Copyright for teachers

Understanding copyright is especially important for teachers.

Teachers in Australia get additional exceptions under the Copyright Act 1968. ACU teachers and tutors should be aware of their rights and obligations under copyright law.

If you are not sure what copyright law is, or what is protected by copyright please visit the Copyright basics page for that background information.

Teachers may use copyright material for a variety of purposes, and each of those purposes may call upon a different section of the Copyright Act and have different rights and obligations associated with that purpose.

Keeping up to date in the field you are teaching

Whilst, teaching you may wish to keep up to date with the latest developments and resources in your field. When undertaking personal research, you are entitled to access the rights and obligations of Fair dealing. Under fair dealing you can copy reasonable portions to use for your personal research.

In the classroom – digital (Canvas) or physical

Here your variety of purposes come to the fore. Common activities include:

A. Creating your own PowerPoints and handouts for class
B. Recording lectures
C. Unrecorded lectures (online or physical)
D. Creating reading lists for students
E. Adding in readings to areas of your Canvas subject for students
F. Class activities
G. Assessments tasks
H. Exams

A. Creating your own PowerPoints and handouts for class

When creating PowerPoints and/or handouts for class you can use artistic material and literary material (quotation) in your resources. This is done either because the material is Creative Commons licenced or used under the CA 113P statutory licence. Ensure that all third-party material is referenced, and the PowerPoint is clearly identified as ACU with a logo on first slide. It can only be made available to students through a learning management system like Canvas.

B. Recording lectures (pre-recorded or live lecture)

When recording lectures teachers can use their PowerPoints. You can include music sound recordings under the APRA/AMCOS ARIA/PPCA music licence. You can also include broadcast (TV and radio) material from Clickview, under the Screenrights 113P statutory licence. Material used must be referenced via a link in Leganto, and the recordings can only be made available to students through a learning management system like Canvas. No other audiovisual or sound recordings can be used. YouTube, TikTok and other recordings MUST be paused. A link can be provided to students in Leganto.

C. Unrecorded lectures (online or physical)

When presenting lectures or running tutorials teachers can use their PowerPoints. You can include music sound recordings of music under the APRA/AMCOS ARIA/PPCA music licence. You can also include broadcast (TV and radio) material from Clickview, under the Screenrights 113P statutory licence, or YouTube, TikTok and others.

D. Creating reading lists for students

Teachers have the right to choose appropriate third-party resources for their subjects, but the use must be lawful and respectful of the creators of those works, taking into consideration the common good, ensuring students equity of access to learning resources and modelling best practice. All third-party material used in a reading list must be contained in Leganto. Please see section 7 of the Copyright Use of Third-Party Works Procedure, this ensures that all obligations under our Copyright licences are met.

In general, an educational institution can only store one copy of copyright material, and this material can only be made available to students via Leganto.

E. Adding in readings to areas of your Canvas subject for students

You can link to open access, Creative Commons, ACU purchased learning resources including those from the Library.

F. Class activities

Any learning material provided to students that contain third party material designed for them to use in a class activity – the third-party material should be included in Leganto, this ensures that all obligations under our Copyright licences are met.

G. Assessments tasks

Any learning material provided to students that contain third party material designed for them to use in an assessment – the third-party material should be included in Leganto, this ensures that all obligations under our Copyright licences are met.

H. Exams

Any third-party learning material provided to students to evaluate during an exam, including both physical and online exams, can be provided. The material cannot be made available in a ‘practice exam’ database.

Other considerations

ACU staff and students must use copyright material in a lawful and respectful way, mindful of the creators of those works. ACU staff are required to consider the common good, ensure students equity of access to learning resources and model best practice in using others copyright material.

Copyright material is very diverse. Note the type of material protected in Copyright basics and how the materials made available to the public are also very diverse. They can include creative commons material, public domain material, licensed material, and all rights reserved material. See the key terms and phrases in Copyright basics to understand their differences. At ACU we could also use ACU created material, and material created by our staff.

Focus on format

Briefly reviewing the format of copyright material.

Audio – could be recordings of music, CD’s, DVD’s, radio, podcasts, streamed, audio books.
Audio-visual – could be broadcasts, streamed, television, YouTube, TikTok, choreography, circus, movies.
Images – any print or digital that are graphic art, photographs, paintings, sculptures, memes, blueprints, maps, plans, graffiti, tattoos, models.
Written – any print or digital that are books, journals, magazines, newspapers, timetables, guides, emails, software code, poems, song lyrics, scripts, theatre plays, music scores, text websites.

This is not an exhaustive list, there could be other examples.

Focus on common licences

Briefly reviewing the different licences that material used for teaching could be licensed under.

ACU owned material – ACU owns the material created by its employees, this is known as ACU copyright material and identified by © ACU [year], or ACU logo, or ACU author.
Blackline Masters – some textbooks come with additional resources for teachers to use, on the condition that the textbook is a required text for students. Like licensed material, additional material can be used only in ways set out in the contract. Check that is ok to load material to a learning management system.
Creative Commons (CC) – ACU can use CC material with any of the license elements for educational purposes. It is highly recommended to use works with CC licences. See section 7 of the Copyright Use of Third-Party Works Procedure for an explanation.
Disability provisions – ACU can assist students who have identified as disabled by converting resources to a suitable format for their learning. Contact the Access and Disability Service for assistance.
Licensed material – ACU can purchase learning resources for use in the education process. Typically identified within a faculty or through the library. Must be used in the ways set out in the contract.
Open Access (OA) – the copyright owner has chosen to enable free access to the material, but still retains copyright rights. ACU can use material for educational purposes, either link to the material or copy using one of the Copyright licences.
Open Educational Resources (OER) – usually developed specifically for educational purposes and contain a Creative Commons licence, see Creative Commons.
Public Domain – ACU can use public domain material for educational purposes.

This is not an exhaustive list, there could be other examples.

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