If you teach with digital content, you might be breaking copyright laws and not even know it
Let’s be honest.
Copyright probably wasn’t covered in any training you’ve had to become an educator. And if it was, it was likely a short slide at the end of a very long day or a short lesson at the end of a module.
But here you are, crafting online courses, uploading to your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), sharing classroom/lecture recordings, embedding YouTube clips, and curating digital resources for students. And, of course, you’re expected to do all of that in a legally compliant way so that you aren’t creating financial or reputational risk for your institution. So you’re carrying that responsibility without proper training or clear institutional guidance. And often, without knowing what you don’t know.
Here’s what we’re seeing…
You find a great clip on YouTube and embed it in Moodle or Blackboard.
You use a screenshot from a film to illustrate a point.
You record a lecture with broadcast content and upload it to the VLE.
You reuse slides from a colleague that include textbook extracts.
These are all grey areas or outright breaches, depending on the context. But no one tells you that. And the consequences usually fall on the learning technologists, AV team, or librarian. Until they don’t.
It’s not just you, and you’re very far from alone. Research continues to show widespread uncertainty among educators when it comes to copyright:
- The foundational UK Copyright Literacy Survey revealed that over 70% of respondents felt unsure what they were legally allowed to use in teaching materials, and in 2023, the authors of the original survey launched a new Copyright Anxiety Study, which suggests that copyright anxiety is growing.
- A cross-European study, Zooming in on Education, also demonstrated that educators in the UK, Italy, and the Netherlands continue to demonstrate low awareness of copyright rules—particularly in the context of digital platforms and online learning.
- And Jisc’s Digital Experience Insights report also found that staff feel underprepared to navigate copyright when teaching digitally.
Real-world copyright problems do happen, and they carry major risks.
- One UK university had to pull an entire course from its VLE mid-term after a complaint about unlicensed YouTube videos embedded in the content.
- A lecturer uploaded a recorded session to YouTube with third-party footage—resulting in Content ID strikes and takedowns.
- One university was sued for scanning too much course reader content, because no one flagged that it exceeded the licence terms.
These aren’t edge cases. They’re increasingly common, especially in post-pandemic teaching environments where hybrid teaching has become the norm.
How can you avoid this happening to you?
5 things you can do right now
Here’s how to start protecting yourself and your students while still delivering engaging, media-rich content:
- Ask your library or AV team about the ERA and CLA licences. These unlock a lot of content you might not realise is already cleared.
- Use your institution’s Box of Broadcasts account (if you have one). All content on Box of Broadcasts has been cleared, so it’s the safest way to use broadcast content. Our Box of Broadcasts platform provides millions of copyright-compliant film, television and radio programmes for use in education.
- Avoid embedding YouTube content unless you’ve checked the rights | Just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s legal to use. There is so much content that has been illegally uploaded to YouTube.
- Review your lecture recordings before uploading. Always do a quick check through with your copyright “hat” on, especially if they contain third-party images, video or music.
- Don’t reuse slides blindly. Make sure you double-check older resources or hand-me-downs. They may have copyright ghosts lurking inside.