BLE Detailed Copyright Guide: Putting Material on the BLE: Examination purposes
UK copyright law allows any type of copyright protected material to be copied for the purpose of setting examination questions, or responding to examination questions. "Examination" is generally understood to include any form of summative assessment. The exception does not apply to the reprographic copying of musical works so that they can be performed by candidates in an examination.
This exception could be used to put copies of copyright-protected material on the BLE in certain situations: for example -
- As part of on-line tests or examinations.
- So that students can write about an item in an assessment: e.g. an image which students are asked to comment on in an essay.
Staff who wish to use this exemption should note that:
- Copyright law requires that the source of the item should be acknowledged if it is practicable to do so. This can be done by giving a standard bibliographic citation (author, title, publisher, place and date of publication, edition etc). It would not be practicable to identify the source if part of the assessment is to test whether students can identify the item.
- The item should not be left on the BLE for any longer than is necessary for the assessment.
- No more of the item should be copied than is necessary for the assessment.
- Items cannot be copied under this exception in order to make them available to students as course readings. Usually, that will have to be done under the CLA scanning licence (see Scanning under the CLA licence).
Last updated September 2008
