Copyright

Copyright is a comprehensive area regulated by law, primarily subject to the Act relating to copyright to intellectual property etc. (Copyright Act). Some exceptions have been made for teaching, and different exceptions and agreements apply to the different levels of the educational trajectory. We therefore advise you to familiarise yourself with the agreements entered into by your institution, sector or organisation, and with the website hkdir.no/en, which is run by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training and HK-dir. On the website, you can go directly to the activity or situation you need information about. It also has guidelines for both tutors and students. The following is therefore intended as a kind of checklist rather than a guide.

According to the encyclopedia Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian only), copyright is: ‘ …() the right granted to the creator of a work of intellectual property. Examples of intellectual property include books, films, music, photographs or software. In order for something to be considered intellectual property, it must be the result of an original creative process. The copyright holder holds the exclusive right to make copies of the work and to make it available.’ (39)

A tutor must consider both what access to give to their own intellectual property and the correct use and sharing of other people’s intellectual property in teaching. Right of use, i.e. the right to use the work, is another consideration. Many people may have the right to use the same work at the same time, but it can also be an exclusive right.

In principle, tutors have copyright to the materials that they prepare, including PowerPoint presentations, lecture recordings and podcasts. In some cases, the employment contract may be interpreted to mean that the employer automatically has the right to use such material. This will differ in different parts of the sector. We recommend that the institutions and employees have agreements in place for the use of such material.

The copyright applies regardless of the situation in which the intellectual property was produced. Students have copyright to their intellectual property, and they should be treated in a similar manner, meaning that their work is only reproduced with their permission.

Any intellectual property, and, with certain exceptions, parts of an intellectual property, must in principle only be reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder. This may be personalpermission, joint agreements such as the Kopinor Agreement or a general licence that confers right of use. Intellectual property normally becomes free to use after a certain period of time.

User licences

User licences are useful for both the sharer and the user. The most common is probably Creative Commons – a non-profit, global organisation that promotes sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge by creating resources that make it easier to use and share the material legally. Anyone who shares their work under CC licences sets out conditions for how others can use the material, but retains the copyright.

This guide is published under the open CC licence 4 4.0. BY-SA. This not only means that you can quote from it, but also use larger pieces of text than normally allowed, as well as translate and further develop it, as long as you publish your new product using the same licence and cite us as the source.

Open Educational Resources (OER) is the term for learning resources produced under licences that confer a further right of use. Two good Norwegian examples are the websites of the Norwegian Digital Learning Arena (NDLA) and the encyclopedia Store norske leksikon (SNL). NDLA has learning resources that often comprise multiple elements, such as images, videos and text. Each element is marked with its licence and an explanation of how it can be used. Store norske leksikon is owned by the universities and several non-profit organisations, and its articles are written by a large number of experts. The author of each article decides what kind of licence it should have.

Recording of tuition – interface between copyright and privacy

In addition to copyright, protection of privacy is a factor to be considered when photos of people are published. The same applies to audio and film recordings where other people can be identified. When recording teaching sessions, it is therefore important to keep track of

• the tutor’s and any third party’s copyright to the material
• processing of the tutor’s and students’ personal data (includes voice and photos)
• storing and sharing of recordings (where it is to be stored, for how long and who is to have access)

Recordings of teaching can also potentially be shared as a learning resource outside the original class/group. Although other people’s intellectual property can be used quite widely in teaching, such a shared recording can be considered publication. This will mean that other rules apply.

Live-streamed teaching is not usually considered a digital learning resource, and there will be fewer potential drawbacks when it comes to personal data processing. Nevertheless, many tutors and institutions will take into account the possibility of students recording the live-stream with their own applications.

The translation is partially funded through EPALE Norway, an initiative under Erasmus+. The views and opinions expressed in this document are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Translated by EPALE Norge and HK-dir