Copyright Course
This course is free to ERAC members
To access the course, login or create an account here
Do you know if you are breaking copyright laws at your school? This course will help you make sure you're not!
Copyright Essentials
for Educators was developed by ERAC with support from Open School BC. The course
clarifies what BC schools are legally allowed to do under the Canadian Copyright
Act and specially negotiated agreements with copyright holders. One of the 7 modules
of the course covers copyright issues related to the use of online databases and
other digital resources for which ERAC has negotiated agreements for K-12 schools
in BC. ERAC created the course by working with an advisory group comprised
of regional BC educators. Nine additional school district staff joined with the
advisory group to form the pilot committee which reviewed each section of the course
and provided feedback on its content and usability. The course has been reviewed
by a copyright lawyer with the BC Government and is based on the latest legislation.
SCREENSHOTS:
Who should take this course?
It will be useful for ERAC district contacts, district administrators, school principals and vice-principals, teacher-librarians and teachers wanting to know what BC schools are legally allowed to do under the Canadian Copyright Act, or specially negotiated agreements with copyright holders and what they are not allowed to do.
After completing the Copyright Education course, you will be able to:
- Define copyright and explain who owns it, what it protects and for how long.
- Define moral rights and explain: who owns moral rights, what these rights protect and for how long, and how and when those rights can be waived.
- Define infringement and explain: how copyright and moral rights can be infringed, and what the penalties are for that infringement.
- Define fair dealing and explain how and when fair dealing occurs.
- Identify the educational exceptions under the Canadian Copyright Act.
- Explain where to access/how legally to use a range of copyrighted material,
including material available under licence agreements negotiated (or
being negotiated) by schools, school districts and/or ERAC that allow schools to:
- play music-live or recorded- outside of class-time
- show educational videos and feature films, and
- access educational databases, such as EBSCO, World Book and Encyclopedia of British Columbia, and use the information for various educational purposes.
Sample Case Study: Copycat At Work
A famous B.C. artist has donated a painting from her collection to Feline High for display in the cafeteria.
Copycat:
- photographed the painting
- made copies of the photograph for students and their parents
- stored a digital image of the painting on his home computer
- had a graphic designer modify the image to use on the school's stationery
Vera Keen says Copycat infringed the artist's copyright-and possibly her moral rights-unless the artist specifically gave the school permission to reproduce her work. Copycat says permission doesn't matter: the painting was a gift to the school so the school must now automatically hold the copyright.
Who's right?
a. Vera b. Copycat
Course Sections
Each course section of this professionally designed course begins with a relevant case study and ends with a self-assessment to ensure that you have understood the salient aspects of each section.
