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Best Practices for Teaching and Copyright

When selecting teaching materials for your online courses, it is important to remember copyright best practices at UNB. The most important point is to use materials that have been intended for distribution. Examples of materials ideal for distribution are UNB Libraries' licensed resources, open resources (such as items with relevant Creative Commons licenses) and your own materials. When including materials in your teaching that you did not create, please consider the following points.

Readings

Textbooks

Journal Articles and Book Chapters 

  • Make use of UNB Libraries' e-book and e-journal collections--include durable links rather than downloaded PDFs, when possible.
  • Check for available open access materials (Creative Commons licenses or similar).
  • Share copies of one chapter or 10% from a print book--arranged through Course Reserves, when possible.
  • Share copies of an article from one issue of a journal--arranged through Course Reserves, when possible.

Materials Found on the Internet

  • Share links to any freely available sites--avoid sharing content behind a password or subscription based.
  • Share links to freely available video services, such as YouTube, with legitimate content--material that identifies the copyright ownership of content, such as Vimeo or NFB--but avoid subscription-based material (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.). Contact UNB Libraries for film access.

Course Materials Intended to be Downloaded and Shared by Students

  • Include your own material that you have created, such as written text, images, or audiovisual content.
  • Source images from open resources--see these image resources with less copyright restrictions. 
  • Use short excerpts of copyright-protected materials.

Presentation Materials

  • Incorporate slides and images provided by textbook vendor--often included with textbook purchase and available for adaption in the course.
  • Source images from open resources--see these image resources with less copyright restrictions. 
  • Include your own material that you have created, such as written text, images, or audiovisual content.
  • Use copyrighted material to illustrate a point on a slide or in a presentation only if no alternative exists from the above resources. This material must be used for display only and cannot be further distributed. 
If you are preparing your course for a copyright review with UNB Libraries' Copyright Office, citation information is needed for identification and copyright assessment of sourced materials. Your choice of citation method and/or style is up to you and depends on conventions in your discipline. Contact UNB's Writing & Study Skills Centre for information about how to cite your sources.
 

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