There are various VU Facilities that can provide specific support for the use of educational online content. The University Library supports the reuse of (open) online educational content. With these services you will have a better insight on how to find, and how to use online content in your education.

Are you looking for (open) online educational resources to support your education? Do you want to use an interesting article? Is there (a part of) a book you would like to recommend to your students?

On this page you will find all the information you need to offer this copyrighted correctly in your educational environment.

First we give you the three most important tips to remember when lecturing. At the bottom of the page you will find more in-depth information about on how to find, how to search for and how to use (open) educational content for your lectures. And we also provide a collection of valuable resources which you can use while lecturing online, while using (open) online educational content.

The way to do this #1:
When providing learning materials be sure you use right citations when you quote work of others (authors).

The way to do this #2:
Make sure you use the right web links to the copyright protected learning materials.

The way to do this #3:
Try to use as often as possible: open learning materials; online educational content distributed with a creative commons license or content provided by public institutions.

The University Library

The University Library is the content manager of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the VU Medical Center (VUmc). It supports the entire information chain for the process of education and research: from knowledge, information and data for education and research to the distribution and management of the scientific output of the university.

If you are searching for (open) online content, the best way to start is at an evident environment: the University Library itself. A huge amount of content is available at Libsearch VU Library and beyond. In this (Dutch) presentation an instruction is given on how to find on an easy way the digital learning materials you need. The university library offers various services which may help you developing your online education. On the rest of this page some tips & trics on tools and support.

Faculty Liaison | Support

If you have any questions, or you want to have direct support on offering digital (library) content, providing lectures on information skills, or purchasing new educational content, please contact your faculty liason. For special advise on the use of copyrighted learning materials, open educational resources or learning innovations, please contact the Educational Resources and Copyright Support Center.

Please be aware that, due to the corona crisis, our University library has implemented adapted lending services for printed books and the consultation of printed course materials. We would therefore like to ask you to select, as much as possible, digitally available books and articles as required reading material for the academic year 2020-2021. The expectation is that the adapted services for printed materials will still apply at the beginning of the new academic year. Also, for the foreseeable future most educational activities will in principle take place online. Please send your requests for new digital acquisitions to the faculty liaison for your particular field of study.

Lean Library

As mentioned the University Library offers lots of digital content. The library also offers a tool which provides access to (other) online information as there are: articles, e-books, or databases. This tool is called: Lean Library Links to an external site. . More information about this tool is to be found in this Links to an external site. page. Make use of the lean library if you need alternatives for content that appears to be inaccessible or not available in the physical library. A detailed (Dutch) user instruction is to be found here.

When you have found an article, picture, book or any other content which you like to use in your education, please be aware that when you provide this material via Canvas, FeedBackFruits or Perusall to your students in many cases the educational materials you use are copyrighted. Make sure that you that you have permission to reuse it. You can check with your faculty liaison if the VU has a license for republishing the specific content. In the case that you have found the content on the internet then it is always possible to use the link to the source of the content. Once you have found a link to content, you are not reproducing the content. But you are re-using it. Once you have found a reliable link to content and you embed it in your educational application, the link is in many cases of a permanent value.

How to distribute content

In this scheme we show how to distribute content:

Keep in mind

When providing content under the restriction of the easy access – regulations students are allowed to use this content for their own use.
Educational exception = showing content in an educational environment to support the provided education.
Uploading content without the right permission = republishing.
In many cases the educational content you use in an ELO are copyrighted. When students use the provided content for their own educational development you are distributing. Make sure that you that you have permission to reuse it. Working with creative commons licensed material is the best way.

Embedding

Embedding links in an electronic educational environment is the most secure way to provide content. In the videos - section we give several examples on how to embed those links in the applications you use.

More information about the use of copyrighted content is to be found here. And, if you have any other questions on copyright please contact the Educational Resources and Copyright Support Centre or visit their site.

Due to the massive pressure on bringing the content online, the correct use of copyrighted content is sometimes forgotten. A recorded lecture is published easily in an open environment, an article is simply shared. But with this service to your students you are reproducing the content. Copyright-rules seems to be very complicated, but while providing learning materials to students you need to keep one very important rule in your mind: when you can create a link to a reliable source on the internet, then (most of the time) you are OK. If you have any questions on this, please contact your support staff. More information is to be found:
- on the VU - site Educational Resources and Copyright Support Center, or
- on the Surf - site Netwerken Auteursrechten Informatiepunten, or
- in this presentation.

The VU, in cooperation with SURF, has created web lectures about the use of copyright in an educational environment.

If you want to have more information about creating web lectures by yourself, please visit the AVC.

Open Resources | How to find and use them

For information about off-campus access to the digital collection, please have a look at this page. On this subjectpage we provide an overview of self collected external resources. But first three important steps on how to find, asses and use open learning materials:

Search & Find:

The content you are using in education is a learning material. These materials can come from anywhere. Most of the time you find them on the internet. Preferably via the University Libary, but usually via a general search engine, a research repository, or a repository specifically for education. In this presentation you will find an explanation on how to search properly for copyrighted content.

Asses:

When you have found an article, picture, book or any other content which you like to use in your education, please be aware that when you provide this material to your students in many cases the educational materials you use are copyrighted. So, you want to know what you are allowed to do with this found content. For that you need to have insight into the licenses, and/or that you have permission to reuse the found content. You can check with your faculty liaison wether the VU has a license to republish the specific content, or you can check with this Instruction to open educational resources if a source is legally available.

How to use it:

When you have found an article, picture, book or any other content which you like to use in your education, please provide always the right source reference. Add at least:
- author
- year of publication or date of visit website
- titel of the source
- link to the source
And if it is published under Creative Commons license, then you are OK.

The University Library created a libguide as a resource for inspiration. On the open resources - page you will find an divers overview of available open online content. On top of this SURF provides an overview (in Dutch) of availability of digital content by publishers and suppliers.

In this section you will find several short video clips about the use of (open) educational resources. The clips are in Dutch.

The first video shows you how to use copyrighted materials in education.

This second video is an introduction on the use of educational learning materials in education.

This video is about how to search for images on the Internet, and how to use them.

The next video is about embedding articles in your canvas-environment.

A lot of information on the use op copyrighted materials is to be found on the website Dealing with Copyright in Education. The next video shows you how to find this website.

This following video is about the use of learning materials with a Creative Commons - license.

The next video is about embedding images in your canvas-environment.

Want to know more?

VU Quality ambitions for online education