Have you ever seen a really good segment on TV – maybe while watching the news, or Masterchef, or a late night movie on SBS – which explained a concept so clearly that you wanted to snatch it off the screen and share it with your students immediately?

You could well be in luck as UTS Library provides extensive video databases to UTS staff and students. These databases include a wealth of educational, instructional and popular videos, which, importantly, can be easily and legally used for teaching and learning purposes.

The Screenrights licence

Not all videos are created equal in the eyes of Australian copyright law. Happily, universities are covered by various exceptions and licenses, an important one being Screenrights. The Screenrights licence allows you, as a teacher, to download, edit, clip and embed any material that has been broadcast on Australian television. It also allows you to use Australian radio and podcasts, but it doesn’t cover overseas broadcasts, certain online streaming platforms, or DVDs.

Screenrights requirements

When using videos with your students, there are three key requirements to be aware of:

  • The videos you use for teaching should be accessible only to UTS students and staff (e.g., embedded into UTSOnline or Canvas).
  • Videos can be legally downloaded from a legitimate source (includes the databases below) and then uploaded to UTSOnline or Canvas.
  • Videos can also be shared as links or embedded into UTSOnline or Canvas.
  • Videos must be attributed appropriately.

All of this is explained in more detail in these copyright guidelines for video at UTS. By using the Library’s video databases, you’ll more easily meet these requirements. Let’s take a look at some of the most useful…

UTS Library’s Video Databases

TV News

TV News compiles stories from Australian news and current affairs shows, and allows you to download them. It’s updated daily so if you saw something last night, chances are you can download it right now from TV News. You can search for stories by keyword (e.g., Black Lives Matter), person (e.g., Gladys Berejiklian), or source (e.g., Seven News).

Share: All videos are available to download, so reuse and share them as much as you need for your teaching.

Clip and curate: Most news programs are clipped into segments for you, except for really short programs (e.g., MediaWatch) and some opinion programs (e.g., The Bolt Report).

Informit EduTV

EduTV indexes shows from free-to-air (and some pay TV) networks in Australia. You’ll find so much here – from movies, to children’s programs, to that episode of What We Do In The Shadows that you missed the other night. If the broadcast version contained closed captions, the digital version will also provide those.

Share: Link to videos, or embed them in your Canvas or UTSOnline site. You can’t download.

Clip and curate: Register for a free account to create clips from programs. Create folders or ‘projects’ to curate clips into playlists and lessons.

Kanopy

Think of Kanopy as being like Netflix, except that you log in via your UTS library account. You can stream popular movies and documentaries (Criterion Collection, anyone?), as well as quality educational programming. All videos have closed captions and transcripts.

Share: Link and embed in your Canvas or UTSOnline site. No downloads available.

Clip and curate: Register for free to create clips from movies and curate playlists to share with students.

LinkedIn Learning

Formerly known as Lynda.com, you may have stumbled across this when looking to upgrade your skills in just about anything. LinkedIn Learning is a treasure trove of online courses. And because all of these are split into discrete units, it’s easy to find a quick video explaining or demonstrating any skill. All videos have closed captions and transcripts.

Share: Videos and courses can be shared via a link in Canvas or UTSOnline or, if you use Microsoft Teams, directly to a Teams channel.

Clip and curate: Log in with your UTS credentials and you’ll have access to a ‘My Learning’ area. Simply ‘save’ or bookmark a video and you’ll see it appear in your ‘My Learning’ collection.

Find out more

Need help tracking something down, or want some technical assistance? Ask one of our expert librarians.

Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash

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