For teaching staff

Copyright for teaching staff

There are exceptions under the Copyright Act that enable teaching staff to use resources for educational purposes.

However, if you use copyright material in your teaching you are required to observe copyright law. See below for the copyright considerations that apply to different types of resources or contact copyright@scu.edu.au for clarification. 

Under section 6, clause 73 of the university's Assessment, Teaching and Learning Procedures, open education resources (OER) are preferred to commercial textbooks. OER are resources licenced with a Creative Commons (CC) or other open licence and are free to read, share and reuse. They are preferred as they:

  • reduce the financial burden for students, providing equitable access to education
  • are licenced for unlimited and free access to the content.

However, in cases where no relevant OER is available, teaching staff are encouraged to assign materials that are accessible to students through the library's collection. Where the library has the material in electronic form, a link to the resource can be provided to students. Reproductions of copyright material in a physical format held by the library or a member of teaching staff can be scanned and provided to students under the 113P statutory licence provided the copy:

  • constitutes a reasonable portion of the work
  • includes a 113P warning notice
  • is registered through myReadings
  • is made available only to the students studying the unit
  • is used for educational purposes.

myReadings

The myReadings system provides students with a curated reading list of learning materials and also allows the library to accurately report on the copyright material used by the university.

If there is not already a myReadings list for a unit, email myreadings@scu.edu.au with details of the readings required. Please note under clause (75) of the university's Assessment, Teaching and Learning Procedures, the maximum number of required readings that can be assigned is 20 per unit. 

The university has an agreement with Screenrights Australia that allows teaching staff to make copies of radio or television broadcasts transmitted in Australia for educational purposes. The library manages the television element of this licence through ClickView. Material from ClickView can be used under this licence as long as:

  • recordings are only used for educational purposes 
  • they are only made available to staff and students and are not shared beyond the university
  • an AV warning notice is displayed. 

ClickView material is licenced to be shown in its entirety in class. ClickView videos or audio clips can also be embedded in Blackboard.

Hired or purchased DVDs

A commercially hired or purchased DVD can be shown in a workshop as part of the course of instruction if:

  • the audience is restricted to staff and students at SCU
  • it is part of the unit curriculum
  • an AV warning notice is displayed.

It can not be:

  • shown as part of an extra-curricula activity
  • streamed online or recorded as part of a workshop recording.

If showing a hired or purchased DVD in a workshop that is being recorded, the recording must be paused while the commercial DVD is being shown. Students unable to attend the workshop must obtain a legitimate copy of the DVD to catch up in their own time.

The library may be able to obtain a licence to show the DVD for any purposes outside the above permitted uses. Email copyright@scu.edu.au for assistance.

YouTube

You can show a YouTube video to students for educational purposes if it is streamed directly from YouTube and the audience is restricted to staff and students at SCU. If a workshop is being recorded, the recording should be stopped while the video is being played.

You may embed a YouTube video in Blackboard, as long as:

  • an embed code is provided by YouTube
  • the video was uploaded to YouTube by the copyright holder
  • the material is not an illegal or infringing copy.

If no embed code is provided, link to the video instead.

You can not download a YouTube video to show in class or upload to Blackboard as this is a breach of YouTube's terms of use. 

Video content available through the library's databases

Where you can show or embed videos available through the library's databases will depend on the database's terms of use. Linking students to the material is the easiest way to comply with limitations set under the licence agreement. If you are unsure what is allowed, email copyright@scu.edu.au.

Podcasts

As most podcasts are available online, linking students to a podcast or episode is the easiest way to comply with licence and copyright limitations. However, in cases where this is not possible, the Copyright Act allows a podcast of a radio show that was broadcast live to be reproduced and provided to students in an internal learning management system for educational purposes under the statutory licence.  If the podcast was not broadcast live, contact copyright@scu.edu.au for assistance.

Images and artwork attract copyright protection and include photographs, drawings, figures and graphs. However, you can copy and communicate images under the 113P statutory licence for educational purposes. Examples of what you can reproduce include all of:

  • a work that has not been separately published, e.g. a diagram in a book that has not been published as a stand alone image
  • an artwork that accompanies or explains the text being copied, e.g. a photo that is included in a book chapter being shared with students through myReadings
  • an image or figure from an electronic source, e.g. a webpage.

All copyright images must include a 113P warning notice which should be visible before or at the same time as the content. This could be included:

  • on the Powerpoint slides used for the workshop
  • within the document that includes the image
  • as part of a caption accompanying the image.

If you find an image and are unsure of the copyright status email copyright@scu.edu.au. 

Creative Commons (CC) licenced and stock images

There are many sites with CC licenced or stock images that you can use for educational purposes. Some useful sites include:

Attributing images

When including images in unit content include an attribution that follows the TASL acronym:

  • Title of the work
  • Author (provide a link to the author's profile where possible)
  • Source (provide a link to the image by hyperlinking the title text)
  • Licence (state what licence you are reusing the image under, with a link to the details of the licence).

For example:

Woman standing between library book shelves, by Clay Banks, free to use under the Unsplash licence. 

Scales of Justice Brisbane Supreme Court, by Sheba Also is licenced under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Music attracts different layers of copyright. Copyright can exist in:

  • the music itself (i.e. melody, notes that form the work)
  • the lyrics (which can be owned by an individual or group of people)
  • printed edition (e.g. a score)
  • a sound recording.

Each of these elements are licenced by different organisations who participate in the tertiary music agreement with Universities Australia:

Under the tertiary music agreement universities can make audio and audio-visual recordings:

  • to play at university events and graduations
  • to use on hold on a telephone system
  • of university events
  • that will be used for university purposes.

Universities can store or share the audio and audio-visual recordings they make for the purposes above by:

  • keeping them on a learning management system or other password protected  system only accessible to staff and students
  • supplying physical recordings of university events to staff and students and their immediate family for private and domestic use either for free or at a cost recovery price. 

Uses prohibited under this agreement include:

  • remixing, arranging, adapting, mashing up or otherwise debasing a work or recording
  • making recordings available for download
  • allowing a stream of a graduation ceremony to be available online for more than 30 days after the ceremony occurred
  • including the recording in advertising or promotional material.

Using music in a synchronisation

Synchronisation means to put music together with footage. This can be done "in context" (when capturing the music at the same time as capturing the footage) or "post-production" (when music is included with footage using editing software).

In-context synchronisations

When making an in-context synchronisation with an ARIA sound recording the following is permitted:

  • storing the recording on a password protected university platform, e.g. Blackboard
  • streaming the recording on the university's official website (social media accounts are not included)
  • providing the recording to staff and students in physical format for free or at a cost recovery price. 

However, if the music in the in-context synchronisation has been recorded by the person making the video and is not an ARIA sound recording, e.g. recording of university affiliated musicians, the following is permitted under the AMCOS licence:

  • storing the recording on a password protected university platform, e.g. Blackboard
  • streaming the recording on the university's official website
  • streaming the recording on the university's official social media accounts
  • providing the recording to staff and students in physical format for free or at a cost recovery price.
Post-production synchronisations

However, when making a post-production synchronisation that uses a commercial sound recording the following is permitted:

  • storing it on a password-protected university platform, e.g. Blackboard
  • providing it to staff and students in physical format for free or for a cost recovery price.

However, if the synchronisation uses a non-ARIA sound recording, the synchronisation can be:

  • stored on a password-protected university platform, e.g. Blackboard
  • streamed on the university's official website
  • streamed on the university's official social media platforms
  • provided to staff and students in a physical format for free or at a cost recovery price.

As outlined in Key copyright concepts copyright law protects a creator's right to determine how their work can be:

  • copied
  • communicated (shared)
  • performed
  • adapted.

Copyright also gives authors moral rights including:

  • the right to be correctly and fairly attributed for their work
  • not have the work changed in a way that would negatively impact their reputation.

In addition to copyright, any material obtained from the library's collection is subject to a licence agreement with the publisher. This agreement generally prohibits the uploading of material to AI. Depending on the AI tool's terms of use, what the tools is used for, and the output created, using an AI tool with copyright or licenced material may infringe copyright laws or the licence terms.

The interaction between copyright, licences and AI tools makes using AI for teaching complex. Email copyright@scu.edu.au for clarification on whether a use is permitted. 

The copyright in unit materials including slides, documents, and images created by teaching staff at SCU is owned by the university as per the Intellectual Property Rights Policy. To protect the university's copyright and prevent the unauthorised sharing of unit materials outside the university it is recommended that the following statement be included on the material:

© Southern Cross University [year]. This content is protected and may not be shared, uploaded, or distributed.