openNCCC ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
This openNCCC Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is a guideline, and not an all-inclusive list, of impermissible conduct or content. This AUP describes the terms by which you may use this website, https://opennccc.nccommunitycolleges.edu/, the openNCCC goods or services that interact with this website, and the content contained here. By use of this site, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), including any policies and procedures incorporated by reference, including the NCCCS Computing Resources AUP and the openNCCC Privacy Policy.
You also represent and warrant that you have the legal authority to accept this AUP. If you do not agree to all the terms in this AUP, you are not authorized to use or access the openNCCC platform.
Mission Statement
openNCCC, a product of the NC Community College System (NCCCS), is a library of open educational resources that promotes exploration, creation, and collaboration, with the goal of enriching teaching and learning in North Carolina and around the world.
The content consists of a variety of learning formats that supplement courses, provide information and training, including but not limited to links to videos, websites, eBooks, webinars, and articles.
Usage
The content in openNCCC is “Open Education Resources (OER)” and is provided to all users subject to licenses from a work’s creator and Federal, State, and global copyright laws. You may only copy, modify, distribute, and use the OER contents in accordance with any license or as permitted under applicable law. You may not remove any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notice from any work. While the content of openNCCC is meant for community college students, faculty, and staff, openNCCC is non-exclusionary.
As long as you comply with this AUP, NCCCS grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non assignable, sublicensable right to access and use the openNCCC platform as it is intended to be accessed and used, and in accordance with this AUP and applicable law. NCCCS grants you no other rights, implied or otherwise.
openNCCC and its content are provided on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis, without any representation or warranties of any kind. Users are solely responsible for all use or misuse of works accessed via openNCCC. Your use of openNCCC is entirely at your own risk. NCCCS will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of this site, including, but not limited to, direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages.
Registered User Account
If you would like to join the openNCCC community and submit or use openNCCC content, you must complete a registration form and obtain a personal account and password. You must accurately provide all requested information when you register. NCCCS takes precautions to
protect personal information you provide from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. You are responsible and liable for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account and are responsible and liable for all activities that occur under your account using your password. Placing material in the openNCCC will not alter its previously existing copyright status.
If you wish to contribute educational materials to openNCCC Platform, such as an instructional text, resource, lesson, module, or other educational work (collectively, “Educational Material”), you may do so via the Open Author tool. With regard to any Educational Materials that you contribute to the openNCCC via the Open Author Tool, or by any other means, you represent and warrant that you have the full legal right to post the Educational Material and that use of the Educational Material by us and all other persons and entities as set forth in its license will not (i) infringe the trademark, copyright, privacy, or publicity rights of any person or entity; (ii) violate any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or agreement; or (iii) disclose any confidential or private information of any third party. If you are authoring or contributing Educational Material to the openNCCC Platform using Open Author, you must select an approved license applicable to your Educational Material via the Open Author interface.
The openNCCC Platform is a platform for open educational resources. Accordingly, you represent and warrant that no license terms apply to any Educational Material you contribute to the openNCCC Platform that are incompatible with the most restrictive license found at https://opennccchelp.nccommunitycolleges.edu/support/solutions/articles/42000080654- usage-rights-usage-rights (a list of pre-approved license types), at the time your Educational Material is submitted.
If you contribute any metadata – such as author name, title of work, year of completion of the work, and the like – in connection with contributing Educational Material to the openNCCC Platform or otherwise, you grant to NCCCS a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to reproduce, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, create derivative works of, transfer, sublicense, and make any other use in any form or medium of such metadata, without restriction of any kind.
NCCCS endeavors to provide information about the copyright status of the educational materials in the openNCCC Platform, and to identify any other terms and conditions that may apply to your use of such materials. However, NCCCS offers no guarantee or assurance that all pertinent information is provided or that the information provided is correct in each circumstance. In all cases, it is your sole responsibility to determine what permission(s) you may need in order to use materials available from the openNCCC Platform and, if necessary, to obtain such permission(s).
Certain features of the openNCCC Platform may allow you to contribute content that is not itself either Educational Material or metadata, for example in the form of comments, ratings, reviews, feedback, evaluations, or other content for access, use, viewing, and downloading by NCCCS and by other users of the openNCCC Platform (“User Content”). When you post User Content, you represent and warrant that you have the full legal right to post the User Content and that use of the User Content by NCCCS and all other persons and entities will not (i) infringe
the trademark, copyright, privacy, or publicity rights of any person or entity; (ii) violate any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or agreement; or (iii) disclose any confidential or private information of any third party. Upon your submission of User Content, you grant NCCCS a fully paid, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, license to access, use, distribute, reproduce, display, modify, create derivative works based upon, and sublicense the User Content for the purposes of providing and promoting the openNCCC Platform, all without any additional compensation to you whatsoever. Please note that Educational Materials and metadata are not considered User Content.
User Content and Educational Material (including its metadata) is available at NCCCS’ sole discretion and NCCCS may disable access to any User Content or Educational Material at any time and for any reason. By using the openNCCC Platform, you acknowledge and agree that NCCCS does not guarantee access to and/or hosting of User Content or Educational Material that is published through the openNCCC Platform. For example, if Educational Material violates this Agreement, access to it may be disabled.
If you believe that a user of the openNCCC Platform has violated your intellectual property rights – for example by improperly posting your trademarks or copyrighted content to the openNCCC Platform – please contact the openNCCC Helpdesk at
<openNCCChelp@nccommunitycolleges.edu>;.
If NCCCS receives notice that User Content or Educational Material posted to or through the openNCCC Platform may infringe the rights of third parties, including their intellectual property rights, NCCCS reserves the right (in our sole discretion) to disclose information, including PII, about the poster of such material to those third parties, so that they can contact the poster directly regarding their concerns.
Accessibility
NCCCS is committed to making openNCCC usable and accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability, and provides a number of features that support the accessibility of the openNCCC:
Pages on openNCCC are intended to be compatible with screen readers and accessible to keyboard navigation. Additionally, authoring tools on openNCCC are built with well-formed HTML semantic tagging structures whenever possible, which include ARIA long descriptions, image captions, and embedded A11y accessibility mode microdata.
The openNCCC Platform supports several AFA and A11y metadata fields. Use the Accessibility criteria in Advanced Search to find resources that include features such as ARIA long descriptions, transcripts, and captions, or that support specific learning modes such as auditory, visual, or textual.
Limitations to Accessibility: While NCCCS strives to ensure the accessibility of openNCCC, you may find some limitations. Please report any problems to the openNCCC support team at: openNCCChelp@nccommunitycolleges.edu. For fastest processing, please include the phrase “Accessibility Request” in the subject line and in the body of your message.
FERPA Notice
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); 20 U.S.C. 1232g and implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 99.
FERPA is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.
FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are "eligible students." https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
FERPA protects Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from disclosure without the student’s consent except under specific conditions.
Under FERPA, the following definitions apply (34 C.F.R. 99.3):
Personally Identifiable Information: The term includes, but is not limited to—
(a) The student's name;
(b) The name of the student's parent or other family members;
(c) The address of the student or student's family;
(d) A personal identifier, such as the student's social security number, student number, or biometric record;
(e) Other indirect identifiers, such as the student's date of birth, place of birth, and mother's maiden name;
(f) Other information that, alone or in combination, is linked or linkable to a specific student that would allow a reasonable person in the school community, who does not have personal knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to identify the student with reasonable certainty; or
(g) Information requested by a person who the educational agency or institution reasonably believes knows the identity of the student to whom the education record relates.
Directory information: Information contained in an education record of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed.
(a) Directory information includes, but is not limited to, the student's name; address; telephone listing; electronic mail address; photograph; date and place of birth; major field of study; grade level; enrollment status (e.g., undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time); dates of attendance; participation in officially recognized activities and sports; weight and height of members of athletic teams; degrees, honors, and awards received; and the most recent educational agency or institution attended.
(b) Directory information does not include a student's—
(1) Social security number; or
(2) Student identification (ID) number, except as provided in paragraph (c) of this definition. (c) In accordance with paragraphs (a) and (b) of this definition, directory information includes—
(1) A student ID number, user ID, or other unique personal identifier used by a student for purposes of accessing or communicating in electronic systems, but only if the identifier cannot be used to gain access to education records except when used in conjunction with one or more factors that authenticate the user's identity, such as a personal identification number (PIN), password or another factor known or possessed only by the authorized user; and
(2) A student ID number or other unique personal identifier that is displayed on a student ID badge, but only if the identifier cannot be used to gain access to education records except when used in conjunction with one or more factors that authenticate the user's identity, such as a PIN, password, or other factor known or possessed only by the authorized user.
Contributions
When contributing resources, a user must:
Ensure that all postings made by the user are original materials unless proper attribution is given to a third party.
Not post any advertising or promotional content for themselves or any third party. Not accept any compensation from a third party for placing any content in a posting. Disclose all affiliations or relations necessary so that postings are not deceptive or misleading.
Not knowingly link to any downloadable applications or other content that may be harmful to another user’s computer.
Ensure that all opinions and statements are representative of the user’s honest views. Not offer legal, financial, or medical advice.
Ensure that all resources adhere to guidelines of Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (For more information, see “Accessibility”, above.)
Ensure that no PII is added to any part of a contribution (For example: Social Security Numbers, Tax Identification Numbers, Date of Birth, financial information, address, etc.)
Ensure that no student or education records, such as grades assessments, etc., are entered into a contribution. (For more information on PII, see “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)”, above).
Objectionable Content
Content contributed to openNCCC may not contain or be linked to any objectionable content. Objectionable content is defined as (NOT all inclusive):
Infringement of any copyright, trademark, trade secret of patent of any third party.
Violation of any obligation of confidentiality.
Violation of the privacy, publicity, moral, or any other right of any third party. Hateful, bullying, or obscene.
Used to harass, stalk, or otherwise threaten a person.
Libelous, defamatory, knowingly false, or misrepresentative of another person.
Threatening, promotion of violence, promotion of discrimination (whether based on sex, religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, or age), promotion of illegal activities, or otherwise contains material that openNCCC informs the user is objectionable.
NCCCS is the sole determiner of what is considered objectionable under this AUP.
Prohibited Conduct
Users shall not use openNCCC services to stalk others, post, transmit, or originate any unlawful, threatening, bullying, intimidating, abusive, fraudulent, hateful, defamatory, obscene, or pornographic communication, or any communication where the message, or its transmission or distribution, would constitute or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, State, Federal or Global law.
Users shall not use the openNCCC services for any unlawful purpose. Without limiting the foregoing, no user shall use the openNCCC services in violations of laws relating to copyright, trademark, or libel/slander.
Users shall not upload, post, email, transmit, or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail”, “spam”, “chain letters”, “pyramid schemes”, “affiliate links”, or any other form of solicitation, or any worms or viruses or any code of a destructive nature.
Users shall not reverse engineer any portion of the openNCCC website
(https://openNCCC.nccommunitycolleges.edu,) or platform.
Users shall not use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other automated device, process, or means not provided by NCCCS to access, retrieve, scrape, or index any portion of the site or openNCCC Platform.
Users shall not record, process, or mine information about other users or about the openNCCC Platform.
Users shall not take any action that imposes, or may impose, in NCCCS’ sole discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our technology infrastructure or otherwise make excessive traffic demands on the site or openNCCC Platform.
Users shall not interfere with the proper working of the openNCCC Platform, circumvent or otherwise interfere with any security-related features of the openNCCC Platform, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the openNCCC Platform, Registered User accounts, or any
computers/networks associated with the openNCCC Platform through hacking, password mining, or any other means.
Users shall not use openNCCC services for commercial activity of any type.
NCCCS Content
Except for Educational Materials (which are made available by NCCCS and its users pursuant to the public licenses associated therewith), all text, metadata, user interfaces and visual interfaces (including graphics, photographs, sounds, music, and artwork), trademarks, logos, computer code, and any and all compilations thereof (collectively, “NCCCS Content”), including but not limited to the design, structure, selection, coordination, expression, “look and feel,” and arrangement of NCCCS Content, is owned, controlled, or licensed by or to NCCCS, and is protected by trade dress, copyright, and trademark laws, and is subject to various other intellectual property rights. Except as expressly provided in this Agreement, you are prohibited from copying, reproducing, modifying, distributing, displaying, performing, or transmitting any of the NCCCS Content for any purpose, and nothing otherwise stated or implied in the openNCCC Platform confers on you any license or right to do so.
Links
The openNCCC Platform may link to third party sites that are not under the control of NCCCS. Links from the openNCCC Platform are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not indicate endorsement, sponsorship of, or affiliation with the third party or content of the linked website, including any advertisements that may be posted. NCCCS has no control over and bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of the externally linked sites. Privacy policies and practices for such linked sites may differ from NCCCS Privacy Policy and practices. You access and use such linked sites entirely and solely at your own risk. NCCCS urges you to read the privacy policies of such linked sites before disclosing your personal information on such sites.
If you present a link to any portion of the openNCCC Platform from any third-party site, you agree to present the link in a manner that does not convey the impression that NCCCS endorses, whether expressly or implicitly, any products, services, or opinions provided on your website. Any link to the openNCCC Platform must provide a clearly written notice that the user is leaving your website to access another.
Amendments and Modifications
This AUP may be amended at any time by posting the amended terms on the openNCCC website. Your continued use of openNCCC following such modification(s) shall be deemed your acceptance of such modification(s).
Termination
NCCCS may, at its sole discretion and at any time, terminate your access to and use of openNCCC, or any part thereof, with or without notice.
Your right to access and use the openNCCC Platform terminates automatically upon your breach of any of the terms of this AUP. You agree that NCCCS may, in its sole discretion and without prior notice to you, terminate your access to the openNCCC Platform and/or block your
future access to the openNCCC Platform for any reason, including if NCCCS determines that you have violated this AUP or other agreements or guidelines which may be associated with your use of the openNCCC Platform. Please note that it is NCCCS policy to terminate the accounts of Registered Users who repeatedly violate the copyrights, trademark rights, or other rights of third parties.
If NCCCS takes any legal action against you as a result of your violation of this Agreement, NCCCS will be entitled to recover from you, and you agree to pay, all reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of such action, in addition to any other relief granted. You agree that NCCCS will not be liable to you or to any third party for termination of your access to the openNCCC Platform. The disclaimer of warranties, the limitation of liability, and the jurisdiction and applicable law provisions will survive any termination.
Disclaimer of Warranties
YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE openNCCC PLATFORM IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE openNCCC PLATFORM, AND ANY GOOD OR SERVICE DOWNLOADED OR USED THROUGH OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE openNCCC PLATFORM, IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. NCCCS AND ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, LICENSORS, AND ANY NC COMMUNITY COLLEGE (COLLECTIVELY, “NCCCS OR ITS AFFILIATES”), EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, AND CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON INFRINGEMENT, TITLE, OR ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION ARISING BY USAGE OF TRADE, COURSE OF DEALING, OR COURSE OF PERFORMANCE. NCCCS AND ITS AFFILIATES MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT (a) THE openNCCC PLATFORM WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; (b) THE openNCCC PLATFORM WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE; (c) CONTENT AND MATERIAL WILL BE HOSTED AND/OR TRANSMITTED WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION; (d) ANY PRODUCTS, SITES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL, WHETHER TANGIBLE OR INTANGIBLE, DOWNLOADED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE openNCCC PLATFORM, WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR ANY STANDARD OF QUALITY; AND (e) ANY DEFECTS IN THE OPERATION OR FUNCTIONALITY OF THE openNCCC PLATFORM OR RELATED SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED.
ANY MATERIAL, INFORMATION, OR DATA DOWNLOADED, VIEWED, SHARED, OR OTHERWISE ACCESSED ON OR THROUGH THE openNCCC PLATFORM IS ACCESSED AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK; YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOADING, VIEWING, SHARING, OR OTHERWISE ACCESSING OF SUCH MATERIAL. NO ADVICE, REPRESENTATION, OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU EITHER FROM NCCCS OR THROUGH THE openNCCC PLATFORM SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THIS AUP.
Limitation of Liability
YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT NCCCS AND ITS AFFILIATES WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
PUNITIVE DAMAGES THAT MAY BE INCURRED BY YOU, HOWEVER CAUSED AND UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY. THIS INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, OR BUSINESS REPUTATION; ANY LOSS OF DATA; ANY COST OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; OR ANY OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES. THIS ALSO INCLUDES ANY LOSS OR DAMAGES THAT MAY BE INCURRED BY YOU AS A RESULT OF (a) ANY CHANGES THAT NCCCS MAY MAKE TO THE openNCCC PLATFORM; (b) ANY PERMANENT OR TEMPORARY CESSATION OF THE openNCCC PLATFORM; (c) THE DELETION OR CORRUPTION OF, OR FAILURE TO STORE, ANY CONTENT OR DATA (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION USER CONTENT, EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL, AND METADATA) MAINTAINED THROUGH THE openNCCC PLATFORM; OR (d) YOUR FAILURE TO KEEP YOUR PASSWORD OR REGISTERED USER ACCOUNT DETAILS SECURE. THE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS OF LIABILITY ABOVE SHALL APPLY IRRESPECTIVE OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY, INCLUDING CONTRACT (INCLUDING FUNDAMENTAL BREACH), WARRANTY, PRODUCT LIABILITY, STRICT LIABILITY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHER THEORY, EVEN IF NCCCS (OR ITS AFFILIATES) HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT NCCCS AND ITS AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR USER CONTENT, EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL, AND/OR METADATA, OR FOR THE INFRINGING, DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY, AND THAT THE RISK OF HARM OR DAMAGE FROM THE FOREGOING RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU.
Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold NCCCS and its Affiliates harmless from and against any and all liabilities and costs (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) NCCCS may incur in connection with any claim arising out of your breach of this AUP or your use of the openNCCC Platform. NCCCS reserves the right, but has no obligation, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you.
Enforceability
In the event that any portion of this AUP is held to be unenforceable, the unenforceable portion shall be construed in accordance with applicable law as nearly as possible to reflect the original intentions of the parties, and the remainder of the provisions shall remain in full force and effect.
Entire Agreement
This Acceptable Use Policy contains the entire agreement between you and NCCCS regarding the use of the openNCCC Platform and supersede any prior agreement between you and NCCCS on such subject matter. The parties acknowledge that no reliance is placed on any representation made but not expressly contained in this AUP. You may also be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use or purchase other goods or services from NCCCS, or its affiliates.
Governing Law
North Carolina law governs this AUP – as well as any claim, cause of action, or dispute that might arise between us concerning the openNCCC Platform, content appearing thereon, or any other matter – without regard to conflict of law provisions. The parties agree to submit and consent to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction in, and the exclusive venue of, the state and federal courts located within Wake County, North Carolina.