Copyright Guidance for Online Courses

The University of Calgary Intellectual Property Policy affirms that faculty members own the copyright in their academic works, including instructional content. Some units and departments may have different practices and policies around ownership and use of course materials at the unit level, but you would likely already be aware of that if it is applicable. Some units may also have some shared expectations of shared -access- to course video for continuity of educational experiences, without those expectations affecting the ownership of the materials. Instructors may want to include language in their course management site or course syllabus that makes it clear that students cannot reuse or re-post their instructor’s course materials without permission.

University policies also affirm that students own the copyright in their own coursework. Instructors can require them to submit it in particular formats, but the students continue to own their works unless a separate agreement is signed by the student.

This resource is adapted for the University of Calgary from material prepared by the Copyright Office, University of Minnesota document Copyright Services, Rapidly shifting your course from in-person to online. Unless otherwise noted, all content on the Copyright Information section of this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. We would like to acknowledge some contribution of adaptation language from University of Toronto Scholarly Communications & Copyright Office and Ryerson University Library.

Consult the copyright website or email copyright@ucalgary.ca if you have other questions about copyright.​