Terms of Use

We are creators, and we LOVE what we do. We find a lot of purpose in sharing it with the world to educate in science, which is one reason why all of our educational videos on YouTube are FREE! However, there are correct ways to share our creations (which equals very appreciative amoebas) and incorrect ways that violate our legal copyright. These violations can cause major problems in our ability to continue, requiring us to file time consuming DMCA violations and take away valuable time from creating. Please help us avoid wasting precious time due to this by following our terms of use below.

Note: We are supporters of the Fair Use Copyright Act. We believe its design furthers transformation and innovation while still considering the rights of copyright owners. There are a lot of misconceptions about Fair Use in education. Fair Use actually weighs several factors. Here's a fantastic resource (not affiliated) for understanding fair use: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/

Thank you for following our below terms of use!

Our terms of use allow (and greatly appreciate!) using the YouTube embed code or linking to our YouTube videos for sharing on websites, learning management systems (LMS), social media, and presentations. This means that using a YouTube link or embedding from our YouTube video(s) that ultimately connects to our video(s) on YouTube is fine. This helps people find us, and it helps us reach others as part of our purpose. You don't have to ask us about using our YouTube links or YouTube embed codes!

So what is not permitted in the video terms of use? While having YouTube embeds/YouTube links which ultimately link to our video from our YouTube channel is absolutely fine (and appreciated), hosting our actual video file (or a recording of our video) is prohibited. That means that actions like uploading our actual video file/recording to your own YouTube channel (this also violates YouTube's terms of service), uploading our actual video file/recording on social media such as Facebook, or hosting our actual video file/recording in a publicly accessible cloud service such as a public Google Drive folder- are all examples of actions that would be prohibited. This uploading of a creator's video file to another website/platform is often referred to as "freebooting" a video. We explain why this is harmful to creators in our below "Frequent Terms of Use Issues." We should also mention that occasionally we make important edits or clarification cards to our videos- these are never visible on a stolen video since it isn't playing through our YouTube channel where the edit or clarification card was made.

* Is YouTube blocked on your district's network or devices? YouTube is one of the largest global video sharing platforms available, and it offers many educational videos exclusively on its platform. This can be a conversation to explore with your district or institution's IT department and leadership about the filtering options that Google (who owns YouTube) provides. For example, YouTube has a link to share how specific videos or entire channels can be approved on a school network. They also provide a support page on this topic that educators can send to their IT staff. YouTube additionally offers a restricted mode for devices which hides comments and filters out inappropriate comments. We have observed that many large school districts in our area have opened YouTube in different filtering capacities and here are just some examples: (A) some districts provide YouTube access for teachers and then allow teachers to "approve" certain videos that are the only videos accessible to students using their own filtering software, (B) some districts will approve specific YouTube channels in advance on their filter and only those channels will be accessible, (C) some districts enable YouTube's restricted mode on all staff and student devices and go through digital citizenship education etc. Overall, this is a determination that needs to be discussed and evaluated within a district to make a decision that is best for them. If choosing to use our videos, our actual video files (or recordings of our videos) cannot be uploaded into other platforms as outlined on our terms of use. They must be either linked to or embedded from our YouTube channel using the YouTube embed code.

*Concerned about broken YouTube video links? Unless there is a major identified issue, we now do not delete our old videos. Therefore, YouTube links/embed codes should hold even for old videos. Learn more here.

*Are you a business or company? We receive requests from companies asking to host our actual video files in their paid courses or behind platform walls. We want our videos to be freely accessible on our YouTube channel, and we therefore do not sell our videos. We deny requests to upload videos by companies in their courses. However, you still have the ability to use our YouTube video links or YouTube video embed codes on your platform/website/app just as we allow to everyone---provided you have ensured you are in compliance with YouTube's terms of service.

Our terms of use allow for using our free handouts from our handout page for classroom use as long as (1) our free handouts are not being used for financial gain, (2) our handouts are not available in any edited form publicly- meaning they exist as the same file type; nothing added or removed (3) text or design from our free handouts are not copied into any other document/work, and (4) our name remains on our handouts so we are credited (which helps others find us).

*Answer keys created using our content can NOT be posted online publicly. This is an editing on top of our copyrighted text and a violation of our terms of use. We are especially protective of this, because answer keys publicly posted are a disservice to other educators who wish to use our activities. We offer official answer keys on Teachers Pay Teachers, which also have the same terms.

Resources We Sell on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT):
In mid-2017, we started to create other resources that are sold exclusively on TpT which include- but are not limited to- "Select" Recap Handouts with keys, Annotated Video Script Templates, and our Unlectured Series. Similar to most items sold on TpT, they include terms of use that they cannot be posted publicly online as this would prevent us from being able to support our work. If using any of our TpT resources online, they must be behind a password protected page or platform. You can see more detail about the terms of use for these products in TpT product descriptions.

Our terms of use allow for sharing and posting our comics and GIFs on websites, social media, and presentations as long as creations (1) are not being used for financial gain which means our art cannot be placed in items that you are selling (example: our art cannot be on an educational resource that you sell online or in print- we do not license our art for anyone to use on items they sell) and (2) are not edited in any form which includes removing our name from the comic/GIF or adding translations on the comic/GIF (some translations were granted permission by us- contact us for permission). One of our most frequent "terms of use" issues that we have to handle involves large social media pages posting our comics/GIFs that have had our name edited out as shown here or here which directly violates our terms of use. Our comics and GIFs already contain our name. You can learn more about why editing out the name of a creator's art is an issue that is so detrimental in our "frequent terms of use issues" list below.

Since we've been in this for six years now, we have experienced a lot with handling terms of use issues. We think many times, individuals may be unaware about how some of these issues negatively affect creators, so we made this chart to help explain more. These are the most frequent issues we encounter. Thank you for following our terms of use!

Frequent Issue #1

An answer key is made using our resource and posted on a public website (such as a Weebly site, Wordpress, Blogger, Wix, school hosted website/LMS, etc).

What commonly results from the issue?

While the individual likely only intended this key to be used with their own students, it is now publicly online. Many of our handouts have open-ended responses asking students to contribute their own thinking and voice---and this can take that away from them. Other teachers find our resource difficult to use; we receive complaints.

Why does this negatively affect creators?

Our resources can lose value as a feedback tool for educators. We understand that educators want to make answer keys to our work, but please do not place them on a public website. [Note: We also sell official answer keys, and they also have these same terms]

Frequent Issue #2

A social media page posts one of our comics or GIFs, but our name has been edited out of the image (example here). All of our comics and GIFs contain our name.

What commonly results from the issue?

The page gains attention for an image where the author has been cropped/edited off. Now the image appears to have no author, and it spreads this way in many other social media platforms. This baffles us- we allow large social media platforms to share our [unedited] images- why would anyone want to crop off our name?

Why does this negatively affect creators?

The unattributed image continues to be shared and some platforms place their logos on the seemingly "authorless" material, claim it as their own like this, or may put it on merchandise. This can be a time consuming nightmare to sort out. By the way, if you ever see a comic that appears authorless because the name has been cropped/edited off, you can put it in a reverse image google search to easily find the author- and the original image.

Frequent Issue #3

One of our videos is uploaded (not linked or using YouTube embed code) to an individual's own YouTube channel, Facebook page, platform, or website. This usually requires that the individual downloaded the video first in order to upload it somewhere.

What commonly results from the issue?

One of our actual video files now exists on a different YouTube channel (which also violates YouTube's terms of service), Facebook, platform, website, etc.

Why does this negatively affect creators?

Stolen videos are videos that are not linked/embedded from the channel they came from, and the result is viewer confusion and lost views. This is very harmful to YouTube creators. We also have some videos where we have obtained special permission to use a musical work in our video, which would not extend to a stolen video. Please use our YouTube video links or the YouTube embed code (which looks nice on websites).

Frequent Issue #4

A resource that we sell on Teachers Pay Teachers is uploaded on a public website.

What commonly results from the issue?

We are notified of the item being online publicly---typically in the form of complaints from others who purchased the resource. We have to file a DMCA, which takes time to fill out and then also time for removal.

Why does this negatively affect creators?

There is much time spent on creating TpT resources, and this is one major way that we support ourselves (as well as other creators). This hurts our ability to support ourselves and is unfair to other TpT purchasers. If using our TpT resources online, please ensure that it is placed behind a password/code protected page/platform.

Frequent Issue #5

An illustration or GIF we created shows up in a product that is being sold, such as on a purchasable educational resource.

What commonly results from the issue?

The seller of the product commercially benefits off of our illustration or comic on their product (ex: an educational resource that is being sold). We have to file a DMCA, which wastes time and that alone may not rectify the situation depending on how it was distributed.

Why does this negatively affect creators?

We, and many other creators, love to share our art for free for non-commercial use. But "free" does not mean a creator's art can be placed on an educational product that is sold. This is the very definition of using a creator's art to benefit commercially, and the actions required to fix it are time consuming for creators. This can also hurt the ability of creators to fully utilize their own work.