Online University of Finland
Terms and Conditions
Introduction
The Online University of Finland provides online learning services, “the Services”, subject to the following rules and guidelines. The Services are provided thru websites developed and operated by Skilltize Oy under brand the Online University of Finland, e.g. ouof.org and moodle.ouof.org.
Use of Services
By using the Services, i.e. accessing the web-sites belonging to the Services, users agree to be bound by these terms, which shall take effect immediately on their first use. If users do not agree to be bound by all the following terms they should cease using the Services and notify the Online University of Finland.
These terms may be revised without notice by posting the latest version of this document onto the Service. A user’s continued use of the Services will be deemed acceptance of the updated terms or amendments.
Use of the Services is allowed only for the purpose of teaching, learning, training, research, coursework, associated administration or other authorised use.
Access, Security and Activities
Access to courses and resources on the Services are controlled by user accounts. Users should log into the Services with their own user account and never allow another user to access the Services under their account.
If an area on the Service is protected by an Enrolment Key (a password required to gain access) that is set by the lecturer or supervisor learners should never disclose the enrolment key to allow access by an unauthorised user.
Users should never attempt to access any protected area in the Services unless they are a member of the course and have been given permission to do so by the course facilitator, lecturer or supervisor.
Activities on the Services are audited. Records are kept of when users access courses and resources along with a log of all communications such as forum posts, assignment submissions, etc. These records are available to facilitators, lecturers or supervisors for course evidence, but may also be used as a point of reference for any matters arising, such as accounts of harassment, bullying or the transmitting of inappropriate material.
Users should not post personal or sensitive information to any part of the Services including to their profile, blogs, or any course activities. Information sent through the Services may be read by third parties.
When facilitators, lecturers or supervisors place information onto the Services they are acknowledging that they are making it available for download, and therefore no guarantee can be given that such resources will not be seen by or distributed to third parties.
Facilitators, lecturers or supervisors can place links to websites outside the Services to help learners with their learning. The parties behind the Services cannot take any responsibility for the contents of external sites.
Access to the Services will be withdrawn when a user is no longer using the Services.
Content
All content in the Service belongs to the course creators or to the university/institution/school they represent. Course participants are not allowed:
- To use any of the course content outside the Services unless agreed with the Online University of Finland and the course creator(s) prior to such usage.
- To record videos or take screenshots from their screens, download documents, copy text or other content for other use than what is intended on the course they are taking in the Service.
Course facilitators, lecturers or supervisors are responsible for ensuring that the learning materials added to their areas does not infringe confidentiality, copyright or the intellectual property rights of others (including colleagues).
Course lecturers or supervisors should not upload any materials which would include illegal or obscene content or add links to any web pages that host such material.
Learners taking part in online course activities (including assignment submission, chat rooms, forums, etc.) are prohibited from transmitting any words or pictures which are libellous, insulting, or abusive.
All work submitted electronically by learners should be their own. Copying others’ work, cheating, collusion, plagiarism and attempting to obtain unfair assessment advantages are in violation of the Service policies.
Course lecturers or supervisors are responsible for supervising their courses. Any violations of policies identified by learners should be made to their facilitator, lecturer or supervisor in the first instance.
Once a course has been created by a facilitator, lecturer or supervisor, it is their responsibility for ensuring it remains up to date.
Courses may be hided or removed if:
- The facilitator, lecturer or supervisor has not accessed the area since it was created.
- No resources and/or activities have been added to the courses since its creation.
- The course has no recent access by learners.
Where a course area has multiple facilitators lecturers or supervisors then arrangements should be made by the facilitators, lecturers or supervisors team to ensure that they work together collaboratively. The parties behind the Service cannot accept any responsibility where a facilitator, lecturer or supervisor makes changes to files or settings without informing their colleagues.
The Service cannot guarantee quality of performance or be responsible for connection issues when accessing the contents of the Service externally.
Data Protection
Users of the Services must agree to:
- Look after their own username and password. They must not share their password with anyone else and must not use the username and password of other users.
- Keep physical access to the Services secure. For example, they must not login to the Services and then leave their computer unattended.
- Not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Services.
- Not post material which contains viruses or other malicious programs.
- Not upload private, confidential or sensitive material unless this is authorised.
- Keep their own data up to date and secure.
- Understand that the parties offering the Service will not take responsibility for any loss of information, which has been posted on the Services, once users cease to use the Service.
Data storage
The Services include a platform for making files and resources available to learners throughout their course. It should not be used as a general storage area.
Course creators should always keep original copies of work they upload onto the Services. The parties running the Service accepts no liability for lost or corrupt data that has been stored on the Services by the course creators or course participants.
Whilst the servers are routinely backed up for the purposes of disaster recovery it is the responsibility of users to ensure that they have copies of any important data, including uploaded resources, submitted assignments, etc.
Users accessing the Services should ensure that they have adequate virus protection on their computer to help prevent their infection or distribution of viruses.
Disciplinary Action
Should a user contravene these terms of use, the offence will be logged and appropriate action will be taken, from a temporary restriction of the Services up to and including permanent removal of rights to use the Services and further disciplinary procedures.
About us
The Services are operated by Skilltize Oy (registered in Finland with business id 2474146-0) under the brand Online University of Finland.