VET News

Ensuring Copyright Compliance in a Time of Online Teaching

Online teaching often involves using and sharing content from a variety of sources. Education providers have a responsibility to ensure that the materials used by their staff and casual educators, from textbooks to digital resources such as online newspapers and blogs, are copyright compliant.

Under Australian law, copyright applies automatically to written and artistic works from the moment they are created or expressed in some way – whether offline or online. The use of up to 10 per cent of a work is allowed without permission in special circumstances. For example, students can freely use 10 per cent of a work for research or study under “fair dealing”.

Educators, however, are generally not allowed this 10 per cent leeway and need to:

• obtain permission directly from the copyright owner for each use;
• or be covered by their institution’s blanket Statutory Education Licence, which allows copying and sharing of text and images for educational purposes.

Copyright Agency manages the Statutory Education Licence under appointment of the Australian Government. For years, the Licence has allowed educators to spend their valuable time delivering high quality content, rather than seeking permission for each use. "The Licence provides peace of mind and simplifies the process of adhering to allowable limits in the provision of content for teaching purposes. It means we don’t have to chase individual permissions from each author, publisher or content owner” says Kerrie Stevens, Director of Library Services at Alphacrucis College.

As more and more institutions are now delivering courses remotely, the Statutory Education Licence enables the effective online delivery of learning materials. “The Statutory Education Licence applies in a similar way to the use of digital content as it does to hard copy content use”, explains Michelle Street, Education Licensing Senior Manager at the Copyright Agency. “In licensed organisations, educators can copy and communicate content both face-to-face and online without having to seek prior permission. This ensures students can access resources with minimal interruption, while content creators are compensated fairly for their work through licence fees.”

Dr Michelle Cavaleri, Director of Academic Enhancement at Asia Pacific International College, adds, “Our campuses have moved seamlessly and quickly to online learning thanks to the easy operation of the Licence. All that is required is a common-sense approach to the content, and we are able to deliver quality educational material to our students wherever they may be located.”

Arrangements under the Statutory Education Licence are in place with private education providers such as private colleges, RTOs, training arms, colleges and kindergartens through individual agreements and in Australian schools and universities through agreements with their peak bodies. Fees from the Licence are distributed to creators, ensuring that they can continue to produce content that benefits our education system.

For more information about the Statutory Education Licence, please contact the Copyright Agency on 02 9394 7600 or at educationlicences@copyright.com.au.

About the Copyright Agency
The Copyright Agency is an Australian not-for-profit organisation that represents 37,000 members across the publishing, media, visual arts, education and surveying sectors. The Copyright Agency is appointed by the Australian government to administer the Statutory Education Licence, which enables educational institutions to legally reuse content created by others while being confident that creators are being compensated fairly for their work. 

copyright.com.au

Date posted Jul 9, 2020