As members of the CapU community, students are expected to abide by the Copyright Act and Capilano University policies. They may also take advantage of the same user rights, exceptions, and resources as instructors, such as:
The majority of student work is covered under exceptions in the Copyright Act because it is for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Each of the above concepts are explained further below.
Non-Commercial User-Generated Content
The Non-Commercial User-Generated Content (Section 29.21) allows users to transform an existing work (or several works) in the creation of a new work, provided:
Some examples of re-uses that might be covered in this exception are mash-ups, collages, remixes, and sampling.
The Non-Commercial User-Generated Content exception is a general exception in the Copyright Act, which means it can be used outside of an educational setting.
Always check a resource's license agreement or terms of use before including it in an assignment or ePortfolio, as individual website's terms-of-use may be more limiting than traditional copyright. See the Individual Website Licenses/Terms of Use section of this guide for more information.
Fair dealing is a user's right in the Copyright Act that allows the use of short excerpts of copyright protected work without payment or permission from the copyright holder.
To determine if a use is fair, the Supreme Court of Canada has issued a six factor test. Note: in some cases you do not have to answer positively to all six factors, although factor one (purpose) is always essential.
The Copyright Act does not define short excerpt, but according to Universities Canada and Capilano University procedures a short excerpt means:
Publicly-Available Materials on the Internet (Section 30.04) allows you to reproduce, share, or stream a work available on the internet, including images, provided:
The source and, if provided, the author, performer, maker, or broadcaster must be cited.
Licensed Resources
Always check a resource's license agreement or terms of use before including it in an assignment or ePortfolio, as individual website's terms-of-use may be more limiting than traditional copyright. See the Individual Website Licenses/Terms of Use section of this guide for more information.
Assignments and ePortfolio are created for educational purposes and therefore may qualify for fair dealing and educational exceptions, as long as the necessary conditions are met. There are two additional considerations when looking at copyright compliance and assignments/ePortfolios.
Fair dealing and educational exceptions are less risky when the work is not widely disseminated.
If students are publishing their assignments or ePortfolio to a platform where only the instructor and students in the class can view them, there should be no additional copyright issues. If students are expected to publish their work where it can be accessed by the public, fair dealing and educational exceptions may no longer apply.
When it comes to student's use of copyrighted works, fair dealing and educational exceptions only apply while the student is in school. If after graduation a students wants to use their assignment or ePortfolio for a different purpose (ie. post on a public website or for commercial purposes), any educational exceptions they used may not apply to the new use.
In these cases, it is best to ensure student's remain copyright compliant outside of fair dealing and educational exceptions. Openly Licensed Materials and general copyright exceptions, like the Non-Commercial User-Generated Content exception, can be a great asset for students hoping to use their assignments and ePortfolio outside of an educational setting.
Copyright is context specific. After graduation, if a student wants to use their assignment or ePortfolio for a use other than education (ie. post on a public website or for commercial purposes), any educational exceptions they used may not apply to the new use.
If a student wants to use their project after graduation, suggest relying on general copyright exceptions and openly licensed resources so the end product will remain copyright compliant for future uses. See the Openly Licensed Materials section for more information.
Licenses take precedent over the Copyright Act.
A common practice is for individual websites to create their own license or terms-of-use. Always check a resource's license or terms-of-use to determine how the item can be used, before including it in an assignment or ePortfolio. What can be done with a resource governed by a license agreement is often more limited than what can be done under traditional copyright.
Some exceptions are Creative Commons (CC) licenses or other open licenses, which allow more flexibility than traditionally copyrighted materials. It is still important to review the type of CC license on a work, as some do not allow derivative works. See the Openly Licensed Materials for more information.
One way to ensure student's work is copyright compliant, and remains so after graduation, is to use openly licensed materials in the creation of the work. Visit the Open Educational Resources - Images, Videos, Sound Recordings guide for a list of websites with openly licensed materials:
There are many different types of open licenses. Always review the license on a material to understand how a resource can be used.
Creative Commons Licenses
It is important to understand what can be done under each Creative Commons (CC) license. Some CC licenses have a 'share alike' component, which means all subsequent works must be published with the same CC license. Others have a non-commercial or a no derivatives component. More information about Creative Commons licenses.
Individual Website Licenses/Terms of Use
A common practice is for individual websites to create their own license or terms-of-use. If a website does not use Creative Commons licenses, always refer to their license or terms-of-use page to understand how their materials can be used.
The Assignments and ePortfolios page of the Capilano University Library Copyright Guide by Capilano University Library was developed with help from the Langara Library's Copyright for Instructors website and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.