Copyright in the Digital Classroom

1. What material may I post to University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses)?

   • Your own copyright materials (teaching materials such as lecture notes, syllabi, journals articles for which you have retained the right to post copies online);
   • Public domain materials;
   • The materials are covered by a licence that permits such copying, (eg. the Access Copyright license, a Creative Commons license, open access materials or a licence the University has with the publisher of an electronic journal, e-book or database);
   • Government of Canada publications - This is a non-exclusive license for personal and non-commercial use, with attribution.
   • Government of Ontario publications - This is a non-exclusive license for non-commercial purposes, with attribution.
   • Links to online materials
   • Scanned material (provided that work it is covered by the Access Copyright licence and within the limits– for more details, see the handout “What does the new Access Copyright licence mean for me as an instructor?”);
   • Internet materials - There is a new exception to the Copyright Act allowing educational use of Internet materials, including reproducing those materials for your students, provided that the material appears to have been posted legitimately, there is no clearly visible notice (and not merely the copyright symbol ) or link to such a notice prohibiting you from using the material for educational purposes, there is no technological protection measure preventing you from accessing or copying the material and when you use it, you are required to acknowledge the author and the source.
   • Insubstantial portions of a work

2. May I upload a PDF of a journal article I obtained through the Library’s licensed e-journals to the University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses) for my students to read?

   It depends.

   The licences for some of the e-journals provided by the Library allow instructors to upload articles into secure course management systems such as the University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses). See this site for details about terms of use for specific journals. While there may be good reason to upload articles into the University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses), it is important to consider that doing so may mean that your students do not have the most recent version of the article. It is not unusual for publishers to make corrections or changes, such as adding supplementary material, to articles after initial publication. If such changes are made after a copy has been uploaded they will not be reflected in that copy. A direct link is the best way to ensure access to the most recent version of an article. Linking to the article also allows the Library to track use and obtain data about the importance of a particular journal to the campus.

   You are free to create a direct link yourself, or you might want the Library to do this for you. As well as saving you time, Library staff can you help prepare a “persistent” URL. The publisher’s URL for many articles can change from day to day; a persistent URL will ensure that your students get to the right articles quickly and without frustration.

   While uploading and linking to articles in the University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses) is generally permitted by the licences, it is important to remember that licences generally do not permit you to upload to a website, or create links on a website, that is not part of the University’s secure network, and that is open to the world at large. None of the licences that the Library has with publishers allows for uploading to, or linking from, websites that allow access without authentication.

   If the journal is not available electronically, you may be able to scan and upload it to UR Courses under the Access Copyright licence, provided the journal is not excluded from Access Copyright’s Repertoire.  Check the Repertoire Look-Up Tool  or search the Exclusions List to confirm.  Make sure to add a citation along with the following permission statement:  Copied under permission from Access Copyright. Further reproduction, distribution or transmission is prohibited, except as otherwise permitted by law.

3. I gave a PowerPoint presentation in class which includes figures from a textbook. Can I post it on the University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses)? I’ll be sure to cite where the figures came from.

   It depends. In some cases, textbook publishers will allow you to include copies of figures in your PowerPoint slides and online secure password protected sites, but usually only when the textbook is a required text for the course. You should check with the publisher first before posting the figures and comply with whatever conditions they attach to your use of the work.

   This use may also be covered under the University’s Access Copyright license or under the fair dealing exception.

4. May I scan a book chapter into a PDF and post it on the University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses)?

   If the work in within Access Copyright’s Repertoire and the amount is within the limits, you may be able to scan and upload it to University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses).

   Check the Repertoire Look-Up Tool  or search the Exclusions List to confirm.  Make sure to add a citation along with the following permission statement:  Copied under permission from Access Copyright. Further reproduction, distribution or transmission is prohibited, except as otherwise permitted by law.

   For more details, see the handout “What can I copy under the Access Copyright licence?”.

5. Can I use works available through Internet?

   There is a new exception to the Copyright Act allowing educational use of Internet materials, including reproducing those materials for your students, provided that the material appears to have been posted legitimately, there is no clearly visible notice (and not merely the copyright symbol ) or link to such a notice prohibiting you from using the material for educational purposes, there is no technological protection measure preventing you from accessing or copying the material and when you use it, you are required to acknowledge the author and the source.

6. May I post examples of my students’ work on the University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses) or on my personal website?

   Only if you have the student’s permission.  You should ask students in advance whether they consent to have their work posted online and keep written records of the permissions given.

7. I adopted a textbook for my course, and the textbook representative provided me with instructor support materials, including images, PowerPoint slides, etc. Can I distribute those materials to my students in paper or post them to University of Regina’s course management system (UR Courses)?

   You will need to check with your textbook representative for further information on this matter, except for the publishers listed below who have granted the University of Regina specific permissions to use their copyrighted works.

Pearson

Wiley - Use of Wiley-Provided Instructors' Material

This use may also be covered under the University’s Access Copyright licence or under the fair dealing exception.

Text derived and adapted from Waterloo Copyright FAQ by University of Waterloo, licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.