- Info
Frequently Asked Questions
eduCommons offers the following introductory answers to Frequently Asked Questions about how visitors to the site can make use of course materials, what technology we use to publish the site, and 40 other common inquiries we receive. Click on a subject heading below to view questions and answers relating to your selection.
This document provides the help for the
Notre Dame OpenCourseWare site in the form of a list of frequently
asked questions and answers. If you have other questions about this
site please email ocw@nd.edu.
About Notre Dame OCW
- What is Notre Dame OpenCourseWare?
- Why is Notre Dame OCW doing this?
- How does Notre Dame OCW differ from other types of
Web-based education, including distance learning?
- What are the long-term goals of the Notre Dame OCW
initiative?
- Will Notre Dame OCW always be free and openly
available to anyone in the world?
Using Notre Dame OCW Materials
- Do I need to register to use Notre Dame OCW course
materials?
- Where are the course materials?
- How do I find what courses are available?
- How can I use Notre Dame OCW course
materials?
- What are the prerequisites to use Notre Dame OCW
materials?
- Does Notre Dame OCW offer discounts on textbooks or
software applications utilized in the course materials?
- How do I get a copy of the course pack for a
particular course?
- I have seen (or I am/represent) an individual,
organization, or institution that offers to teach Notre Dame OCW
courses or tutor students based on Notre Dame OCW materials. Does Notre
Dame OCW approve or recognize such individuals or
organizations?
- Can I/my organization state on our Web site or in
our literature that we make use of Notre Dame OCW course
materials?
- Can I link to the Notre Dame OCW Web site from my
Web site?
Content
- Why is there such variation in the breadth and depth
of content presented on individual Notre Dame OCW course Web
sites?
- Why do some Notre Dame OCW course sites lack
solutions to assignments, quizzes, and exams?
- Why doesn't every Notre Dame OCW course offer video
lectures?
- Who owns the intellectual property published on the
Notre Dame OCW Web site?
- What are the Terms of Use for Notre Dame OCW
users?
- What are the Terms of Use for the discussion
software?
- How does Notre Dame OCW define non-commercial
use?
- How do I properly cite my reuse of Notre Dame OCW
materials?
- How can I contribute my own educational materials to
the Notre Dame OCW?
- What do I do if I believe a portion of Notre Dame
OCW material infringes my copyright?
Notre Dame OCW Faculty
- Are Notre Dame OCW faculty required to participate
in Notre Dame OCW?
- How do I contact a specific member of the Notre Dame
OCW Faculty?
- Will inquiries to Notre Dame OCW be
answered?
Translations
- Can I translate the course materials in Notre Dame
OCW?
Usability
- What are the technical requirements for viewing
Notre Dame OCW course materials?
- What is metadata and why is it important to Notre
Dame OCW?
- How do I change the font-size on the Notre Dame OCW
Web site?
- Will the Notre Dame OCW Web site be compliant with
W3C standards and accessibility requirements?
- Why does this PDF not open correctly in my copy of
Adobe Acrobat Reader?
Privacy and Data Collection
- What information does Notre Dame OCW collect from
visitors to the Web site?
- What are "cookies," and does Notre Dame OCW make use
of cookies on its Web site?
- Does Notre Dame OCW share the information it
receives?
Technology
- What technology is used to publish the Notre Dame
OCW Web site?
- Is Notre Dame OCW an open source project?
- What is RSS?
Other Questions
- How can I support Notre Dame OCW with a financial
donation?
- How do I apply for admission to Notre Dame OCW as a
student?
About Notre Dame OCW
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What is Notre Dame OpenCourseWare?
The idea behind Notre Dame OCW is to make Notre Dame OCW course
materials that are used in the teaching of undergraduate and graduate
subjects available on the Web, free of charge, to any user anywhere in
the world. Notre Dame OCW will advance technology-enhanced education at
Notre Dame, and will serve as a model for university dissemination of
knowledge in the Internet age. This venture continues the tradition at
Notre Dame, and in American higher education, of open dissemination of
educational materials, philosophy, and modes of thought, and will help
lead to fundamental changes in the way colleges and universities
utilize the Web as a vehicle for education.
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Why is Notre Dame OCW doing this?
Because technology makes it possible for us to increase the reach of
educational opportunity, we have a moral obligation to do so. Notre
Dame OCW supports Notre Dame's mission to serve the public through
learning, discovery, and engagement, and is true to Notre Dame's goal
"to provide a forum where, through free inquiry and open discussion,
the various lines of Catholic thought may intersect with all the forms
of knowledge found in the arts, sciences, professions, and every other
area of human scholarship and creativity." As Notre Dame enters the
21st century, services like OpenCourseWare enable it to more fully
accomplish its mission. Notre Dame OCW contributes to the "shared
intellectual commons" in academia, which fosters collaboration across
Notre Dame OCW and among other scholars across disciplines and around
the world.
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How does Notre Dame OCW differ from other
types of Web-based education, including distance learning?
Notre Dame OCW differs from other Web-based education offerings in
that it is free and open, does not provide university credit, and
grants no access to university faculty. Notre Dame OCW is not a
distance-learning initiative. Distance learning involves the active
exchange of information between faculty and students, with the goal of
obtaining some form of a credential. Increasingly, distance learning is
also limited to those willing and able to pay for materials or course
delivery. Notre Dame OCW is not meant to replace degree-granting higher
education or for-credit courses. Rather, the goal is to provide the
content that supports an education.
Many individual faculty members at Notre Dame OCW and other
universities already use the Web extensively to make standard course
materials available to their students. Some colleges and universities
now require a Web site for every class. But, to a large extent, these
Web sites are designed for, and access is only provided to, the
students enrolled at these institutions. Notre Dame OCW is an
unprecedented effort of a much broader magnitude, as the goal is to
provide the course materials free and open to the world.
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What are the long-term goals of the Notre
Dame OCW initiative?
We expect Notre Dame OCW to grow to encompass the course materials
of all faculty who are willing to participate. Over time, the goal is
for most of the courses offered at Notre Dame OCW to be represented in
the collection. Another goal of Notre Dame OCW is to catalyze the
development of groups or communities around the course materials.
Individuals participating in these informal groups will coach, mentor,
and support each other in their learning, adding significant value to
the materials themselves. Finally, we strongly desire to extend the
reach and impact of the "opencourseware" concept.
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Will Notre Dame OCW always be free and
openly available to anyone in the world?
We are committed to Notre Dame OCW remaining a free and openly
available publication of the course materials that support the dynamic
classroom interactions of a Notre Dame OCW education. Even as we
continue to grow and evolve, the materials will always remain free and
open to all. Along with this commitment to remaining free and open,
Notre Dame OCW is also committed to the idea that Notre Dame OCW is not
a distance-learning, or a degree-granting, initiative, and that there
will not be a registration process required for users to view course
materials now or in the future. Notre Dame OCW is working hard to
publish all of the Notre Dame OCW faculty's course materials who wish
to participate.
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Using Notre Dame OCW Materials
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Do I need to register to use Notre Dame
OCW course materials?
Because Notre Dame OCW is not a distance-learning, or a
degree-granting, initiative, there is no registration process required
for users to view course materials. Notre Dame OCW is a publication of
the course materials that support the dynamic classroom interactions of
an Notre Dame OCW education. Notre Dame OCW is available on the Web,
free of charge, to any user anywhere in the world.
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Where are the course materials?
To find what courses are available at this time, view the complete course list. Once you have
accessed a particular course site, the left-hand navigation bar of each
course homepage will detail what materials are available for that
individual course.
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How do I find what courses are
available?
You can utilize the Search function that can be found in the upper
right-hand corner of every page on the Notre Dame OCW site. You can
search for specific text, such as certain academic discipline area,
across all courses or within just one course. Or to perform a detailed
search, use our Advanced Search.
Or, to see what courses are available is to click on Courses in the top navigation bar on
every page of the Notre Dame OCW Web site. This will allow you to view
the list of courses available at this time.
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How can I use Notre Dame OCW course
materials?
Notre Dame OCW can be considered a large-scale, Web-based
publication of the course materials that support a Notre Dame
education. Educators are encouraged to utilize the materials for
curriculum development, students can augment their current learning by
making use of the materials offered, and self-learners are encouraged
to draw upon the Notre Dame OCW for self-study or supplementary use.
Course materials offered on the Notre Dame OCW Web site may be used
within the license associated with the content, course or overall Notre
Dame OCW site as applicable.
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What are the prerequisites to use Notre
Dame OCW materials?
Because Notre Dame OCW is not a distance-learning, or a
degree-granting, initiative, there is no registration process required
for users to view course materials. There are also no prerequisites for
users who utilize Notre Dame OCW course materials in their own
learning. However, each course site indicates the prerequisites and
corequisites that are required of Notre Dame students.
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Does Notre Dame OCW offer discounts on
textbooks or software applications utilized in the course
materials?
Notre Dame OCW does not sell, offer vendor discounts for, or
represent any vendor who may sell the software, books, or other
materials that users of Notre Dame OCW may require to understand the
course materials offered on the Notre Dame OCW Web site.
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How do I get a copy of the course pack
for a particular Notre Dame OCW course?
The course-pack materials that accompany most Notre Dame courses
often contain proprietary information and copyrighted materials that
Notre Dame Faculty only use in their classroom interactions with Notre
Dame students. These materials are not available, nor will they be in
the future, to Notre Dame OCW users.
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I have seen (or I am/represent) an
individual, organization, or institution that offers to teach Notre
Dame OCW courses or tutor students based on Notre Dame OCW materials.
Does Notre Dame OCW approve or recognize such individuals or
organizations?
No, Notre Dame OCW has no relationship with, grants no special
permission to, and does not approve, endorse, or certify any
organizations, teachers, tutors, or other service providers who use
educational materials available on the Notre Dame OCW Web site in
connection with their services. Except for students admitted to Notre
Dame, Notre Dame OCW does not authorize the granting of any kind of
degree, certificate, or other recognition for participation in or
completion of any course of study based on or using published Notre
Dame OCW course materials.
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Can I/my organization state on our Web
site or in our literature that we make use of Notre Dame OCW course
materials?
To reference Notre Dame OCW you must comply with the terms of the
license associated with Notre Dame OCW and/or the specific course
materials. Typically you must you must give credit to Notre Dame OCW
and the faculty author of the course materials anytime you use Notre
Dame OCW materials. For your convenience, each Notre Dame OCW page
includes a citation appropriate for the page at the bottom of the
content. However, any reference to Notre Dame OCW (including the Notre
Dame OCW name in any of its forms or Notre Dame OCW seals or logos)
that deliberately or inadvertently claims, suggests, or in Notre Dame
OCW's sole judgment gives the appearance or impression of a
relationship with or endorsement by Notre Dame OCW, is prohibited.
[See also Intellectual
Property]
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Can I link to the Notre Dame OCW Web
site from my Web site?
Links to Notre Dame OCW or to courses or pages within the Notre Dame
OCW Web site are permitted so long as the use of the materials
associated with the link is permitted under the terms of the license
associated with the course materials or particlar content. Typically
course materials are licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution license 2.5, however individual course materials may
have a separate license. Please check the bottom of the page to view
the applicable license for any particular item. For your convenience,
each Notre Dame OCW page includes a citation appropriate for the page
at the bottom of the content.
In addition to meeting the terms of the license, links to Notre Dame
OCW are permitted as long as the link is freely accessible (e.g., no
restrictions or fee for access); and there is no claim, appearance, or
implication of an affiliation with or endorsement by Notre Dame OCW.
Notre Dame OCW cannot guarantee the persistence of any specific link
other than those to the Notre Dame OCW homepage.
[See also Intellectual
Property]
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Content
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Why is there such variation in the
breadth and depth of content presented on individual Notre Dame OCW
course Web sites?
Each Notre Dame OCW course Web site is developed individually with
the participating faculty and instructors. It includes as much of the
Notre Dame OCW faculty member's course materials as is available in a
digital format, or can be cost-effectively prepared; and is free of
Intellectual Property and copyright restrictions. Notre Dame OCW
faculty and instructors participate only voluntarily, and publish only
as much content as they are comfortable having on a Web site that is
freely accessible worldwide.
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Why do some Notre Dame OCW course sites
lack solutions to assignments, quizzes, and exams?
In some cases, solutions to homework assignments, quizzes, and exams
are only discussed and presented in the classroom, and not made
available in print or electronic format to the Notre Dame OCW
students--or to the worldwide community of visitors to the Notre Dame
OCW Web site. In other cases, the instructors plan to re-use in their
Notre Dame OCW classroom the assignments, quizzes, and exams, and so
they do not wish to widely publish their solutions.
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Why doesn't every Notre Dame OCW course
offer video lectures?
Although video lectures are useful for students, there are many
reasons that Notre Dame OCW does not include video lectures in every
course. First is the issue of bandwidth. We are very much focused on
making Notre Dame OCW's courses materials as accessible as possible to
users all over the world, including the developing world. If we were to
start depending on the video component as THE key element of every
Notre Dame OCW course, we would be excluding a large portion of the
Notre Dame OCW audience who are not using high-speed Internet
connections. They would never be able to download the videos and we are
very sensitive to that fact.
Another key concern about video is cost. The technology for
compressing and storing video becomes more and more affordable by the
day, but it is still not affordable, or feasible from a production
standpoint, for us to be compressing 20 video lectures for all of our
courses. Notre Dame OCW does not have that kind of storage capacity, at
this time.
A key Notre Dame OCW audience is educators, and for them, we are
hoping that by providing the syllabus, reading lists and lecture notes,
we are offering a chance for them to jumpstart their own pedagogy and
improve the way they teach their chosen discipline. While video
lectures are very easy for people with fast Internet connections to
watch, they do not really fulfill the mission of Notre Dame OCW.
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Intellectual Property
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Who owns the intellectual property
published on the Notre Dame OCW Web site?
Prior to making any course materials publicly available, the Notre
Dame OCW team has reviewed all material extensively to determine the
correct ownership of the material and obtain the appropriate licenses
to make the material openly available on the Web. We will promptly
remove any material that is determined to be infringing on the rights
of others [See also What do I do if I believe a portion
of Notre Dame OCW material infringes my copyright?].
The intellectual property policies created for Notre Dame OCW are
clear and consistent with other policies for scholarly materials used
in education. Faculty retain ownership of most materials prepared for
Notre Dame OCW. Notre Dame OCW retains ownership only when significant
use has been made of the Institute's resources. If student course work
is placed on the Notre Dame OCW site, then copyright in the work
remains with the student.
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What are the Terms of Use for Notre
Dame OCW users?
See the Terms of Use for more
information.
If you would like to use Notre Dame OCW course materials, but you
are unsure whether your intended use qualifies as non-commercial use,
please contact us using the feedback page
or email ocw@nd.edu.
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What are the Terms of Use for the
discussion software?
See the Terms of Use for more
information.
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How does Notre Dame OCW define
non-commercial use?
A commercial use would involve the assessment of a direct or
indirect fee for use of the Notre Dame OCW materials, or any derivation
or modification of the Notre Dame OCW material, or any other commercial
exploitation of Notre Dame OCW materials. All uses, reuse, and
distribution of Notre Dame OCW material, including works derived from
Notre Dame OCW material, must be attributed to Notre Dame OCW and to
the original authors where identified on the Notre Dame OCW materials
you distribute. If you would like to use Notre Dame OCW course
materials, but you are unsure whether your intended use qualifies as
non-commercial use, please contact us using the feedback link at the top of the page.
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How do I properly cite my reuse of
Notre Dame OCW materials?
To reuse or repost materials from Notre Dame OCW, confirm that the
license allows for the use you intend. If the license permits reuse,
you must give proper attribution to the original Notre Dame OCW faculty
author(s).
For your convenience, at the bottom of each page, we provide a
citation in APA format, a copyright statement and a license for that
page.
Or you may chose to cite the resource in the following manner: "This
material was created by or adapted from material created by Notre Dame
OCW faculty member, (Name), (Title), (Year). Copyright © (Year),
(Faculty Member's Name)."
As an example, the citation for "Understanding Online
Interaction" taught by Utah State University Professor David Wiley
would read, "This material was created or adapted from material created
by Utah State University faculty member David Wiley, Associate
Professor. Copyright © 2004, David Wiley."
If you want to use the course materials on your Web site, and the
materials are licensed using a Creative Commons license, you must also
include a copy of the Creative Commons license, or clear and reasonable
link to its URL (for example, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/),
with every copy of the materials or the derivative work(s) you create
from it.
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How can I contribute my own educational
materials to Notre Dame OCW?
The intent of Notre Dame OCW is that our Web site should reflect the
course materials for what is being taught at Notre Dame OCW. The reason
for this policy is that the materials presented on the Notre Dame OCW
site are authored by members of the Notre Dame OCW Faculty, and thus,
our faculty will take final responsibility for these materials. It
would be difficult for Notre Dame OCW to guarantee the accuracy and
originality of materials we received from outside sources. However, we
encourage other universities to create their own "opencourseware" in
which materials from their courses would be posted online and openly
shared with the world. Notre Dame OCW is eager to link to other
universities or institutions that have similar goals.
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What do I do if I believe a portion of
Notre Dame OCW material infringes my copyright?
Notre Dame OCW, prior to making any Notre Dame OCW materials
publicly available, has reviewed all material extensively to determine
the correct ownership of the material and obtain the appropriate
licenses to make the material available on Notre Dame OCW. Notre Dame
OCW will promptly remove any material that is determined to be
infringing on the rights of others. If you believe that a portion of
Notre Dame OCW material infringes on your copyright, please contact us
using the feedback page or email ocw@nd.edu.
To file the notification, you must be either the copyright owner of
the work or an individual authorized to act on behalf of the copyright
owner. Your notification must include:
- Identification of the copyrighted work, or, in the case of multiple
works at the same location, a representative list of such works at that
site.
- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or
to be the subject of infringing activity. You must include sufficient
information, such as a specific URL or other specific identification,
for us to locate the material.
- Information for us to be able to contact the claimant (e.g., email
address, phone number).
- A statement that the claimant believes that the use of the material
has not been authorized by the copyright owner or an authorized
agent.
- A statement that the information in the notification is accurate
and that the claimant is, or is authorized to act on behalf of, the
copyright owner.
If you do not include an electronic signature with your claim, you
may be asked to send or fax a follow-up copy with a signature.
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Notre Dame OCW Faculty
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Are Notre Dame OCW faculty required to
participate in Notre Dame OCW?
Participation of Notre Dame OCW faculty in Notre Dame OCW is
completely voluntary.
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How do I contact a specific member of
the Notre Dame OCW Faculty?
Notre Dame OCW is intended as a publication of Notre Dame OCW course
materials on the Web, and not as an interactive experience with Notre
Dame OCW faculty. It provides the content of, but is not a substitute
for, an Notre Dame OCW education. The most fundamental cornerstone of
the learning process at Notre Dame OCW is the interaction between
faculty and students in the classroom, and among students themselves on
campus. Notre Dame OCW does not offer visitors to the Web site the
opportunity for direct contact with Notre Dame OCW faculty, though
individual portal faculty may choose to list their contact information.
Inquiries related to specific course materials will be forwarded to the
Notre Dame OCW faculty member associated with that course for their
consideration. However, due to the tremendous volume of email inquiries
received, it is unlikely he or she will answer all emails.
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Will inquiries to Notre Dame OCW be
answered?
Yes inquiries will be ansered. Notre Dame OCW encourages users to
provide feedback on the site and the
published course materials. The comments and constructive criticism of
users will help the Notre Dame OCW staff improve the site and published
course materials as we continue to evolve.
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Translations
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Can I translate the course materials in
Notre Dame OCW?
You may translate course materials in Notre Dame OCW if permitted by
the license of the course materials you wish to translate. Notre Dame
OCW asks that any Notre Dame OCW materials translated into other
languages from the original language must be accompanied by the proper
attribution of the original materials and include the following
disclaimer:
"These Notre Dame OpenCourseWare course materials have been
translated into [YOUR LANGUAGE] by [YOUR INSTITUTION] and Notre Dame
OpenCourseWare makes no representations or warranties of any kind
concerning the materials, express or implied, including, without
limitation, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular
purpose, non-infringement, or the absence of errors, whether or not
discoverable. Notre Dame OpenCourseWare bears no responsibility for any
inaccuracies in translation. Any inaccuracies or other defects
contained in this material, due to inaccuracies in language
translation, are the sole responsibility of [YOUR INSTITUTION] and not
Notre Dame OpenCourseWare."
[See Also How do I properly cite my reuse of Notre Dame
OCW materials]
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Usability
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What are the technical requirements for
viewing Notre Dame OCW course materials?
The majority of Notre Dame OCW course sites work in modern Web
browsers on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Although
higher-speed connections are preferable, slower connections, such as
modems, should allow users to view most materials on the sites
(however, downloading or accessing materials may take somewhat longer).
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What is metadata and why is it
important to Notre Dame OCW?
Metadata is, literally, "data about data." Metadata can be better
understood as information that describes other information. For
example, this Web page of FAQs for Notre Dame OCW has an author, a
title, a date of creation, and a unique Internet address; this
information constitutes the metadata about this page. Metadata enables
sophisticated, powerful, and accurate searches across Notre Dame OCW
course materials.
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How do I change the font-size on the
Notre Dame OCW Web site?
The fonts and style of the Notre Dame OCW Web site have been
specifically selected to meet certain design and accessibility
standards. The Notre Dame OCW Team has tested the site and these
standards across a wide variety of browsers and platform. However, some
users may still find that their browser configurations continue to
display the text too small. You can change the displayed font size
using your browser's View menu. In Netscape 7, there is a "VIEW -
Text-Zoom" selection (try 120%). In Netscape 4.x, there is a "VIEW -
Increase Font" selection. In Internet Explorer, you can select "VIEW -
Text-Size - Larger or Largest." We hope this helps you to more
comfortably view the Notre Dame OCW course materials.
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Will the Notre Dame OCW Web site be
compliant with W3C standards and accessibility requirements?
All course materials published on the Notre Dame OCW site are
checked to see if they are valid XHTML and meet Section 508 and WAI-AA
guidelines as part of the authoring process. We require all images to
contain ALT attributes and all links to contain TITLE tags.
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Why does this PDF not open correctly in
copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader?
A small percentage of the PDF documents offered on the Notre Dame
OCW Web site may be compatible only with newer versions of Adobe
Acrobat Reader. If you would like to view such a file, we recommend
downloading the latest version of the Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Web
site at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html.
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Privacy and Data Collection
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What information does Notre Dame OCW
collect from visitors to the Web site?
The information we learn from visitors helps us improve the Notre
Dame OCW site, and assists our foundation sponsors in evaluation of
usage, access, and impact of Notre Dame OCW on the worldwide
educational community. Notre Dame OCW collects the following
information from visitors:
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Information You Provide: We receive and store any
information you enter on our Web site or give us in any other way. You
provide most such information when you submit feedback on the site,
contact us by email, or agree to participate in a visitor survey. This
information may include your name and email address, your academic
status, your institution, your geographic region, how you are using
Notre Dame OCW, and what you think of Notre Dame OCW. In all cases, any
information you provide is strictly optional and voluntary and you may
choose to use the Notre Dame OCW site without ever providing this
information. If you voluntarily provide your email address or other
contact information, we will not share personal information with anyone
without first requesting your explicit permission to do so.
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Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types
of information whenever you interact with the Notre Dame OCW Web site.
Examples of the information we collect and analyze include the Internet
protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Notre Dame
OCW site; computer and connection information such as browser type and
version, operating system, and platform, and; content you viewed or
searched for during your visit to Notre Dame OCW. During some visits we
may use software tools to measure and collect session information,
including page response times, download errors, and length of visits to
certain pages. However, none of this information is personally
identifiable or linked back to you individually.
[See Also Privacy Policy]
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What are "cookies," and does Notre Dame
OCW make use of cookies on its Web site?
Notre Dame OCW uses "cookies" in a limited way. Cookies are
alphanumeric identifiers that this Web site transfers to your
computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to
recognize your browser when you make return trips to the site. This
allows us to track your use of the site (anonymously), and to analyze
patterns in site use, such as repeat visits, length of visits, and
breadth of content used, for example). Cookies also allow us to conduct
periodic, online, voluntary user surveys where we can gain more insight
into what type of people are actually using the site, how they are
using the site, and what the educational impact of the site is on these
users.
Notre Dame OCW's use of cookies is designed to be unobtrusive, and
we do not collect personally identifiable information through their
use. However, if you do not wish to accept cookies, the "Help" portion
of the toolbar on most Web browsers will tell you how to prevent your
browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you
when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether.
Disabling cookies will in no way affect your access to content on the
Notre Dame OCW site. If you leave cookies enabled on your Web browser,
you may be asked to complete a brief questionnaire that will help us
gain a better understanding of the use and impact of Notre Dame
OCW.
[See Also Privacy Policy]
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Does Notre Dame OCW share the
information it receives?
Information about our site visitors is an important part of
understanding and extending the impact of Notre Dame OCW in the
worldwide academic community. Individual personally identifiable
information about users (name, email address, etc) will not be made
available to third parties except as outlined below, nor will it ever
be used for commercial purposes. We share user information only as
described below.
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Agents: We employ companies and individuals to perform
functions on our behalf. Examples include compiling and categorizing
user feedback, analyzing survey data or data about your use of the
site, and providing customer support. These agents have access to user
information needed to perform their functions, for example, but may not
use this information for any other purposes. These agents are bound by
non-disclosure agreements.
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Notre Dame OCW Sponsors: We work closely with
philanthropic organizations that provide the funding that makes Notre
Dame OCW possible. These sponsors are interested in evaluating access,
use, and impact of the Notre Dame OCW Web site in order to determine if
Notre Dame OCW is achieving its objectives. We will provide information
on a regular basis to these sponsors for evaluation purposes. We will
not share any personally identifiable information such as name or email
address unless you have given us explicit permission to do so.
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Institutions interested in the "opencourseware movement":
Part of Notre Dame OCW's mission as an organization is to encourage
other educational institutions to openly share their course materials
with the world, as Notre Dame OCW is doing. In order to accomplish this
objective, we are committed to sharing what we learn in public forums,
at educational conferences, and with other educational institutions.
This may include aggregate data about usage of the site, feedback we
have received, and the impact of Notre Dame OCW on people throughout
the world. However, in no case will we share any personally
identifiable information, such as name or email address, unless you
have given us explicit permission to do so.
[See Also Privacy Policy]
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Technology
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What technology is used to publish the
Notre Dame OCW Web site?
Notre Dame OCW runs on the open source eduCommons
software. The current technical solution has been in use since January
2005 with a small technical team managing all aspects of this
infrastructure at the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning (http://cosl.usu.edu/) at Utah State
University.
The planning tools used by the Notre Dame OCW team to assist faculty
in publishing their course materials include a portion of the workflow
in eduCommons, and several checklists and documents. For creating and
managing content, we use several desktop tools (file conversion tools)
as well as eduCommons, that together fully support our publishing
process. Our content delivery infrastructure includes a production
cluster and a content staging cluster.
For more information on eduCommons, please contact The Center for
Open and Sustainable Learning (http://cosl.usu.edu/).
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Is Notre Dame OCW an open source
project?
Notre Dame OCW is firmly committed to open systems and will share
its approach and the open source eduCommons software with those who may
want to launch similar efforts. eduCommons has a dedicated team of
developers focused on extending the platform, features and functions to
meet Notre Dame OCW and other institution's needs.
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What is RSS?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and an aggregator allow you to
subscribe to discussion forums, blogs and other websites in order to
receive timely, organized updates of posts, news, and other information
you care about.
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Other Questions
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How can I support Notre Dame OCW with a
financial donation?
It is particularly generous of you to offer a financial contribution
to support Notre Dame OCW. This is a wonderful endorsement of what we
hope to achieve. If you wish to make such a donation, please make your
check payable to "Notre Dame OCW" and enclose a note indicating that
the contribution is for the Notre Dame OCW Fund. You can mail your
check to:
Office of Development
University of Notre Dame
1100 Grace Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5612
Phone: 574-631-7164
Fax: 574-631-8325
http://supporting.nd.edu/
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How do I apply for admission to Notre
Dame OCW as a student?
Notre Dame OCW is not a degree-granting or certificate-granting
program. Notre Dame OCW course materials are available for free on the
Web for the use of educators and self-learners. Those interested in
applying to be full-time students at Notre Dame OCW are encouraged to
contact the Admissions Office:
Office of Admissions
University of Notre Dame
220 Main Building
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5602
Phone: 574-631-7505
Fax: 574-631-8865
https://admissions.nd.edu/
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This material was created or adapted from material created by MIT OCW,
Copyright © 2005 MIT in accordance with the MIT OCW Terms
of Use, http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/terms-of-use.htm.
Copyright 2008,
by the Contributing Authors.
Cite/attribute Resource.
admin. (2006, August 23). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved July 20, 2008, from Notre Dame OpenCourseWare Web site: http://ocw.nd.edu/help/help_text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
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