Terms of Service
last updated 4/13/2018
Welcome to Lumen Learning! We make courseware to enable unprecedented learning for all students.
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of Lumen’s website, courseware, other products and services (“Services”). Please read our Terms, and contact us about any questions. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms.
We use plain language in these Terms to make them easy to understand. Throughout you’ll see (“Lumen”, “we”, or “us”) to refer to Lumen Learning, Inc. We also have employees, independent contractors, and other representatives that we refer to as (“our Team”). As a user of the Service or a representative of an entity that uses the Service, we refer to (“you”) in this agreement.
Using Lumen Services
Simple summary: Our services are designed for students and educators who are at least 13 years old. Some of our content links to 3rd party sites. Most of those links are great but we can’t control and aren’t responsible for what happens on those sites.
About our Services
Our Services are designed to provide students with uncommonly effective learning experiences and to put tools in the hands of educators that amplify their work and strengthen the connection between students and educators. The Lumen team creates, curates, and improves open educational resources and contributes that work to the commons. Our Services bring together our technology platform, open educational resources, intentional learning design, a community of passionate educators, and data analysis to deliver an educational experience that is constantly improving.
Our license to you
Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to use our Services.
Our Services use openly licensed educational resources such as text, images, videos, interactive activities and other media (“OER”). Nothing in these Terms limits your rights granted under specific OER licenses.
Who can use Lumen Services
You may use our Services if you can form a binding contract with Lumen, and only in compliance with these Terms and all applicable laws. You must be at least 13 years old to use our Services.
Some of our Services are publicly accessible to anyone without the need for an account (“Public Services”) in one of our courseware platforms (“Lumen Platform” or “Platform”). You may use Public Services in compliance with these Terms.
Our content may contain links to 3rd party content
Our Services may contain links to third-party content that are not owned or controlled by Lumen. If you access any third party website, service, or content from Lumen, you do so at your own risk and you agree that Lumen will have no liability arising from your use of or access to any third-party website, service, or content. If you find something that isn’t appropriate, we want to know about it. Please tell us, and we promise to listen and take whatever action we think is appropriate, including removing the link or replacing it with an alternative.
Your Content
Simple summary: If you post your content in the Lumen Platform, it still belongs to you but we and others can use it.
You can post content
Lumen allows you to post content, including text, photos, video, links, and other materials. Anything that you post or otherwise make available using our Services is referred to as “User Content.” You are solely responsible for the User Content you upload, and you retain all rights in original content that you create. We also allow you to redistribute, revise and remix OER content in our Platform subject to the rights and requirements of the original content.
We and others can use your content
You grant Lumen and our users a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide license to use, store, display, reproduce, save, modify, create derivative works, perform, and distribute your User Content in the Lumen Platform solely for the purposes of operating, developing, providing, and using the Lumen Services. Nothing in these Terms shall restrict other legal rights Lumen may have to User Content, for example under other licenses. We reserve the right to remove or modify User Content for any reason, including User Content that we believe violates these Terms or our policies.
We retain your openly licensed content
Following termination or deactivation of your account, or if you remove any User Content from our Platform, we and our users may retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute your User Content subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (“CC-BY”) license, the license you chose in our Platform, or the rights granted in these Terms.
Your feedback
We’re grateful for your feedback. In order for us to take advantage of it, you grant Us a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use and incorporate into the Services any suggestion, enhancement request, recommendation, correction or other feedback provided by you.
Copyright and Trademark
We have a deep respect for the intellectual property rights of others and we expect our users to do the same. Please read our copyright policy. You are agreeing to adhere to this policy as a part of these Terms.
Rules
Simple summary: Respect other users and applicable laws.
Conduct
Your use of Lumen Services is subject to compliance with our Acceptable Use Policy and these Terms. We may suspend or terminate your use of our Services if your conduct violates these rules.
Compliance with laws
You represent and warrant that your use of our Services will comply with all applicable laws and regulations. You’re responsible for determining whether our Services are suitable for your legal use.
U.S. Export Controls
The software we use to deliver the Services (the “Software”) is subject to United States export controls. Export laws are designed to restrict the distribution and use of certain products and services from other countries for security or trade agreements. You may not download or otherwise export our Services in violation of United States export laws.
Security and Privacy
Simple summary: We do our best to keep information secure. You can help by using a strong password and keeping it safe. We’re also committed to transparent and ethical use of your information.
Securing your account and data
We care about your security. We maintain appropriate procedural, physical, and technical safeguards to protect the security, integrity, and durability of your account and your content. Despite our best efforts, we cannot guarantee that our methods will be effective in all circumstances. You’re responsible for keeping your user account and password secure. Please notify us right away of any unauthorized use of your account.
Privacy
We will adhere to transparent, responsible and ethical practices around data ownership, sharing and use. Please read our privacy policy, and our research and data practices. Each is incorporated as a part of this agreement.
Support
If you are a paying customer—thank you!
We will do our best to make your experience extraordinary. You can read about our specific commitments in our Support and Operations Service Commitments.
If you use our platform and don’t pay us directly, don’t worry—we still want your experience to be fantastic, and we’ll do our best to make that happen. You may also be eligible for support based on an agreement between Us and your institution.
Fees
Simple summary: Some of our Services, like the OER content on our website, are available for free. Our courseware, which also contains OER content, is not free. Your eligibility to use our courseware is subject to payment for your use either by you or your institution.
You are eligible to use our Services, including Support, if you are an instructor for a course that has been paid for by your institution, or directly by the students in the course.
You are eligible to use our Services, if you are a student and the required fees have been paid. Fees may be paid in a number of ways, including:
- Purchase of an activation code, often through the campus bookstore
- Setting a course fee on courses that use Lumen courseware
- Paying for activation directly through the Lumen Service
Trial Use
Some of our courseware is available in a free trial. Your use of our Services during a free trial is subject to these Terms and may be terminated at the conclusion of the trial unless your use becomes eligible in accordance with these Terms, including the Fees described here.
Refunds
We provide refunds if:
- we stop providing our Services to you for a reason that’s not laid out in these Terms or our Acceptable Use Policy
- you submit a request for refund of a payment you made directly to us within 15 days of purchase
We are not obligated to provide a refund for any other reason. Please request refunds to support@lumenlearning.com.
If you have purchased an activation code from your campus bookstore, or any organization other than us, you must request a refund from that organization. Please note activation codes are valid for the current term only. You can request credit for any surplus codes within 30 days after the end of the term by submitting a Zendesk request at support.lumenlearning.com. When requesting credit you must provide your Return Reference #.
Disclaimers and Liability
Simple summary: People use Lumen courseware in so many great ways that we don’t always anticipate. We hope, but can’t guarantee that our service will meet your needs and we won’t be responsible for any damages you incur using our services.
No Warranties
We provide our Services as-is. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we don’t provide warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. People use Lumen courseware in so many great ways that we don’t always anticipate. We hope, but can’t guarantee that it will meet your needs.
Limitation of Liability
You assume full responsibility for any loss that results from your use of our Services, including any downloads from our website. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we and our Team won’t be liable for any indirect, punitive, special, or consequential damages under any circumstances. Our total liability for all claims will be no more than what you paid for the Service in the past twelve months.
Indemnity
You agree to indemnify and hold us and our Team harmless from any losses, including attorney fees that result from any claims you make that aren’t allowed under these Terms due to a “Limitation of Liability” or other provision. You also agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any losses that result from third-party claims that you or someone using your password did something that, if true, would violate any of these Terms.
Other Stuff
Changes and Notification
We will provide notifications to you in a method of our choosing and you agree to receive legal notices electronically if we so choose. We will revise these Terms periodically and the current version will always be posted on our website. If we decide that a revision is material, we will notify you. You agree to be bound by the revised Terms if you continue using the Service.
Term
The Term begins when you begin to use Lumen Services and continues as long as you use the Services. Clicking the button and entering your username means that you agree to the Terms.
Suspension & Termination
You or Lumen may terminate this agreement at any time and for any reason. We may suspend our Service to you at any time, with or without cause. If we suspend or terminate your account without cause, we’ll refund any fees you paid us for the period. We won’t refund or reimburse you if there’s cause, like a violation of these Terms or our Acceptable Use Policy. Once terminated, we may permanently delete your account and all the data associated with it. If you don’t log in to your account for 12 or more months, we may treat your account as “inactive” and permanently delete the account and all the data associated with it.
Even if this Agreement is terminated, the following sections will continue to apply: Your Content, Copyright, Limitation of Liability, No Warranties, Indemnity, and Severability.
Assignment
You may not assign your rights in this agreement to anyone else. We may assign our rights at our discretion.
Severability
If we learn that a part of this Agreement isn’t enforceable, we will remove or modify that part, and the rest of the Terms will still be valid.
Entire Agreement
These Terms, our Privacy Policy, Copyright Policy, and Acceptable Use Policy, which are incorporated by reference in this agreement, as well as any supplemental terms like trial limitations, make up the entire agreement and supersede all prior agreements, representations, and understandings.