This page describes the SFU Copyright in Teaching Survey, which is sent to a small number of instructors using Canvas, and the related file sampling process undertaken by the SFU Copyright Office, each fall and spring semester.

Introduction

In order to comply with Copyright Policy Appendix R30.04D (Application of Appendix R30.04A [the Fair Dealing Policy] to Learning Management Systems), each fall and spring semester a small random sample of instructors using Canvas will be asked to complete an anonymous survey which will assess their knowledge of copyright as it relates to teaching materials and their awareness of the Copyright Office's services. Additionally, the Copyright Office will receive a list of third-party files from a small random sample of Canvas courses.

Third-party materials are any materials in which the instructor does not own copyright. This usually means they were not created by the instructor, but could also mean the instructor created them but transferred copyright to someone else, such as a publisher. Third-party materials might include images added to PowerPoint slides or diagrams pasted into an assignment, or a journal article, map or film clip uploaded individually. Uploading material to Canvas, including copyright protected material, involves copying the work. Therefore, instructors need to ensure that they are copying material using an eligible Copyright Act exception, such as fair dealing; are following license terms when using SFU Library licensed resources; or else have obtained permission from the copyright holder. See the Copyright for Instructors at SFU section of the copyright website for more information about how you can copy and use copyright protected materials in your teaching.

Copyright Policy Appendix R30.04D (s 6.1 (vi)) states:

"If content is uploaded or posted to an LMS [Learning Management System] by faculty members or their staff, the faculty or staff may be required to identify the reason that they are entitled to post such work or excerpt (e.g. permission obtained from the copyright holder, public domain, fair dealing, other exemption under the Copyright Act). For certain content posted to the LMS (e.g. classroom presentations containing excerpts from a number of works) multiple reasons could apply."

The only information that will be provided to the Copyright Office about survey respondents is their department and their survey responses. The Copyright Office will also be provided with a list of a limited number of third-party files uploaded to Canvas for a separate small random sample of Canvas courses, along with the department of each course.

Please direct any questions about the survey to the Copyright Office at copy@sfu.ca.

Purpose

This collection of statistics is a recordkeeping exercise which will show us how copyright protected materials are used by instructors, and may also help us determine where more education or outreach may be required. We will not be contacting or "investigating" anyone based on their responses; the survey responses, as well as the courses from which files are sampled, are anonymous. Instructors will not be selected for the survey more than once per year.

Process

A small percentage of instructors using Canvas will be randomly selected each fall and spring semester, and those instructors will be asked to complete an anonymous web survey based on their practices when selecting and uploading materials to Canvas for their students (see Figure 1 below). The survey asks what types of materials the instructor has uploaded (e.g. course documents such as syllabi and lecture notes, readings such as articles and webpages, images such as photographs and maps, or audiovisual materials such as movie clips and sound recordings), the instructor's level of awareness of copyright as it relates to course materials, and what copyright provisions (e.g., fair dealing, public domain, library license) have allowed the instructor to copy (upload) these materials. (For definitions and descriptions of the provisions, see below.)

Figure 1: screenshots of survey questions

The copyright provisions

Fair dealing. The fair dealing provision in the Copyright Act permits the use of a portion of a copyright protected work in certain situations, without permission from the copyright holder or the payment of copyright royalties. SFU faculty, staff and students using the fair dealing provision must abide by the Fair Dealing Policy and its guidelines, which are summarized in the Copyright and Teaching Infographic.

Another exception in the Copyright Act. Additional exceptions in the Copyright Act, such as the educational institution provisions, also allow certain uses of copyright protected works in specific situations. Information on these exceptions can be found in the Copyright for Instructors at SFU section of the website, and is summarized in the Copyright and Teaching Infographic.

Item is in the public domain. Works in the public domain are those for which there is no copyright protection, usually because the term of copyright has expired. Works in the public domain can be freely used by anyone for any purpose. Generally, copyright protection in Canada lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years, after which copyright protection expires. For assistance in determining whether a work is in the public domain, we recommend using the University of Alberta's Canadian Copyright Term and Public Domain Flowchart. Note that material made available online is not necessarily in the public domain.

Open Access publication or Creative Commons-licensed source. Open Access publications and organizations permit and promote the free distribution and use of their content, with appropriate attribution. Creative Commons licenses are applied by the creator of the material and allow the material to be used in many ways. However, a user must follow the terms of the specific license applied in order to use the work. Note that material made available online is not necessarily open access. For further information, see Copyright Resources and Links for Instructors.

Allowed by an existing library license. The SFU Library licenses (i.e., subscribes to) thousands of electronic journals, books and other resources for use by instructors and students. Many of these license agreements allow for uploading portions of the content to Canvas or linking to the licensed resource from within a learning management system. License information for licensed digital resources is included in the Library catalogue record for the resource.

Allowed as part of purchased course materials. Some textbooks or other course materials are accompanied by a digital component. The terms of use for many of these materials allow them to be posted in a learning management system. See the individual item's terms of use or contact the publisher for more information.

Obtained permission from the copyright holder/licensed the material directly. A user may contact a copyright holder directly to ask for permission to use their work in a specific way when the copying exceeds what would be allowable under fair dealing. This provision includes works cleared through the SFU Copyright Clearance Fund, which can be used to pay for the copyright clearance for a limited number of items for use in a course. This provision also includes materials made available by the author/creator with terms of use that permit copying for educational purposes.

I hold copyright in the work. If an instructor created the work and copyright has not been assigned to another entity (e.g., a publisher), the instructor holds copyright in it. At SFU, employees retain ownership of copyright in research and teaching materials, such as PowerPoint presentations, lecture notes and course syllabi. If the work was co-authored and/or has been published, check the publishing agreement or contact the other parties to determine what rights an author has beyond fair dealing.

Other/unsure. Use this selection if there is a copyright rationale not listed above which allows you to upload this work to Canvas, or if you are not sure which provision applies.

Some content adapted with permission from copyright resources by the University of Windsor.