Quick Help Guide for Online Courses: Home

The Library has subscription access to several sites for streaming videos. Hover over the "info" icon for information about each site.

For licensing requests, please contact Marnie Seal. For assistance with creating a permalink to a video, please consult the Permalinks tab in this box.

The Library has access to over 200,000 ebooks. You can link permalink to the books or even to individual chapters. The information page for each eBook will outline any print/save/copy restrictions (i.e. print up to 100 pages). 

You can search for ebooks in Search ALL and select "ebooks" from the material type filter on the right-hand panel, or search our individual eBook databases:

An alternative way to find course materials is to look online for free to use teaching resources like Open Educational Resources. Just remember to attribute!

For more information about using OERs, or for a list of where to find OERs, check out these links:

Making copies of new materials for students (by downloading and uploading files, or by scanning from physical documents) can present some copyright issues, but they're not different from those involved in deciding whether to share something online with your students when you are meeting in-person.

It is not permitted to make copies of entire works. Copying portions of works to share with students will often be fair dealing.

For more information, see Cambrian College's Copying Guidelines and Fair Dealing Guidelines. 

Recording video of yourself, live-casting lectures, etc:

Slide Images

If it was legal to show slide images in class, it is likely legal to show them to students via live video conferencing or in recorded videos.  This may be a surprise if you have heard that there is a big difference between class lecture slides and online conference slides - but the issue is usually less offline versus online, than a restricted versus an unrestricted audience.

As long as your new course video is being shared through secure course websites limited to the same enrolled students (Moodle), the legal issues are fairly similar.

Many instructors routinely post a copy of their slides as a file for students to access after in-person course meetings. In any case, this should only be done when all material within the slides is copyright-compliant.
 

Multimedia viewing/listening

Here, the differences between online and in-person teaching can be a bit more complex. Playing audio or video of legally-obtained physical media (music or audio visual materials like DVDs or CDs for example) during an in-person class session is permitted under Section 29.5 of the Copyright Act. However, that exemption generally doesn't cover playing the same media online. If you can limit audio and video use for your course to relatively brief clips, you may be able to include those in lecture recordings or live-casts per the Fair Dealing Guidelines. For media use longer than brief clips, you may need to have students independently access the content outside of your lecture videos.

Alternatively, Cambrian Library has licensed streaming video content, which you are welcome to use in your online course. See the Streaming Videos box above. 

Legal Info

Per the Canadian Copyright Act:

30.04 (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (5), it is not an infringement of copyright for an educational institution, or a person acting under the authority of one, to do any of the following acts for educational or training purposes in respect of a work or other subject-matter that is available through the Internet:

(a) reproduce it;

(b) communicate it to the public by telecommunication, if that public primarily consists of students of the educational institution or other persons acting under its authority;

(c) perform it in public, if that public primarily consists of students of the educational institution or other persons acting under its authority; or

(d) do any other act that is necessary for the purpose of the acts referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c).

YouTube

You can show YouTube videos provided that:

• The videos are being shown for educational purposes on Cambrian grounds to an audience mainly comprised of students.

• The video was uploaded by the copyright holder or with their consent.

• There are no clearly visible notices prohibiting educational use.

• You cite the source.

You should use common sense to verify whether videos were uploaded by the copyright holder: click on the name of the uploader, just below the playback window, and you can explore their channel to find out more information about them—the About tab will probably provide you with good information. Some channels, especially for large companies like the CBC, may have been verified by YouTube—verified uploaders have a grey box with a checkmark next to their name.

Some videos may include source attribution and a statement that no copyright infringement is intended, but they are nevertheless illegal uploads and should not be shared with your students.

The Standard YouTube License applies to most videos, but other rights exist, such as Creative Commons licences. Click "show more" below the playback window to find licensing information for YouTube videos. YouTube uploaders are responsible for obtaining copyright permissions for any copyright-protected material found in their videos.

For more information, visit YouTube Copyright Tips or watch this video from the YouTube Copyright School.

Other Online Videos

These rules apply to all online video content, but you should avoid websites with technological protection measures (TPMs), sometimes called digital locks. They limit access to content through mechanisms such as password protection and pay walls, and you cannot share protected content with your students.

You should also check website usage terms or copyright notices to ensure that educational use of their content is not expressly prohibited.

Streaming Services

Streaming services like Netflix and iTunes temporarily upload content to your devices and delete it after playback—they are not copies. When you subscribe to streaming services, you do not own content.

The terms of use for streaming services are usually limited to personal use only. These licences trump exemptions for educational use in the Copyright Act, because their services restrict access to content through technological protection measures (TPMs), or "digital locks". 

If you are unsure whether you can show streamed content in class, check the licence terms for phrases like "personal use only" and "telecommunication or broadcast", or contact us for assistance.

When you cannot show streamed content to your students, you may instead direct students to access the content on their own. 

You can show music and videos under the following conditions:

• The materials are being shown for educational purposes on Cambrian grounds to an audience mainly comprised of students.

• The materials were legally obtained and are not infringing copies.

• You cite the source.

Provided that you meet these requirements, you can:

• Show copies of cinematographic and musical works. 

• Show television and radio programs while they are being aired. You can also tape news programs and commentary and show them later. 

• Show taped copies of television series or documentaries, but you must pay royalties to the Education Rights Collective of Canada (ERCC). 

You can borrow or stream many films and television shows already licensed through the library. See the Streaming Videos tab in the box above.                          

Canadian copyright laws protect artistic works, a term which “includes paintings, drawings, maps, charts, plans, photographs, engravings, sculptures, works of artistic craftmanship, architectural works, and compilations of artistic works” (Copyright Act, 2).

Images are artistic works, whether they come from print or online sources.

The fair dealing exemption in the Canadian Copyright Act states that you may reproduce or display images for the purposes of education or training, as long as the audience primarily consists of students at Cambrian, without infringing copyright. The exemption also covers several other activities: research, private study, criticism and review, news reporting, parody, and satire.

However, copying substantial portions of works without permission is not permitted (Copyright Act, 3.1). The table below should help you evaluate whether you can use a copyright-protected image.

Always remember to cite the source.

See our Copyright & OER Guide and the Cambrian College Copying Guidelines and Fair Dealing Guidelines for further information. If you have further questions, please contact Marnie.

You should be able to meet most of your instructional needs by using the following resources:

• Library e-resources and freely available online content—stable links recommended

• Open access resources and public domain materials—copying or linking

• Other copyright-protected works—copying short excerpts only

Consult the Cambrian College's Copying Guidelines and Fair Dealing Guidelines. to learn more about fair dealing limits. When you need to copy beyond those limits, email Marnie Seal for further guidance.