I am new here. I need advise.

[psk19x65]

I want to design a course. I have read 2-3 books and a lot of free downloadable material on the subject, available on the Internet. I have drawn inspiration from them to design the course. I have the following queries:

1) Have I to mention the reference of all material I referred to?

2) Does that attract infringement of their copyrights? I will be creating my own content. I will not copy or use anything from their work (e.g. text, images, etc.)

3) Will those authors demand a share in earnings of this course from me?

4) Is this the right forum to ask the above queries?

Please revert with your inputs.

Regards

Prashant Ketkar

[LawrenceMMiller]

Yes, this is the right forum.

To be qualified to develop a course, in my opinion, you need more than to simply have read a couple of books. You need to have experience in the subject matter. 

You do not have to reference material you have learned from. I have learned from hundreds of books, it would drive people crazy if I felt a need to mention all of them. However, I do refer people to books that are foundational of a field of knowledge. For example, I teach a course on Lean Management and I refer to The Machine that Changed the World, The Toyota Way, and the books of Shigeo Shingo because I feel that these are essential sources of knowledge in this field. I am not refering to them because I am copying their material, but rather because a student who really want to know this field should read those books. 

Learning from and referring to a source is not copyright infringement and does not result in any financial obligation to the original author. But.... DON'T COPY. Learn from. There is a big difference.