Licensed VU tools and how to license a new tool

To support teaching and learning, the VU has licenced a number of tools. See this page for a list of these tools. In case you want to use a tool that is not listed this page, then read the following information.

Licensed VU tools, what does that mean?

If a tool is licensed by the VU, it means that the VU has come to specific agreements with the supplier, including a contract and a data processing agreement. These agreements contain all kinds of provisions that prohibit the supplier from using personal data of VU employees and VU students for their own purposes (such as reselling). There are also a variety of security measures in the agreement, i.e. about when employees of the supplier and third parties may view the data in the application (almost never).
Additionally, if a tool is licensed, it means that support for this tool is done by the VU IT department or under a contractually agreed way, by the supplier. Also, the VU makes a privacy statement (obliged to have by law) in which students can read how the VU deals with the privacy aspects of a specific tool.

I want to use a tool that is not licensed to the VU

Use the VU alternative

It is highly recommended to use only tools that are currently licensed by the VU. To provide help in choosing a suitable alternative, an overview is made of all the tools that are widely available and the licensed VU tools that you can use as a replacement. Here you can find a list of VU alternatives. Links to an external site.

Be aware: using a tool that is not licensed is risky. Due to the lack of agreements on privacy and security policies, rights and freedoms of students might be violated and user data could be sold to third parties. Therefore, using unlicensed tools can cause legal or financial problems for the VU. Be aware that you cannot obligate students to work with a non licensed tool and in case they request, you have to provide a licensed alternative.

If you need help with finding the right licensed alternative, please contact your faculty support person . They can brainstorm with you on the best educational setup without violating privacy or risking security issues. If necessary they can ask for advice from the VU Network for Teaching & Learning (VU NT&L): onderwijswerkplaats@vu.nl . 

I want to arrange a license for a new tool

The VU Network for Teaching & Learning (VU NT&L) provides guidance to arrange and experiment with new tools in a pilot form. If you want a new tool to be licensed, the first step will be to check if the tool qualifies for this pilot. Please check these three items to see if the tool qualifies for the pilot:

  • Check if there are no alternatives. The VU has licensed many tools and often certain functionalities can provide a suitable alternative. Please contact your faculty support person to help you check for alternatives and help to align your goals with the functionalities.
  • Arrange financial resources.
  • Check for security and privacy settings. First contact your faculty Privacy Champion . Please contact VU NT&L to help you with this process.

If these steps are completed a pilot with the tool can start. In this pilot VU NT&L will help you with:

  • Arranging a temporary contract
  • Organising a didactical scenario on how to use the tool in practice
  • Collect evaluations
  • Decide on further steps

After a successful pilot VU NT&L will check if there are more faculties interested in the tool. If so, this Links to an external site. process will be followed to officially licence the tool. 

You can contact VU NT&L by sending an email to onderwijswerkplaats@vu.nl or get in contact via the website https://vu-ntl.nl/ Links to an external site..

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I want a Canvas integration (via LTI) for this tool

Most educational tools are accessible from a standalone version or dashboard and do not need a Canvas integration. Sometimes a tool provides a possibility to integrate within Canvas (in particular via the LTI standard). Integrating tools in Canvas takes, however, time and effort of IT. IT has to investigate the added value of integrating the tool, check the security and privacy standards of the integration and facilitate the agreements on the support of the tool. Therefore, integrating the tool in Canvas is only considered when there are multiple faculties interested in using the tool via Canvas. If you want a Canvas integration for the tool, please send a request to VU NT&L: onderwijswerkplaats@vu.nl .

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Request for change for an already licensed tool

In case you lack a specific feature for a licensed tool, you can submit a request to the expertgroup Teaching & Learning via de process administrator Teaching and Learning of SOZ: e.w.elings@vu.nl

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