University staff are used to creating course content and using third party copyright material for educational purposes and instruction by relying on a number of exceptions in the Copyright Act and licences obtained by the University. For further information on how these exceptions and licences work, visit the Copyright for educators section.

Generally, however, you should not rely on these exceptions and licences for your open educational recourses because they are unlikely to apply to your particular circumstances. Instead, permission should be obtained from the copyright owner of any third party copyright material included in your open educational resource (ie permission should be obtained for copyright material not owned by the University).

A permission request can take time to process and the copyright owner has the right to refuse permission, or grant permission subject to a number of conditions and restrictions (eg the payment of a fee). Allow plenty of time to seek each permission, and have an alternative option if a permission is refused, or if the process is taking longer than expected. For further information on seeking permission, visit the Seeking permission section.

Since open educational resources such as MOOCs can be open to anyone worldwide, we ask that you create the content yourself or, if this is not possible, use copyright material that is made available open access or is in the public domain.

The Library can help you find open access alternatives to subscription-only books and journal articles, and provide information on open access archiving options if you want to use your own scholarly publications. The Directory of Open Access Journals is a good place to start when searching for high quality open access, peer reviewed journals.

In some instances, for example, you will be able to find copyright material that is available under a Creative Commons licence that permits your particular use.

Some Creative Commons and pre-licensed resources that may help you find suitable content for your open educational resources include:

• Wikimedia Commons – is a repository of freely available images and media files (either in the public domain or available under a free licence such as a Creative Commons licence)
• Pixabay – is a database of free images and videos made available under the Pixabay licence. Pixabay also advertises images for purchase, so it is important to check the licence every time you select an item.
• Videvo – is a database of stock videos, motion graphics, music tracks and sound effects made available under a Royalty-Free Licence or a Videvo Attribution Licence. If you use the Attribution Licence, you must credit the artist in your work. Some Videvo content is free, premium content requires a subscription.

In addition, the CC Search website aggregates search services provided by a number of organisations (eg Flickr, Open Clip Art Library, Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay). This website may help you find suitable material.

Please contact Copyright Services to discuss selecting suitable Creative Commons and public domain material, and your options for obtaining permission to use third party copyright material in your open educational resources.