking password mining or any other means or interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Websites or Services or any activities conducted through the Websites or Services;
- Use any means to bypass or ignore robots.txt, or other measures we use to restrict access or use of the Websites or Services;
- Impersonate another person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; or
- Post or transmit any personally identifiable information about persons under 13 years of age.
In addition, you may not (and may not authorize another party to): (i) frame or otherwise co-brand the Websites or Services (for example, by displaying a name, logo, trademark or other means of attribution of a third party that is reasonably likely to give the user the impression that that third party has the right to display, publish or distribute the Website or Service); or, (ii) use any Website or Service in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage or impair such Website or Service, or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of any Website or Service.
7. Terms Relating to Content on the Websites and Services.
- Responsibility for Content. You understand that all material, data and information, such as data files, written text, computer software, music, audio files or other sounds, photographs, videos or other images (collectively, “Content”) which you may have access to as part of, or through your use of, the Websites and Services are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Content originated. This includes assertions that persons may make, expressly or impliedly, about the provenance and ownership of Content that they supply, upload, list and/or link to. You acknowledge that the OE Consortium does not make any representations or warranties about the Content, including without limitation, about the accuracy, integrity or quality of the Content made available at the instigation of users of the Websites and Services. You understand that by using the Websites and Services, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances is the OE Consortium liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to: any infringing Content, any errors or omissions in Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, transmitted to, linked to or otherwise accessible or made available via the Websites and Services.
- Licenses Associated With Content on the Websites and Services.
- OEC Content: All Content (other than computer software) owned by the OE Consortium and made available by OEC on the Websites or through the Services is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, unless marked otherwise.
- Your Content: You retain the copyright in Content you own and that you provide on the Websites or in connection with the Services. You hereby agree that all Content you own and voluntarily provide to OEC on or through any Website or Service may be used under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license or any later version of a Creative Commons Attribution International License, is not copyrightable, or is in the public domain (such as Content you make available under CC0). When you post Content you own, you designate Creative Commons for purposes of attribution as provided in Section 3(a)(1)(A)(i) of that license, and grant permission for the relevant Website URI to be associated with Content you own for purposes of that license. If Content you own and provide is protected by copyright, then unless it is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, you must not provide it to OEC. For the avoidance of doubt, you may otherwise license your Content on any terms or no terms at all, but upon uploading or supplying Content you own that is protected by copyright to CC on the Websites or in connection with the Services, you are licensing such Content under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (and future versions of the Creative Commons Attribution International License) as provided herein in addition to any such other license that may apply to Content you own; provided, however, that this subparagraph (b)(ii) shall not apply to Content, if any, that you identify or reference when using our License Chooser or CC0 Chooser but that you do not supply or upload onto the Websites or in connection with the Services. For Content you upload onto the Websites or supply in connection with the Services that is not owned by you, you agree that all such Content has been licensed by its owner under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, is not copyrightable, or is in the public domain (such as Content made available under CC0). If Content you do not own is not available under these terms, you must not provide it to OEC.
- Third Party Content: Third Party Content and Third Party Websites (as defined in Section 9, below) that OEC links to or embeds in the Websites or that are provided through the Services, including but not limited to course search, blogs and news feeds, are subject to the license terms accompanying such Content. We encourage you to always verify the license of any such Content before use.
- Search Results: The OE Consortium provides website search tools as a Service on some of the Websites. While almost all content on OEC websites are openly licensed, as stated above, you should independently verify the terms of the license attached to any Content you intend to use.
- Content You Provide.You may only submit Content to the Websites or in connection with the Services that you have the right to submit. This means that you can only submit Content that you yourself create, that is in the public domain or that you have been expressly granted the right to submit consistent with the Terms. For the avoidance of doubt, Content that infringes the rights of any third party (e.g., Content used without express permission of the copyright owner and not otherwise permitted by law) must not be submitted. You represent, warrant and agree that no Content of any kind submitted, posted or otherwise shared by you on or through any of the Websites or Services, violates or infringes upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights, or contains libelous, defamatory or otherwise unlawful material. Further, you represent, warrant and agree not to submit any personally identifiable information, including any Content containing personally identifiable information, about any person who is under 13 years of age. OEC may, but is not obligated to, review your submissions and may delete or remove (without notice) any Content in its sole discretion that OEC determines violates the Terms or that may be offensive, illegal, or that might violate the rights, harm or threaten the safety of others. OEC does not endorse or support any Content posted by you or any other third party on or through the Websites or Services. You alone are responsible for creating backup copies and replacing any Content you post on the Websites or Services, and you authorize the OEC Consortium to make copies of your Content as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting of your Content on the Websites or Services. You may request the removal of your Content from the Websites or Services at any time, and OEC will take reasonable steps to promptly remove such Content; provided, however, that OEC can remove any such Content only from its Websites and cannot remove Content from email archives, wiki history pages and similar community forums where you may post content, or others’ computers, such as Content you may have sent to others in an email posted to an OEC email list. If you choose to remove your Content, the Creative Commons license you granted when submitting such Content (see subparagraph (b)(ii), above) will remain in full force and effect in accordance with its terms.
- Use of Content on the Website or Services.You may use the Content you find on the Websites or Services in accordance with the terms of the license applicable to that Content. For the avoidance of doubt, you must attribute all Content (except public domain Content) in the manner specified by the author or licensor (including attribution to any designated Attribution Party) and in accordance with the terms of such license and you must not remove or alter any copyright, trademark, name or other notice or legend that appears in connection with the Content. You represent and warrant to the OE Consortium that you will use any and all Content on our Websites or Services in accordance with the applicable license. You should be sure to review the terms of that license before you use the Content to which it applies so that you know what you can and cannot do.By using the Websites or Services, you agree that you are solely responsible for your use of any and all Content made available thereon. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any reliance on the provenance, ownership, accuracy, completeness, or reliability of such Content. In this regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content made available on the Websites or Services without your own independent evaluation of that Content. The OE Consortium does not guarantee that Content made available on the Websites or Services does not infringe the rights of any third party.
8. Third Party Websites and Content; Links.
The Websites or Services may contain links to websites not controlled by the OE Consortium (“Third Party Websites”), as well as Content belonging to or originating from persons or organizations other than the OE Consortium (“Third Party Content”). You acknowledge that the OE Consortium is not responsible or liable for any Third Party Websites or any Third Party Content, information or products made available at any Third Party Website, regardless of whether any Third Party Website or Third Party Content bears a Creative Commons license or OE Consortium member mark. You further acknowledge that the OE Consortium (a) is not responsible or liable for any Third Party Websites or any Third Party Content, information or products made available at any Third Party Website; (b) has not reviewed any Third Party Websites or Third Party Content for accuracy, appropriateness, completeness or non infringement; (c) has not sponsored or otherwise endorsed Third Party Websites or Third Party Content; and (d) makes no representations or warranties whatsoever about any Third Party Websites or Third Party Content.
9. Participating in Our Community: Registered Users.
Registering for an account on any of the Websites is void where prohibited. Any registration by, use of or access to the Services provided to Registered Users (defined below) by anyone (1) under the age of 13 or (2) under the age of majority in their jurisdiction but without parental or guardian permission, is unauthorized, unlicensed and a violation of these Master Terms. By registering for an account on any of the Websites or using the related Services, you represent and warrant that you (1) are the age of majority in your jurisdiction or, (2) are over the age of 13 and have the express permission of a legal guardian to become a Registered User and use Services made available to Registered Users, and you further agree to abide by all of the terms and conditions of these Master Terms and any applicable Additional Terms.
Services offered to Registered Users are provided subject to these Master Terms and any Additional Terms specified on the relevant Website. The OE Consortium reserves the right to modify or discontinue the accounts of Registered Users and related Services at any time. The OE Consortium disclaims any and all liability to Registered Users and third parties in the event OEC exercises its right to modify or discontinue user accounts or related Services.
Registration; Security. You agree to (a) provide accurate, current and complete information about you, if and as may be prompted by the registration process on the any of the Websites, (b) maintain the security of your password(s) and identification, (c) maintain and promptly update your registration information and any other information you provide to the OE Consortium, and to keep it accurate and complete to, among other things, allow us to contact you, and (d) be fully responsible for all use of your account and for any actions that take place using your account. It is your responsibility to ensure that OEC has up-to-date contact information for you. You may not set up an account or membership on behalf of another individual or entity unless you are authorized to do so.
As used in these Master Terms, “Registered User” means a person who has registered and obtained an account on one of our Websites. Becoming a Registered User or using any of the related Websites or Services does not and shall not be deemed to make you a member, shareholder or affiliate of the OE Consortium for any purposes whatsoever. Institutions may apply for membership in the OE Consortium under the terms of the Memorandum of Association and are free to designate representatives to participate on their behalf.
Termination; Termination and Inactivation of User Accounts. Your participation as a Registered User and use the related Services terminates automatically upon your breach of any of these Master Terms or applicable Additional Terms.
In addition, OEC may, at any time: (a) modify, suspend or terminate the operation of or access to your user account for any reason; (b) modify or change such Websites and Services and any applicable Terms and policies governing your user account and related Websites and Services for any reason; and (c) interrupt user accounts and related Websites and Services for any reason, all as OEC deems appropriate in its discretion. Your access to your account, and use of the related Websites and Services may be terminated by you or by OEC at any time and for any reason whatsoever, without notice.
In addition, OEC reserves the right to delete and purge any account and all Content associated therewith following any prolonged period of inactivity, all as may be determined by OEC in its complete discretion.
10. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY THE APPLICABLE LAW, THE OPEN EDUCATION CONSORTIUM OFFERS THE WEBSITES AND SERVICES AS-IS AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE WEBSITES OR SERVICES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. THE OE CONSORTIUM DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS OR CONTENT CONTAINED ON THE WEBSITE OR SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT OEC’S SERVERS ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. OEC DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION REGARDING USE OR THE RESULT OF USE OF THE CONTENT IN TERMS OF ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.
11. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.
EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW AND THEN ONLY TO THAT EXTENT, IN NO EVENT WILL THE OPEN EDUCATION CONSORTIUM, ITS EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS ,MEMBERS, AFFILIATES OR AGENTS (“THE OEC PARTIES”) BE LIABLE TO YOU ON ANY LEGAL THEORY FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, ACTUAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF REVENUE OR INCOME, LOST PROFITS, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, COST OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, OR SIMILAR DAMAGES SUFFERED OR INCURRED BY YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY THAT ARISE IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITES OR SERVICES (OR THE TERMINATION THEREOF FOR ANY REASON), EVEN IF THE OEC PARTIES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
THE OEC PARTIES SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE WHATSOEVER IN ANY MANNER FOR ANY CONTENT POSTED ON THE WEBSITES OR SERVICES (INCLUDING CLAIMS OF INFRINGEMENT RELATING TO CONTENT POSTED ON THE WEBSITES OR SERVICES, FOR YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITES AND SERVICES, OR FOR THE CONDUCT OF THIRD PARTIES WHETHER ON THE WEBSITES, IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICES OR OTHERWISE RELATING TO THE WEBSITES OR SERVICES.
12. Indemnification for Breach of Terms of Use.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the OEC Parties (defined above) from and against any and all losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including without limitation reasonable attorneys fees, resulting, whether directly or indirectly, from your violation of the Terms. You also agree to indemnify and hold harmless the OEC Parties from and against any and all claims brought by third parties arising out of your use of any of the Websites or Services and the Content you make available via any of the Websites or Services by any means, including without limitation through a posting, a link, reference to Content, or otherwise.
13. Privacy Policy.
The OE Consortium is committed to handling responsibly the information and data we collect through our Websites and Services and agrees to use your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy and the Terms. The Privacy Policy is hereby incorporated by reference into these Master Terms.
14. Trademarks.
The Websites and Services may contain trademarks, service marks, logos and other names that are the property of OEC or its members, or such other party as indicated with respect to that name or icon. In the case of OE Consortium’s trademarks, member mark, logos and icons, these may only be used in accordance with our trademark policy. The Trademark Policy is incorporated by reference into these Master Terms.
15. Copyright Complaints.
The OE Consortium respects the intellectual property rights of others, and we prohibit users of our Websites and Services from submitting, uploading, posting or otherwise transmitting any materials that violate another person’s intellectual property rights. If you believe that content on our site is in violation of copyright, you may contact us at feedback@oeconsortium.org or at
OE Consortium
PO Box 251
Newton, MA 02464
USA
It is our policy to terminate usage rights and any applicable user accounts of users we determine to be “repeat infringers” of others’ copyrights.
Content hosted on Third Party Websites is the responsibility of those Websites, and not of the OE Consortium, regardless of whether the Content bears a Creative Commons license or the site bears an OE Consortium member mark. If you are the copyright owner of Content hosted on a Third Party Website, and you have not authorized the use of your Content, please contact the administrator of the hosting Website directly to have the Content removed.
16. Termination of this Agreement.
These Master Terms and any Additional Terms will continue to apply until terminated by either you or the OE Consortium as set out below. Your right to access and use the Websites and Services terminates automatically upon your breach of any of these Master Terms or Additional Terms that may apply to any of the Websites or Services.
The OE Consortium may, at any time: (a) modify, suspend or terminate the operation of or access to any of the Websites or Services, or any portion of the Websites or Services, for any reason; (b) modify or change the Websites or Services, or any portion of the Websites or Services, and any Master Terms, Additional Terms and other policies governing the use of the Websites or Services, for any reason; (c) interrupt the operation of the Websites or Services, or any portion of the Websites or Services, for any reason, all as OEC deems appropriate in its sole discretion.
Your access to, and use of, the Websites or Services may be terminated by you or by OEC at any time and for any reason. The OE Consortium will use reasonable efforts to notify you in advance about any material modification, suspension or termination by OEC that is not caused by your breach of the Terms.
The disclaimer of warranties, the limitation of liability and the jurisdiction and applicable law provisions shall survive any termination. The license grants mentioned herein shall continue in effect subject to the terms of the applicable license. Your warranties and indemnification obligations shall survive any termination for one year.
17. Miscellaneous Terms.
These Master Terms and any Additional Terms are governed by and construed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States, exclusive of its choice of law rules. The parties agree that any disputes or proceedings between the OE Consortium and you concerning these Master Terms, any Additional Terms, and/or any of the Websites or Services shall be brought in a federal or state court of competent jurisdiction sitting in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and hereby consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of such court. Either party’s failure to insist on or enforce strict performance of any of the Terms shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. If any term or part of the Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by any law or regulation or final determination of a competent court or tribunal, that provision will be deemed severable and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. The parties agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and the OE Consortium as a result of these Master Terms, any Additional Terms, or your use of any of the Websites or Services. These Master Terms and any applicable Additional Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and the OE Consortium relating to this subject matter and supersede all prior, contemporaneous and future communications (with the exception of future amendments to the Terms as made available by the OE Consortium from time to time) between you and the OE Consortium. A printed version of the Terms and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based on or relating to the Terms to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.
18. Using these Terms of Use for Your Own Purposes
The OE Consortium Terms of Use were modified from the Creative Commons Terms of Use, licensed underCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to use and adapt these Terms of Use for your own purposes. However, please keep in mind that these terms, as written, may not be completely suitable for your situation. The OE Consortium and Creative Commons strongly encourage you to seek the advice of your own attorney or counsel before using these Terms of Use.
Additional Terms of Use, Open Education Professional Directory
The Open Education Professional Directory (Directory) is provided as a service to Open Education Consortium (OE Consortium or OEC) members, open education professionals and the general public. The Open Education Professional Directory is a free service accessed through the OE Consortium website. The OE Consortium’s Master Terms of Use, including the Privacy Policy, apply to your use of the website and Directory. Your use of the Directory is subject to the following additional conditions:
- You may not use information from the Directory for the purpose of sending unsolicited commercial mail, electronic or physical, or to make telephone calls for purposes of soliciting anyone listed in the Directory to purchase any product or service; to make contributions to any organization, campaign or cause; or to engage in illegal activity. You may not use Directory information to create a listserv or other group without the express consent of the Open Education Consortium and each person listed.
- You may not use Directory information for any activity that violates the rights or privacy of others.
- You may not attempt to hack into the database for any purpose. You may not use Directory information to send harmful software, such as a virus, worm or Trojan Horse, to any person listed or to the OE Consortium.
- While most information owned by the OE Consortium and featured on its websites is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, the content in this Directory is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may not alter any of the entries in this directory without permission of the person concerned. You may not reproduce this directory in whole or in part for commercial purposes. If you would like to duplicate one or more listings to include in another directory or application, you should seek permission directly from the individuals selected.
- You understand that individuals listed in the Directory have provided their information voluntarily and that the OE Consortium has not checked or verified listings for accuracy. Individuals listed in the Directory have neither paid for the listing nor been paid to be included. The OE Consortium makes no guarantees, expressed or implied, that the information provided is correct or up to date, or that the individuals listed in the Directory will be willing or able to engage in any activity you request of them.
- If you submit information to be included as a listing in the Directory, you understand that all information you submit will be available to the public. You are responsible for the content of your listing and for maintaining its accuracy. OEC may, but is not obligated to, review your submission and may delete or remove (without notice) any Content in its sole discretion that OEC determines violates the Terms or that may be offensive, illegal, or that might violate the rights, harm or threaten the safety of others.
Your use of the Directory provides acknowledgement that you have read, understand and will adhere to the OE Consortium’s Master Terms of Use, its Privacy Policy, and the above additional Terms of Use for the Open Education Professional Directory.
Questions concerning the Open Education Professional Directory can be addressed to: Directory@oeconsortium.org
The Open Education Consortium’s Privacy Policy
The Open Education Consortium (OE Consortium) collects data from individuals under a variety of circumstances in the conduct of its day-to-day business . While the OE Consortium values openness in its interactions, it nevertheless recognizes that individuals have very good reasons for protecting the privacy of their data. Therefore, the OE Consortium has developed the following privacy policy to provide online visitors an opportunity to make informed decisions about the collection, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information received from users of its websites, including http://www.oeconsortium.org, www.openeducationweek.org, and http://conference.oeconsortium.org.
Our Commitment To Privacy
Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used.
The Information We Collect:
Cookies
Cookies are small amounts of data, often including an anonymous unique identifier, that is sent to your browser from a web site’s computers and stored on your computer’s hard drive. The OE Consortium uses cookies when you login to Directory or Member site keep you logged in, until you log out.
Personal Information
This notice applies to all personal information collected or submitted on the OE Consortium’s websites. On some pages, you can provide feedback, make requests, and register for the Open Education Professional Directory. Depending on the activity, the types of personal information requested at these pages may include:
- Full Name
- Institutional Affiliation
- Job Title
- Address
- Email address
- Phone number
- Areas of expertise
- Personal statement or profile
- Attestation that you are over 13 years of age.
We only collect personally identifiable information when you voluntarily provide it to us.
The Way We Use Information
We use the information you provide only to provide services, respond to questions or maintain relationships with our members. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to support these activities.
When you login to the Site, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website (“Log Data”). This Log Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type or the domain from which you are visiting, the web-pages you visit/edit, and the search terms you use. For most users accessing the Internet from an Internet service provider the IP address will be different every time you log on. We use Log Data to monitor the use of the Site and of our Service, and for the Site’s technical administration. We do not associate your IP address with any other personally identifiable information to identify you personally, except in case of violation of the Terms of Service.
You can register with our website if you would like to receive our newsletter. Information you submit on our website will not be used for this purpose unless you fill out the newsletter registration form.
If you register to attend our annual conference, personal information you provide will be used to offer you services related to the conference, including processing registration fees, the creation of name badges and compiling a conference directory. This information may be shared with third parties as necessary to provide these services, such as conference hosts and third party registration sites.
Additional opportunities to provide or exchange personal information may be made available through our websites, such as registration for webinars, meetings or other events, or through message boards and discussion forums. Your name and likeness or other information you submit in conjunction with these activities may be used or displayed for purposes of providing you with the requested service.
The purpose of the Open Education Professional Directory is to provide a consolidated list of experienced professionals in open education. The Open Education Professional Directory provides a searchable index of open education experts, browsable by a variety of criteria, to anyone interested in locating such professionals. If you would like to be listed in the Open Education Professional Directory, you may fill out the form to be included. This directory and all information you submit to the directory will be available to the public through our website, including your contact information, areas of expertise, location, languages spoken, and any personal profile you care to submit. Anyone using the professional directory will be able to see and use the information you provide. Additional Terms of Use apply to the Open Education Professional Directory
We never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones described above without first obtaining your permission.
Member Organization Information
On some pages, you may be requested to submit information about your organization’s open education project. For example, if you submit an online membership application for your organization, you will need to submit the organization’s URL and physical address. In this circumstance, the types of organizational information depend on the type of membership. Submitting that information will, however, require you to create a user account and thus submit some information about yourself as an individual connected with that organization. Information we collect about our institutional and organizational members include:
- Name
- Accreditation Status (for higher education institutions) or legal status (for Organizations, as applicable)
- Main Web Site URL
- Open Education Web Site URL
- Open Education RSS Feed
- Seal Image or Logo
- Location
- Lead Contact Information (see the OE Consortium’s Privacy Policy for policies on handling personal information).
- Open Education activities and commitment to open principles
The Way We Use an Organization’s Information
We use the information you provide about your organization’s open education projects when applying for membership to provide member benefits (e.g. voting rights) and to promote open education projects at your institution, or to promote open education more generally. Under normal circumstances, this information will be made publically available on our primary website (www.oeconsortium.org) and may be made availalbe on our other websites, including www.openeducationweek.org and http://conference.oeconsortium.org. We may share this information with outside parties and through our communications channels, such as our newsletter and social media sites, particularly where this information is required to provide member benefits. An example would be publicly posting or deploying information (e.g. site URLs and RSS feeds) that drives web traffic to your site, and sharing information about your projects with other members who may be interested in these activities. We regularly provide information about our members and their projects in various formats and venues, such as conference presentations, for the purposes of promoting open education and specific open education efforts. We do not sell or rent this information to third parties for commercial purposes.
Additionally, we may make member data available from time to time to researchers and educators interested in open education. In such cases, we will be governed by the following guidelines:
OE Consortium Publication of Data
We will collect non-public data (e.g. monthly site visits) about open education sites from our members only a voluntary basis and use non-identifying and aggregate information when publishing that information. For example, we may post a chart showing that open education sites in a given region received X number of site visits in a particular year, but we will not disclose anything that could be used to identify individual organizations (e.g. case studies) without first securing those organizations’ permission.
Third-Party Researchers or Change Agents
We will provide a third-party researcher or change agent with identifiable, non-public data we have gathered from our members under the following conditions:
- The researcher or change agent presents proper credentials:
- the identity and professional affiliation of the researcher or change agent;
- the purposes of the data request;
- the categories of data concerned;
- further information insofar as is necessary to guarantee fair processing.
- The researcher or change agent needs the information for a verifiable open education-related purpose
Finally, we never use or share the identifiable information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the ones described above without first acquiring your explicit permission for such unrelated uses.
Our Commitment To Data Security
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
Our Commitment To Children’s Privacy
Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, we never collect or maintain information at our website from those we actually know are under 13, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 13.
How You Can Access, Correct or Delete Your Information
You can access, edit or remove all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain by logging into the appropriate area of our site.
You can modify your Organizations member data at http://members.oeconsortium.org, and Directory information at http://www.oeconsortium.org/directory/.
You also may have your personally identifiable information removed from the Consortium’s cached data by sending us a request to remove that data. To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.
Changes to These Policies
If we decide for any reason to change these policies, we will post those changes to this page and modify the policy modification date below.
Last Modified: 27 August 2014
How To Contact Us
Should you have other questions or concerns about these policies, please send us an email at feedback@oeconsortium.org or contact us by mail at:
Open Education Consortium
PO Box 251
Newton, MA 02464 USA