Policies and procedures
POLICY NO: A-52.0
DATE OF APPROVAL: 2 July 2007
AMENDMENTS:
REFERENCE AUTHORITY: Deputy Vice Chancellor: Academic
CROSS REFERENCES:
As scholars, University teachers should contribute to their discipline and be in touch with current research and scholarship, integrating into their teaching the knowledge and understanding they and others create. Scholarly activity includes the creation of text books and other teaching resources.
University teachers should ensure that all resources which students need for effective learning are available and appropriate. Our staff are encouraged to develop resources to achieve this outcome.
Where a staff member teaching a course is an author of a learning resource which is set as a prescribed resource within the course and for which the staff member receives benefit, a conflict of interest may arise. The staff member might profit from the decision or students could be disadvantaged if they did not purchase the prescribed resource.
The purpose of this policy is to ensure such conflicts of interest do not arise.
The terms learning resource and author are used in this policy to include:
Such resources may either be externally published or made available through the University.
1. Where the author of a prescribed learning resource for a course is a University staff member involved in the teaching of that course, the University will ensure that it is the most appropriate resource and that it does not give rise to any potential conflicts of interest.
2. Where the resources are being made available through the University, the prescription of such resources must be in line with the University's obligations under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 which sets out a number of conditions under which the University may charge for course materials and resources (Incidental Student Fees and Charges Guidelines).
1. For a learning resource authored by a staff member to be prescribed in a course at the University of South Australia, the staff member shall submit a request to the School Board for the learning resource to be approved in the same manner as a request for variation to a prescribed textbook (Coursework Program Approval Manual: Minor amendments to programs and courses).
2. For learning resources, externally published, the submission should include the names of any other institutions who have adopted the learning resource, or equivalent evidence of the status and appropriateness of the text.
3. For learning resources made available through the University the submission should include evidence of external assessment or equivalent evidence of quality assurance.
