FAQ
What is Teach In A Box?
Teach In A Box is an online network of educators/teachers trading lessons and teaching
resources. Teach In A Box allows for the digital upload of documents by teachers
to sell their creative teaching materials while allowing the immediate download
of items by buyers who choose to purchase resources or download items of Teach In
A Box which are free of charge.
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Can anyone buy and sell from Teach In A Box?
Yes, anyone can buy and sell on Teach In A Box, all that is required is a simple
registration to become a member.
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How do I begin selling on Teach In A Box and what does it cost?
To begin selling your teaching materials you need to become a Seller member of TeachInABox
which is Free of charge. A Seller membership provides sellers with 80% royalty on
all items sold, we do not charge any insertion or upload fees. TeachInABox also
has a Platinum membership that users can sign up to that provides 100% royalty on
all items sold and also has no insertion or upload fees. The cost of a Platinum
membership is $4.95 a month.
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Where do I go to start selling?
You will see a ‘Sell’ tab in the header on the top right hand side of any page on
TeachInABox. There is also access to a ‘Sell’ tab in the ‘tools’ section of your
‘My File Cabinet’. You simply click either of these tabs and you will be directed
to the page where you can begin uploading your items.
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How do I edit an item?
Editing any of your items is very simple, head to your ‘My File Cabinet’ on the
right hand side of the page, then click on ‘Tools’ and then ‘Selling Summary’. The
items you have uploaded will then appear. An ‘edit’ button will be available on
each item thumbnail which you can click and this will allow you to edit any aspect
of any item. You can also choose to deactivate and take your item offline. You can
also reactivate these items at any time.
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How do I begin buying products from Teach In A Box?
You simply browse the site for teaching materials you find appropriate and helpful
and follow the prompts to purchase, you can browse the site for free and view all
the previews of items for sale. To make a purchase you need to become a member and
this is free of charge. If you believe you will only be buying on Teach In A Box
then you can remain on the ‘Buyers Membership’ and purchase goods free of charge.
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Once I become a member what does that mean?
Teach In a Box has three membership options, a ‘Buyers Membership’, a ‘Sellers Membership’
and a ‘Platinum Membership’ option. A Buyers Membership allows users to browse and
purchase unlimited resources from Teach In a Box free of charge; there is no membership
fee. The Sellers Membership allows users to purchase and SELL unlimited resources
and receive 80% of the sale of each item sold on Teach In a Box free of charge;
there is no membership fee. The Platinum Membership allows users to buy, sell and
have full access to Teach In a Box. Teachers Earn 100% Royalty on all items sold
with the Platinum Membership, so you keep the whole amount of the price of your
item. To have access to our Platinum Membership you simply subscribe at the minimal
charge of $4.95 a month and your earnings are secured. You can upgrade from a Buyer
to a Seller or to a Platinum member at anytime!
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How do sellers get paid on Teach In A Box?
Sellers get paid for sales they have made on the 30th Day of each month except February
where payment is scheduled for the day of the 28th. All your earnings will be deposited
into your PayPal account. PayPal is the only method used to deposit the money from
your monthly sales. If you do not already have a PayPal account, creating one is
a very simple process and a link to the website is provided below;
http://www.paypal.com.au/
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Are products purchased on Teach In A Box tax deductible?
Yes, in most cases employed teachers should be entitled to a percentage return of
purchases made, keep a record and provide to your accountant to see what you are
eligible to gain as a tax return.
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Does Teach In A Box assess and examine items uploaded for sale by our users?
No, Teach In A Box allows for the autonomous upload and sale of items by our users,
allowing the trade of resources between educators in an independently monitored
environment allowing users to provide their own feedback and response regarding
items placed for sale. There should be an adequate description provided in the item
description section of the item being sold as well as a messaging system allowing
the buyer to ask the seller any questions they feel appropriate before making a
purchase.
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Who owns the intellectual property of items being sold?
The seller owns all intellectual property of products posted online. Teach In A
Box does not own any rights to any product sold on the site.
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How and where will I have access to items that I purchase?
All items are available for download immediately after a purchase has been made.
These items will remain available to download for 7 days after the date of purchase.
You can find your purchased downloads in the ‘Purchase Summary’ under the ‘Tools’
section in your ‘My File Cabinet’. You will also be emailed a copy of the purchased
items to your nominated email. You will be able to download the item purchased 5
times in this period before you are no longer able to download. You will be required
to save or print the resource in order to maintain a copy before the expiry period.
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How large and what types of files am I able to upload onto Teach In A Box for
sale?
You will be able to upload files up to 80Mb and also upload 6 preview pages up to
5Mb.
The following files are compatible and can be uploaded for viewing by other Teach
In A Box members.
avi, .bmp, .bnk, .doc, .docx, .dot, .exe, .epub, .flp, .flv, .flipchart, .gif, .htm,
.html, .ink, .jpeg, .jpg, .key, .knt, .mov, .mp3, .mpeg, .mpg, .mp4, .m4a, .m4v,
.notebook, .ods, .pdf, .png, .pps, .ppt, .pptx, .pub, .ram, .rm, .rtf, .swf, .tif,
.tiff, .txt, .wav, .wpd, .wmv, .xls, .xlsx, .xlt, .xltx, .zip
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What happens if I have forgotten my username or password?
You will be able to click on the ‘forgot your username or password’ tab and your
username or password will be emailed to you.
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If I suspect that another member of Teach In A Box has infringed my copyrighted
materials what can I do?
The process of where there is such a dispute requires you to email us directly at
enquiries@teachinabox.com.au with
the subject in the email stating ‘Copyright Infringement’ and we will move to resolve
the issue immediately. The item or items in question will be taken down immediately
pending further investigation into the matter. More information on this topic is
available in our copyright policy.
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What if I want to cancel my Teach In A Box membership?
The process is simple, you contact us at
enquiries@teachinabox.com.au with your request and reason for cancellation
and your account will be cancelled upon receipt of your email, you will receive
a return email notifying you of the cancellation.
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What is your refund policy?
Refunds on resources bought from sellers will be considered in individual cases
if there has been a product sold which has not been advertised accurately and the
seller was unaware of what they were being sold even though it was advertised in
a specific manner.
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Why and when do I need to provide an ABN?
An ABN will be necessary when your annual sales on Teach In A Box reach or exceed
$20,000. This information will be made available to the Australian Taxation Office.
If you already have an ABN and provide the number in the registration form then
you do not need to apply for another ABN. If you have not supplied an ABN in the
registration process and your sales are coming close to $20,000 then Teach In A
Box will notify you that you require an ABN, however if you fail to attain one then
the appropriate tax deductions will apply.
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Do I need to charge GST on items I put up for sale?
If you are registered for GST then Yes you must charge GST on each item, however
if you are not registered then you cannot charge GST. International users do not
charge GST, unless they have a permanent base in Australia.
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What is Copyright?
Copyright is a legal term crediting the author or creator of a piece of work with
exclusive rights to it. The rights include limiting the reproduction or reuse of
the resource by any individual without consent from the copyright holder. It includes
the right of the author to have control over who may benefit financially from the
work.
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Where and when did Copyright law begin?
Copyright law originated with the United States constitution, it is now legislation
governed by federal governments in most countries. In Australia, it is governed
by the Commonwealth Copyright Act 1968.
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What is Copyright and intellectual property?
Intellectual property is a legal concept which refers to creations of the mind,
for example literary, symbols and designs. It is often divided into two categories,
industrial property such as patents and trademarks as well as copyright which includes
literary and artistic work. Most employers detail their approaches to copyright
in their employment contracts. You should check your employment contract and ask
your employer whether there are any limitations on materials you produce or copyright
restrictions.
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What is covered under copyright?
Copyright can cover literary, musical, graphic work as well as motion pictures,
architectural, choreographic work and computer programs.
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Does copyright cover ideas?
Ideas, information, processes or procedures are not copyrightable however the way
in which these ideas are expressed by an individual can be protected.
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How do you obtain copyright on your work?
Your work becomes copyrighted once set into a physical medium of expression. So
once a thought or idea has been written, recorded, drawn it then automatically becomes
your material which is covered under copyright. There are no fees and registration
is not required and most international countries recognise Australia’s copyright
works and vice versa.
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Do I need to put the copyright symbol on my work?
A copyright notice is not necessary for your work to be protected in Australia.
Individuals like to put the symbol to remind people that the work is protected under
copyright. You are able to put the notice on your work; you do not have to go through
any legal avenues to do so. The symbol is: © or you may put the word ‘Copyright’
along with the authors name and year of first publication. For example: Copyright
1976 John Smith or © 1976 John Smith.
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How long does copyright last?
Copyright has an expiry date in most instances and this is usually 70 years after
the end of the year of the authors/creators death. After this period the work then
enters what is known as the “Public Domain” where the item is no longer under copyright.
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Who owns the copyright of specific work?
This depends on factors such as an agreement made by authors/creators when producing
materials or what kind of material is developed. For example, an agreement may have
been made between a recording artist and the record label that the material is the
copyright of the company even though the artist is the vocalist and is the one being
marketed. This may apply to the education sector also as you may be in agreement
that you will develop educational resources for your employer but agree that the
work is copyrighted by your school. The owner of copyright can transfer either part
or all of the copyright of a particular piece of work to other individuals or institutions.
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Who owns the copyright to the materials I produce for my classes?
Primarily, teachers own the copyright to the materials they produce for their daily
classes rather than the schools that employ them. You can easily make certain of
this by checking your employment contract.
Originally, the materials produced by teachers for their classroom such as lessons,
exams etc were the property of the teachers and this is usually the case in most
instances. Some employers may distinguish between physical materials such as handouts
and digitally produced items; again you will need to check with your institution.
Regarding intellectual property policies developed by schools, they will specify
situations where items you create may be the property of the school. This is most
likely the case when you have been assigned to develop or create a specific resource
for example a computer program or the development of some teaching materials which
have been at the request of your employer and may be used by other teachers at your
school. In most circumstances this will be the property of the school. This may
also be the case if you have used some school equipment which is deemed outside
the ordinary which has assisted you in the development of your materials. This will
not apply to normal equipment use such as the library, scanners, printers, stationary
etc in most cases. Please check you schools Intellectual Property Policy.
If you have been asked to create a piece of work for your school and you are just
modifying a piece of work you already produced in the past for your own personal
use, then the original work is still in most cases your copyrighted work, but the
second copy produced is the property of your school.
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Who owns my students work?
The students themselves own their work and if you choose to have complete access
and copyright (own) of their work then you will need written consent and if the
student is a minor then written permission from a parent is required. Even if you
would like to put the students work in the public domain it is recommended that
you gain written permission.
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If I co-write a piece of work with a colleague, who technically owns the copyright?
This comes down to the agreement made between the two parties, if no formal agreement
has been made then both individuals would be considered co-authors and possessing
the rights to the materials. It is wise to discuss how you would like to organise
your copyright with your partner when creating resources together to avoid any difficulties
later on when the material has been finalised.
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Who owns the tests I created for my class, me or the school that I work for?
Schools may own the tests you are using in the classroom, but you will need to double
check with your schools IP policy. It depends on how much input the school has in
the development of the tests as well as whether it is a collaborative effort amongst
other teachers, whether the topics are chosen by your school and whether the tests
need to be reviewed and authorised before being used in the classroom. The more
autonomy you have the more likely it is that you own the material to the test and
vice versa. As a rule of thumb ideas and facts presented are not protected, it is
the manner in which these are expressed which is copyrighted.
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Am I able to take some teaching materials created by another person, make slight
or significant changes then sell the item as my own under copyright?
This process is called creating a derivative work and may only be done with the
permission of the original author. Some teachers will have a creative commons license
attached to their work which stipulates exactly what you are allowed to do with
their work, but this can also be altered if you contact the author direct and ask
for an amendment and permission is granted in writing. For example you may be able
to remix the resource and use for personal use as long as you credit the original
author but you may not be able to use this altered version to commercially gain
a financial profit. This will depend of the type of creative commons license the
individual has attained.
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What is creative commons?
Creative commons is a copyright license which an author(s) can attain to provide
a clear understanding of how the public can use or share their creative work or
resources according to the copyright parties set conditions. This allows you to
easily change the status of your copyrighted material from “all rights reserved”
to “specific rights reserved” which will be chosen by the author or copyright owner.
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How do you get a creative commons license?
Gaining a creative commons license is free and easy. There is no registration to
use the Creative Commons licenses. Licensing a work is as simple as selecting which
one of the six licenses available best meets your needs, and then marking your work
in some way so that others know that you have chosen to release the work under the
terms of that license.
See the creative commons website for more information.
http://creativecommons.org/
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Does Teach In A Box recommend teachers get a creative commons license?
Yes, as this will allow buyers to understand the terms that the sale of the resource
comes with and also understand how they can use the purchased item. However, these
terms can be changed at any time with the authorisation of the creator, so if a
creative commons license comes with specific terms which you would like changed,
talk to the copyright holder and see whether they will give you authorisation to
alter in writing. We encourage sellers to allow buyers to make a derivative work
(which is an option when getting a creative commons license) which allows them to
alter or update the material purchased to suit their needs so they are able to adequately
use freely in their classroom. You can also put limits which allow teachers to alter
and use the materials in their classes but not for commercial use or sale. More
information is available at
http://creativecommons.org/
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Do teachers/Authors maintain the intellectual property to their own work once
it has been uploaded onto Teach In A Box?
Yes, by joining Teach In A Box you are only giving us the non-exclusive license
to distribute your work and allow it to be seen by members of the public. The right
to reproduce, make derivative works and to perform and display the work publicly
as well as all other rights associated with copyright remain with the original copyright
holder, Teach In A Box does not hold copyright to any products uploaded onto the
site.
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