Higher education, business, government, and other non-profit institutions will all compete for the same talent. Organizations must plan for and budget to build or acquire the distributed learning infrastructure needed for increased training and education. Although most instructors do not write their own textbooks or create all the intellectual property used in a course or section, academic freedom affords most instructors the right to pick and choose the content they offer in courses or sections and how they will present it. One major factor in the increased use of commercially published content is that traditional publishers are offering more content in electronic form, including multimedia and intellectual property other than text-based. Another key ingredient is that faculty members are learning how to successfully use electronic media.
Time is also a factor-institutions can build from commercially available content quickly.
The controversial issue of ownership of intellectual content presents a challenge to publishers, faculty members, and university administrators. Debates over ownership of intellectual property are increasing in number as the Internet creates opportunities to capitalize on writings, lectures, lecture notes, presentations, and software developed by faculty members. Faculty members have begun to regard their lectures and presentations as products of the entertainment industry, asking for royalties for presentations that are used by the institution after they leave, or that are used by other institutions that buy or barter for access rights. As institutions increase their collaborative efforts with other institutions and publishers, they will likely learn how to resolve such issues. However, individual faculty members may escalate these battles to the courts, especially those that have traditionally benefited from their roles as textbook authors.