Copyright at UWS: Copyright for Teaching Staff

Copyright for Teaching

Quick Introduction for Staff Creating Online and Blended Learning Content

1. Copyright legislation covers a wide variety of resources used in teaching including;

• Text items – e.g.  books, journal articles and documents
• Recordings – e.g. films, TV programmes and music
• Images – e.g. artworks, designs, photographs and diagrams
• Code – e.g. music notation and computer programming code

2. Items are automatically covered by copyright unless either a licence allowing use has been applied or the copyright has lapsed following a number of years since the death of the creator.

3. Copyright exceptions allowing use for personal research and study do not apply to resources used in teaching (including resources uploaded to Aula / Moodle). ‘Teaching’ uses are generally limited to a defined audience, such as students on a course. Further details around copyright legislation in teaching can be found at https://www.copyrightuser.org/understand/exceptions/education/

4. Resources can be used in teaching (including online) when one of the following conditions applies.

The resource is covered for reproduction for education by an agreed / subscribed licence. The university holds a CLA licence which cover up to one article or chapter of many books and journal issues if specific conditions are followed. To request copies in this way contact CLAScan@uws.ac.uk . UWS also subscribes to a range of online databases for specific types of resources which licence use of the contents in teaching. These include ClickView (TV programmes & films), DigiMap (maps), SCRAN (images), Statista (datasets, charts and data graphics). Written permission from the copyright holder can also be used as a ‘licence’.

The specific use is covered by the ‘illustration for instruction’ exception within UK copyright legislation. This allows small portions of text or images to be used to illustrate a point whilst teaching. To be covered by the exception the amount used should be the minimum required to illustrate the point being made – and must be clearly linked to teaching – e.g. use of an image should be for instruction not decoration. The use must also not seek to avoid the purchase of or subscription to a resource where this is available.

The item has been licenced by the creator for general use (e.g. by adding a CC-BY licence.) It should be clear on a specific resource if it has been licenced in this way. Sources of Copyright Cleared resources can be found at https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/

The resource is no longer covered by copyright legislation. This is likely to apply to older material – e.g. original text from Shakespeare. Care needs to be taken in applying this, as not all ‘older’ material is free from copyright, which can be renewed following the death of the author. Any secondary work created using the original text is also copyright. E.g. a design featuring Shakespeare text would be covered by copyright although the text is not.

5. Whatever source the material is from it must be appropriately referenced.

To be compliant, referencing must be sufficient to allow a user to identify the source of the copyright material. Whilst it is good practice to use standard referencing styles, this is not required for copyright compliance.

Contains brief definitions of commonly used terms used in Copyright.

• Copyright Glossary

During recent audits, most copyright compliance problems related to one of the issues below. If these elements are considered when developing materials for online teaching, most copyright compliance issues in online teaching of your module are likely to be avoided.

Articles, book chapters and sections of text downloaded or reproduced for personal use have been uploaded to  Aula / Moodle.

In most cases larger sections of text can only be used under the terms of the CLA licence. To comply with the licence, detailed records must be kept and the items must be checked against a database of items covered by the licence. Library staff carry this out on behalf of academic staff and supply you with a link to the copyright cleared resource. To access this service contact CLAScan@uws.ac.uk with details of your request. Articles and chapters uploaded to Aula / Moodle by individual academic staff are unlikely to be copyright compliant. If possible, link to the resource online. Links to legitimate sources are copyright compliant without further referencing and do not need to be reported.

Copies of documents freely available online have been uploaded to Aula / Moodle.

Although documents are freely available online, they are still covered by copyright legislation. The best option is to link directly to the source of the document.

Images, diagrams and short extracts of text have not been referenced.

All items used must be referenced in sufficient detail to allow a user to identify the original source.

Copyright images have been used for decoration rather than illustration for instruction

Use copyright cleared sources of decorative images to avoid this issue. Ensure any images, whether for illustration or decoration, are appropriately referenced.

Creators / authors of content uploading sections of their own work to Aula / Moodle.

If the item has been published, then unless you negotiated ownership of the copyright or ongoing use in teaching with the publisher and have this documented, you should treat the resource as though it was created by someone else for the purposes of copyright. If the item is unpublished then you are free to use this in teaching as you wish, but should acknowledge yourself as the author / creator.

Extracts from resources owned by individual academic staff but not the library have been uploaded

To be covered by the CLA licence the item must be owned by the institution, not an individual. Contact the library to discuss appropriate access to the resource.

Verbal permission has been given for use of a resource by the creator

As with self-created items, whilst intellectual property is retained, the creator may not own the copyright for published items, so these should be treated as normal published items. For unpublished items, ensure that you have written permission to use this in teaching (an e-mail is fine) and acknowledge the author / creator appropriately.

If the information held here does not answer the copyright-related questions that you have or if you would like more information about copyright, please contact the Library Copyright Service at Copyright@uws.ac.uk