Frequently Asked Questions

No, only when a file is legally shared on the Internet, e.g. it is shared on a publisher’s or author’s own website, you can use a link to that file. You should never use links to files that are available on questionable websites, i.e. websites that are not clearly associated with the publisher or the author, as the materials might be shared there illegally.

No, the same copyright laws and policy are applicable - you cannot upload (PDF) files with journal articles or (chapters of) books to Google Drive, Dropbox or other platforms to distribute them to students as part of your course.

Teaching staff can continue to upload recordings of their lectures to Brightspace, but should not upload these recordings to any other platforms.

No, this is not allowed. For the publication or distribution of (parts of) a publication you need, according to the Copyright Act, permission of the copyright holder. This may be the author or the publisher. The University Library can investigate whether they can purchase the publication in a digital form, in order to give students access to it. Please contact copyright rug.nl for more information. Do you work at the UMCG? Please contact auteursrecht umcg.nl.

That depends. Has your work been published by a publisher? Once a work has been published, the publisher usually owns part (or even all!) of the copyright and you cannot upload your publication to Brightspace without the publisher's permission.

If the work has not been published by a publisher, you hold all copyrights and can use the work as you wish, provided the source is acknowledged.

Yes, you can. In that case please contact copyright rug.nl. Do you work at the UMCG? Please contact auteursrecht umcg.nl. Please send proof of consent, the Brightspace course code and the document concerned.

You must meet certain requirements. The quotation must:

1. serve a purpose; the quotation must be used for announcement, review, in a scientific treatise or similar purpose;
2. be proportionate; you may not quote more than necessary;
3. the source and the author's name must be mentioned;
4. derived from an already published source.

Sources:

• Digital educational material:
  https://www.auteursrechten.nl/gebruik/onderwijsmateriaal/

For publications, but also for images/figures/tables, the following applies: you must always cite the source.  

Minimum requirements:

• Name creator/author
• Title of publication
• Year of publication
• ISBN/ISSN number (if applicable)
• Year and issue number (for journals and newspapers)

The following also applies:

• Image from the internet? Include a link to the original source.
• Image from a book? Name of publisher, year and page number.
• Open material? Add the licence used. See also: Best practices for attribution

As a result of the changes in the Copyright Act, the rules for the online classroom have now been aligned with the rules for the physical classroom. This means that you have more options to reuse copyright-protected material during an online class, without having to ask permission beforehand. However, it does not mean that there are more possibilities to share copyrighted material within Brightspace, nothing has changed there. Please check the source of your choice under 'Lectures' to see what possibilities you have within your college.

As a result of the changes in the Copyright Act, the rules for the online classroom have now been aligned with the rules for the physical classroom. This means that you have more options to reuse copyright-protected material during an online class, without having to ask permission beforehand. However, it does not mean that there are more possibilities to share copyrighted material within Brightspace, nothing has changed there. Please check the source of your choice under 'Lectures' to see what possibilities you have within your college.

The new Copyright Act also offers more possibilities for Text and Data Mining (TDM). TDM is a research technique that uses computers to extract information and knowledge from large quantities of unstructured data (text mining) or structured data (data mining). TDM is not considered to be copyright infringement, provided that researchers have legal access to the database concerned and the research serves a scientific purpose.

Perusall is an innovative online social platform for collaboration between students and lecturers, in preparing for class.

More information: Active Learning Template Perusall​

If you have questions on Perusall, pleae contact the Educational Innovation & Evaluation team via edusupport rug.nl.

For teaching that does not fall under a Bachelor's or Master's programme, we recommend using Open Access alternatives wherever possible.

If the participants have access to the university library's databases/e-journals/e-books, a link to these materials can be provided.

In other cases, permission will first have to be sought from the copyright holder (this is often the publisher).