Library news

Stay on the right side of copyright in your teaching 

You may be presented with questions about using copyright material, such as: 

1./ Can I upload publisher provided content (slides, handouts) in my Moodle course?
2./ Can my students upload their work for assignments to outside websites?
3./ How can I make a print textbook available to my students online through Moodle?
4./ I am recording my lecture, can I include the recording of the video I play? 
5./ I have downloaded an image from online, can I use it as part of my Moodle course?  
6./ My students are looking at creating content with AI - who owns the copyright? 

These resources can help you find the answers-  

Decision making tools for delivering teaching content:

• Federation Copyright Tool  online decision making resource 
• Copyright for delivering teaching materials guide (PDF) A printable poster 

The selection and use of content process is also outlined in the Library Guide to selecting teaching resources

Answers:

1) It depends on the publisher and their policy.  Generally they allow use if the book associated is the prescribed text for the course. Seek out the publisher policy, or ask us to assist.   
2.) Students own the copyright in their authored work, however  depending on the context, uploading externally may be a breach of the academic integrity procedure. 
3) Through Learning Resources (generally up to 10%), or as an eTextbook if available, or through special circumstances (e.g. item is out of print). 
4.) It depends - best to pause the lecture recording while the video plays as you are creating and storing a copy, but it does depend on the licencing and copyright status of the video content.  
5.) Yes.  Our statutory licence allows us to use images and graphics without permission, though they must include attribution, including the licence (ie s.113P). The image must not be available to purchase commercially separately. 
6.) As of 2024, copyright ownership of outputs of AI is not directly addressed or defined in the Australian Copyright Act. Only 'natural persons' may be granted copyright, therefore the student is the copyright owner in that case, though attribution would be required for the AI input.  

For further information please contact copyright@federation.edu.au