A new
provincewide policy involving online course materials tripped up at least one
university in Ontario, Canada, this fall. The University of Windsor is now
refunding roughly $210,000 to 3,000 students who purchased access codes.
According
to a report in The Windsor Star, the university inadvertently charged students for the
codes, which enabled them to go online to complete assignments, quizzes, and/or
exams required as part of their course grade. That’s a no-no, says the Ministry
of Colleges, Training, and Universities.
As
Assistant Deputy Minister Nancy Naylor explains in a July 2011 memo, the
ministry’s new policy, which went into effect this fall, is that schools are
responsible for picking up the cost of mandatory assignment and examination
materials, including those in digital formats. The schools cannot charge
students extra to access those materials if the students must fill them out for
course credit. Most of the affected University of Windsor students, primarily
in introductory courses, bought access codes bundled with a new textbook.
The
university is trying to determine whether it can afford to cover the cost of
those online assignments and tests from now on.
The
ministry’s policy isn’t intended to prohibit universities from charging for
other digital course materials.
