Terms of use

Effective: January 1, 2021.

The Institute of ACS Athens offers products and services provided by The Institute of ACS Athens, by ACS Athens, our collaborating organizations, our international network of experts. (“The Institute,” “us,” “we,” or “our”). These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your use of our website and other products and services (“Services”). As some of our Services may include software that is downloaded to your computer, phone, tablet, or other device, you agree that we may automatically update this software, and that these Terms will apply to such updates. In addition, some of our services may include third-party software (Moodle, Zoom) “our subsidiary platforms”, please refer to their terms and policies as well.

Please read these Terms carefully and email us at theinstitute@acs.gr if you have any questions. By using our Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms, including the policies referenced in these Terms.

THESE TERMS INCLUDE AN ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER THAT APPLY TO ALL CLAIMS BROUGHT AGAINST THE INSTITUTE OF ACS ATHENS. PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY; THEY AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.

Using Our Services

Who May Use Our Services
You may use our Services only if you can form a binding contract with The Institute, and only in compliance with these Terms and all applicable laws. When you create your Institute account, and subsequently when you use certain features, you must provide us with accurate and complete information, and you agree to update your information to keep it accurate and complete.

Our License to You
Subject to these Terms and our policies, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to use our Services and our subsidiary platforms. You may download content from our Services only for your personal, non-commercial use unless you obtain our written permission to otherwise use the content. You also agree that you will create, access, and/or use only one user account unless expressly permitted by The Institute, and you will not share access to your account or access information for your account with any third party. Using our Services does not give you ownership of or any intellectual property rights in our Services or the content you access.

Content Offerings

Changes to Content Offerings
The Institute offers courses and content (“Content Offerings”) from K12 schools, universities, and other providers (“Content Providers”). While we seek to provide world-class Content Offerings from our Content Providers, unexpected events do occur. The Institute reserves the right to cancel, interrupt, reschedule, or modify any Content Offerings, or change the point value or weight of any assignment, quiz, or other assessment, either solely, or in accordance with Content Provider instructions. Content Offerings are subject to the Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability sections below.

No Academic Credit
Unless otherwise explicitly indicated by a credit-granting institution, participation in or completion of Content Offerings does not confer any academic credit. Even if credit is awarded by one institution, there is no presumption that other institutions will accept that credit. You agree not to accept credit for completing a Content Offering unless you have earned a course certificate or other equivalent documentation of your completion of the Content Offering. The Institute, instructors, and the associated Content Providers have no obligation to have Content Offerings recognized by any educational institution or accreditation organization.

Disclaimer of Student-Content Provider Relationship
Except as described in the Degree and Certificate Programs section below, nothing in these Terms or otherwise with respect to your participation in any Content Offerings by Content Providers: (a) establishes any relationship between you and any Content Provider; (b) enrolls or registers you in any Content Provider institution, or in any Content Offering offered by any Content Provider institution; or (c) entitles you to use the resources of any Content Provider institution beyond participation in the Content Offering.

Your Content

User Content
The Services enable you to share your content, such as homework, quizzes, exams, projects, other assignments you submit, posts you make in the forums, and the like (“User Content”), with The Institute, instructors, and/or other users. You retain all intellectual property rights in, and are responsible for, the User Content you create and share. User Content does not include course content or other materials made available on or placed on to the Institute platform and our subsidiary platforms by or on behalf of Content Providers or their instructors using the Services or Content Offerings. As between The Institute and Content Providers, such Content Offerings are governed by
the relevant agreements in place between The Institute and Content Providers.

How The Institute and Others May Use User Content
To the extent that you provide User Content, you grant The Institute a fully-transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, sublicensable, non-exclusive, worldwide license to copy, distribute, modify, create derivative works based on, publicly perform, publicly display, and otherwise use the User Content. This license includes granting The Institute the right to authorize Content Providers to use User Content with their registered students, on-campus learners, or other learners independent of the Services. Nothing in these Terms shall restrict other legal rights The Institute 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 other policies including our belief in strongly preserving free speech and expression for our users as well as academic freedom for our Content Providers and instructors. We also want to make sure that all of our users and instructors feel safe and comfortable while using our Services. We have drafted this policy to ensure that people understand and follow the rules when participating in our online community and otherwise using our Services.

We may remove or edit inappropriate content or activity identified by or reported to us. We may separately suspend, disable, or terminate a user’s access to all or part of the Services.

You are prohibited from using our Services to share content that:

• Contains illegal content or promotes illegal activities with the intent to commit such activities. Please keep in mind that users who are as young as five years old use the Institute’s website, and we do not allow content that is inappropriate for these younger users.
• Contains credible threats or organizes acts of real-world violence. We don’t allow content that creates a genuine risk of physical injury or property damage, credibly threatens people or public safety, or organizes or encourages harm.
• Harasses others. We encourage commentary about people and matters of public interest, but abusive or otherwise inappropriate content directed at private individuals is not allowed.
• Violates intellectual property, privacy, or other rights. Do not share content that you do not have the right to share, claim content that you did not create as your own, or otherwise infringe or misappropriate someone else’s intellectual property or other rights. Always attribute materials used or quoted by you to the original copyright owner.
• Spams others. Do not share irrelevant or inappropriate advertising, promotional, or solicitation content.
• Otherwise violates The Institute’s Terms of Use.

Please note that specific Content Offerings may have additional rules and requirements.

You also aren’t allowed to:

• Do anything that violates local, state, national, or international law or breaches any of your contractual obligations or fiduciary duties.
• Share your password, let anyone besides yourself access your account, or do anything that might put your account at risk.
• Attempt to access any other user’s account.
• Reproduce, transfer, sell, resell, or otherwise misuse any content from our Services, unless specifically authorized to do so.
• Access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of our systems, unless specifically authorized to do so.
• Break or circumvent our authentication or security measures or otherwise test the vulnerability of our systems or networks, unless specifically authorized to do so.
• Try to reverse engineer any portion of our Services.
• Try to interfere with any user, host, or network, for example by sending a virus, overloading, spamming, or mail-bombing.
• Use our Services to distribute malware.
• Use our Services or any functionality of The Institute platform for anything other than for completing online courses or for pedagogical purposes.
• Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
• Encourage or help anyone do any of the things on this list.

Honor Code

All users participating in Content Offerings must agree to abide by the following code:

1.  I will register for only one account unless expressly permitted to register for additional accounts by The Institute
2. My answers to homework, quizzes, exams, projects, and other assignments will be my own work (except for assignments that explicitly permit collaboration)
3. I will not make solutions to homework, quizzes, exams, projects, and other assignments available to anyone else (except to the extent an assignment explicitly permits sharing solutions). This includes both solutions written by me, as well as any solutions provided by the course staff or others.
4. I will not engage in any other activities that will dishonestly improve my results or dishonestly improve or hurt the results of others.

Any violation of this code may result in your access to all or part of the Services being suspended, disabled, or terminated.

Code of Conduct

The Institute platform and our subsidiary platforms include people from all around the world and from a wide variety of different backgrounds, religions, and cultural norms. This diversity is one of the things that makes our Community great but it can also make communication challenging.

The purpose of The Institute’s Code of Conduct is to ensure that The Institute’s platform remains a welcoming, friendly and supportive place for all members, regardless of their color, religion, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, personal appearance, political affiliation, marital status, family responsibilities/parenthood, veteran status, education, disability, genetic information, and any other legally protected class.

The Code of Conduct rules will continue to be developed in a manner that involves all stakeholders in the development and implementation of fair online learning rules.

The Code of Conduct reflects the ethics and values of The Institute’s platform and community to address and respond to the ongoing collection of data on violence, cyberbullying, harassment, and intimidation. Ultimately, The Institute’s team can make the final decision on whether a behavior is acceptable or not.

Code of Conduct Guidelines
This Code of Conduct applies to all forum posts, private messages, and discussions on The Institute’s platform. We expect all activities on the platform to follow the Code of Conduct. If you do not follow the Code of Conduct, you or your content may be removed from The Institute’s platform.

• The Institute and our partners may provide helpful information within the platform, though we are not able to respond to every post. Peer responses, while helpful and appreciated, are not communications from The Institute or our partners.
• You own the rights to any content you post on The Institute’s platform and its subsidiary platforms. The Institute is granted a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use and commercialize any content you post on the platform. By posting on the platform, you grant The Institute the right to use any content within the post without restriction or compensation.
• The Institute is permitted to use any content you post on its platform and its subsidiary platforms (Moodle for The Institute, Zoom, etc) on our social media channels, in our marketing materials, or in articles about The Institute or ACS Athens printed or posted by third parties. When using your content in this way, The Institute will ask permission before using your image or full name alongside any content you’ve posted and for such use cases, all rights to the final work will be retained by The Institute.
• Unless otherwise stated, all content posted on The Institute platform is publicly visible and searchable online.
• If you delete your account any public posts you have made may be anonymized but the content will remain.

Your responsibilities as a user

All users have the responsibility to:

1. Contribute to maintaining a safe, supportive and orderly online learning environment that is conducive to learning and to show respect and dignity to other persons and to property.
2. Be familiar with and abide by all The Institute’s policies, rules, and regulations dealing with user conduct.
3. React to direction given by instructors, administrators, and other Institute personnel in a respectful, positive manner.
4. Maintain behavior free from all forms of bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
5. Ask questions when they do not understand.
6. Seek help in solving problems that might lead to discipline.
7. Accept responsibility for their actions.

Reporting a Code of Conduct incident
We encourage the Institute’s users to report any incidents that violate that Code of Conduct via an email to theinstitute@acs.gr. The report will be handled by the Institute’s team and the user who violated the Code of Conduct will be contacted directly.

How to report a Code of Conduct incident

In your report, please provide the following information:

• Link to the area of incident
• Screenshot of the violation and text
• Written text of the misconduct
• Visible name of user

If you are the subject of a reported incident or if you wish to report inappropriate behavior, we will strive to maintain the anonymity and confidentiality of all individuals involved. There may be times, however, when the Institute’s team may request permission to identify the individual(s) in order to engage in necessary correspondence to gather additional information to be able to advocate for a fair process and resolution.

Feedback

We welcome your suggestions, ideas, comments, and other feedback regarding the Services (“Feedback”). By submitting any Feedback, you grant us the right to use the Feedback without any restriction or any compensation to you. By accepting your Feedback, The Institute does not waive any rights to use similar or related Feedback previously known to The Institute, developed by our employees, contractors, or obtained from other sources.

Security

We care about the security of our users. While we work to protect the security of your account and related information, The Institute cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security measures. Please notify us immediately of any compromise or unauthorized use of your account by emailing theinstitute@acs.gr.

Third-Party Content

Through the Services, you will have the ability to access and/or use content provided by instructors, other users, and/or other third parties and links to websites and services maintained by third parties. The Institute cannot guarantee that such third-party content, in the Services or elsewhere, will be free of material you may find objectionable or otherwise inappropriate or of malware or other contaminants that may harm your computer, mobile device, or any files therein. The Institute disclaims any responsibility or liability related to your access or use of, or inability to access or use, such third-party content.

Copyright and Trademark

The Institute respects the intellectual property rights of our Content Providers, instructors, users, and other third parties and expects our users to do the same when using the Services. We reserve the right to suspend, disable, or terminate the accounts of users who repeatedly infringe or are repeatedly charged with infringing the copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of others.

Education Research

The Institute is committed to advancing K12 learning and teaching to empower human wisdom, social action, and ultimately contributing to the manifestation of happiness and harmony through innovation and creativity. Records of your participation in courses may be used for education research. In the interest of this research, you may be exposed to variations in the Content Offerings. Research findings will typically be reported at the aggregate level. Your personal identity will not be publicly disclosed in any research findings without your express consent.

Paid Services

The Institute offers paid Services (e.g., course certificates for certain courses, member benefits, etc) for a fee. Unless otherwise stated, all fees are quoted in Euros. You are responsible for paying all fees charged by or for The Institute and applicable taxes in a timely manner with a payment mechanism associated with the applicable paid Services. If your payment method fails or your account is past due, we may collect fees using other collection mechanisms. Fees may vary based on your location and other factors, and The Institute reserves the right to change any fees at any time at its sole discretion. Any change, update, or modification will be effective immediately upon posting through the relevant Services. Refunds may be available for paid Services as described in our Refund Policy below.

Degree and Certificate Programs
The Services may allow you to enroll in degree and certificate programs or similar programs offered by our Content Providers on The Institute’s platform and its subsidiary platforms. Our Content Providers serve as the distance education providers of these programs and determine admissions, refunds, and graduation or completion policies and requirements. Nothing in these Terms shall restrict the applicability to you of any institutional policies established by our Content Provider in connection with these programs (e.g., student codes of conduct); such policies shall supplement these Terms and to the extent there is a conflict between such policies and these Terms, as between you and our Content Provider, our Content Provider’s policies shall govern.

Modifying or Terminating our Services

We are constantly changing and improving our Services. We may add or remove functions, features, or requirements, and we may suspend or stop part of our Services altogether. Accordingly, The Institute may terminate your use of any Service for any reason. If your use of a paid Service is terminated, a refund may be available under our Refund Policy. We may not be able to deliver the Services to certain regions or countries for various reasons, including due to applicable export control requirements or internet access limitations and restrictions from governments. None of The Institute, its Content Providers and instructors, its contributors, sponsors, and other business partners, and their employees, contractors, and other agents (the “The Institute Parties”) shall have any liability to you for any such action. You can stop using our Services at any time, although we’ll be sorry to see you go.

Disclaimers

THE SERVICES AND ALL INCLUDED CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. THE INSTITUTE PARTIES SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. THE INSTITUTE PARTIES FURTHER DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY RELATED TO YOUR ACCESS OR USE OF THE SERVICES OR ANY RELATED CONTENT. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE SERVICES OR SUCH CONTENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE INSTITUTE PARTIES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM: (A) YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES; (B) ANY CONDUCT OR CONTENT OF ANY PARTY OTHER THAN THE APPLICABLE INSTITUTE PARTY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT; OR (C) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS, USE, OR ALTERATION OF YOUR CONTENT OR INFORMATION.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE DISCLAIMERS AND THE LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY SET FORTH IN THIS TERMS OF USE REFLECT A REASONABLE AND FAIR ALLOCATION OF RISK BETWEEN YOU AND THE INSTITUTE PARTIES, AND THAT THESE LIMITATIONS ARE AN ESSENTIAL BASIS TO THE INSTITUTE’S ABILITY TO MAKE THE SERVICES AVAILABLE TO YOU ON AN ECONOMICALLY FEASIBLE BASIS.

YOU AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION RELATED TO THE SERVICES MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The Institute Parties from any and all claims, liabilities, expenses, and damages, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, made by any third party related to: (a) your use or attempted use of the Services in violation of these Terms; (b) your violation of any law or rights of any third party; or (c) User Content, including without limitation any claim of infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property or other proprietary rights.

Governing Law and Venue

The Services are managed by The Institute, which is located in Athens, Greece. You agree that any dispute related to these Terms will be governed by the laws This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Hellenic Republic at the Court of Athens.

General Terms

Revisions to the Terms
We reserve the right to revise the Terms at our sole discretion at any time. Any revisions to the Terms will be effective immediately upon posting by us. For any material changes to the Terms, we will take reasonable steps to notify you of such changes, via a banner on the website, email notification, another method, or a combination of methods. In all cases, your continued use of the Services after publication of such changes, with or without notification, constitutes binding acceptance of the revised Terms.

Severability; Waiver
If it turns out that a particular provision of these Terms is not enforceable, this will not affect any other terms. If you do not comply with these Terms, and we do not take immediate action, this does not indicate that we relinquish any rights that we may have (such as taking action in the future).

Content Providers
Our Content Providers and integrated service providers are third-party beneficiaries of the Terms and may enforce those provisions of the Terms that relate to them.