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General Information FAQ

    Technical Support FAQ

    1. How do I download the Course Media on the session pages? How do I know which version of the video to download?
    2. Why does my video stream buffer (look choppy or keep pausing)?
    3. How do I view the closed captions on the videos?
    4. In some lectures, the professors refer to materials available on a Classes*v2 course site. How can I get a password to access Classes*v2?
    5. Do I need specific software or information in order to view Open Yale Courses videos or resources?
    6. Why did I get the error message “File not found” or “This page cannot be found?”
    7. Why doesn’t the project site work properly in my browser?
    8. How do I change the font size on the project website?

    Terms of Use FAQ

    1. I understand most of the Open Yale Courses content is made available under a Creative Commons license. What does this mean?
    2. Can you tell me what content is not covered by this version of the Creative Commons license?
    3. I understand that I cannot use Open Yale Courses content for commercial purposes, but what are some examples of what you consider a “commercial purpose?”
    4. I am an educator for a non-profit entity. Can I download your materials for use in my class?
    5. Can I award academic credit to my students based on learning they have done thanks to Open Yale Courses content?
    6. Can you give a few other examples of activities that are permitted under the Creative Commons license you use?

    General Information

    1. How do I enroll in an Open Yale Course?

    No enrollment or registration is required. Anyone with an Internet connection may access the website.

    2. Is it possible to take Open Yale courses for credit?

    There is no Yale credit, degree, or certificate available as a result of consuming content through the Open Yale Courses website. Those interested in pursuing a program of study at Yale may visit http://www.yale.edu/ for information on applying for admission.

    3. Where can I obtain course packets/reading materials?

    Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to provide copies of the course packets used on campus. However, some of the same materials may be available at your local library, on websites such as Google Scholar, from book retailers, or in academic journals. Bibliographic references for course packet materials and other reading assignments can be found in the “Texts” section on the “Syllabus” page and/or in the “Assignment” section on the “session” page.

    4. Will I be able to ask the professor a question or submit written work?

    No. Open Yale Courses is not designed to offer users the opportunity to interact with Yale faculty.

    5. What new courses will be added and when?

    We are no longer adding new courses to this website. However, Yale continues to provide free access to educational content through the Coursera platform. Please visit Yale’s home on Coursera to enroll in our courses! 

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    Technical Support

    1. How do I download the Course Media on the session pages? How do I know which version of the video to download?

    To download the Course Media, click on the media format icons or letters below the four Course Media options: Transcript, Audio, Low Bandwidth Video, and High Bandwidth Video. A box may pop up to confirm that you want to “Open” or “Save” the file; the prompt and terminology will differ depending on your choice of browser.

    The Transcript link will bring you to a Web page from which you can print a copy of the transcript by using the “Print” link in the upper-right corner of the page.

    The Audio link will download an mp3 file of the lecture to your device (computer, tablet, smartphone, etc.) and can be played on any mp3 player.

    The Low Bandwidth Video (for slower Internet connections) and High Bandwidth Video (for high-speed Internet connections) links will download the lecture videos to your device and may be viewed at your convenience using the QuickTime Player (freely downloadable at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/).

    2. Why does my video stream buffer (look choppy or keep pausing)?

    The quality of your viewing experience will be affected by your Internet connection speed. Connection speed can vary at different times of the day; you may have better performance if you avoid high-traffic periods for your time zone. For optimal viewing of video files, you should use a high-speed connection such as DSL or cable modem.

    3. How do I view the closed captions on the videos?

    Closed captioning is available on the embedded video and the high-bandwidth QuickTime files located on the session pages of each course. To activate the closed captions, click the CC icon in the upper right corner of the embedded videos or bottom right corner of the downloaded QuickTime vidoes; click the CC icon again to turn off the captions.

    4. In some lectures, the professors refer to materials available on a Classes*v2 course site. How can I get a password to access Classes*v2?

    Classes*v2 is an on-campus website available to Yale students. In some Open Yale Courses, class handouts and other materials mentioned in the course lectures are posted in the “Resources” section of Open Yale Courses “session” pages. On occasion, materials have been omitted or edited due to copyright restrictions.

    5. Do I need specific software or information in order to view Open Yale Courses videos or resources?

    The embedded videos will play in your browser. The downloadable media files (audio .mp3, low-bandwidth .mov, and high-bandwidth .mov) can be played with QuickTime, iTunes,and VLC media players. When you click on one of these links, a new popup window will launch. Please check that your browser is not blocking popups.

    Most of the resources included with Open Yale Courses are available in PDF format. PDF documents may be opened with the Adobe Reader. Visit http://www.adobe.com and click on the “Get Adobe Reader” button to download and install the application. Visit http://www.adobe.com and click on the “Get Adobe Reader” button to download and install the application. There are many other applications that can also open PDF files (e.g., Preview, which comes standard with recent versions of the Macintosh operating system). Your computer may ask you to select from a number of recommended applications to open a downloaded PDF.

    Text documents in .rtf or .doc format can be opened with various applications. Windows users who do not have Microsoft Word may download Word Viewer. Other users may wish to try LibreOffice, which can be downloaded free of charge at http://www.libreoffice.org/; or Google Docs & Spreadsheets, which allows you to read and edit .doc and .rtf files without installing special software.

    6. Why did I get the error message “File not found” or “This page cannot be found”?

    These error messages indicate a faulty link to a file or page. In some cases, particularly if you are using a bookmark or link from another website, this is because the page you are looking for has been moved or deleted; try using the navigation links or the “Search” box at the top of this website to locate the content you seek. If the link is to a video, please be sure that you are linking to the video from this website; links to our videos from other websites often do not work. 

    7. Why doesn’t the project site work properly in my browser?

    Open Yale Courses is best viewed using the following browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer 8.0+. Although many of the project materials will be viewable in other browsers or older versions than we recommend, Open Yale Courses is not responsible for any display or functional inconsistencies you may encounter.

    8. How do I change the font size on the project website?

    You can change the displayed font size using your browser’s menu: View > Zoom > Zoom In.

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    Terms of Use

    1. I understand most of the Open Yale Courses content is made available under a Creative Commons license. What does this mean?

    As stated in our Terms Of Use most of the lectures and course material within Open Yale Courses are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Unless explicitly set forth in the applicable Credits Section of a lecture, third-party content is not covered under the Creative Commons license; such content may be subject to additional intellectual property notices, information or restrictions. You are solely responsible for obtaining permission to use third party content or determining whether your use is fair use and for responding to any claims that may arise.

    As set forth in our terms of use, the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license allows you to freely share (copy, distribute, display, and perform the work) and make derivative works of the content under the following conditions:

    • You must attribute the work in the manner specified on the Open Yale Courses Terms of Use, but not in any way that suggests that Yale or Open Yale Courses endorses you or your use of the work. The proper format for attribution is as follows:

      [Name], [Course Title] (Yale University: Open Yale Courses), http://oyc.yale.edu (Accessed Date). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

      For example:
      Shelly Kagan, Death (Yale University: Open Yale Courses), http://oyc.yale.edu (Accessed May 13, 2009). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

    • You may not use any Open Yale Courses content for commercial purposes. See Terms of Use.

    • If you alter, transform or build upon Open Yale Course material made available under the Creative Commons license, you may distribute the resulting work only if you do so under the same or substantially similar license.

    2. Can you tell me what content is not covered by this version of the Creative Commons license?

    All Yale and Yale authored content is made available under the Creative Commons license. This includes all lectures. However, third party materials included in lectures are not covered by the Creative Commons license unless explicitly set forth in the applicable credits section of a particular lecture page.

    3. I understand that I cannot use Open Yale Courses content for commercial purposes, but what are some examples of what you consider a “commercial purpose?”

    The non-commercial license is set forth at http://creativecommons.org. We explain what we mean generally by non-commercial purposes in our Terms (no profits, sales, premium services, advertising, or marketing). We can also list of a number of activities that we consider commercial. We cannot provide a comprehensive list, but some examples include:

    • Creating DVDs, CDs or other audio/visual materials based on all or a portion of Open Yale Courses content to sell, license or use for advertising or promotional purposes.

    • Creating a book, e-book, or textbook using all or a portion of our transcripts, or other content gathered from the Open Yale Courses website to sell, license or for advertising or promotional purposes.

    • Translating all or a portion of our transcripts, or other content gathered from the Open Yale Courses website, into a language other than English in order to sell, license, advertise, or promote a book, e-book, textbook, DVD, CD or other audio/video.

    • Downloading Open Yale Courses content and then placing all or a portion of that content or a derivative of that content such as translations on a website that requires users to pay for access or accepts commercial advertising.

    • Rebroadcasting all or a portion of that content on a commercial television or commercial radio station.

    • Using content obtained through the Open Yale Courses website to advertise or promote your for-profit entity in any way.

    4. I am an educator for a non-profit entity. Can I download your materials for use in my class?

    Yes, you can use all or a portion of the Open Yale Courses materials to teach. This applies under the following conditions.

    • Whether you are teaching high school students, college students, post-graduate students or at another level of education.

    • Whether you are teaching this course at an accredited educational entity or as part of a non-profit professional training program. If you are a for-profit corporation, you may teach this content as part of a professional training program, as long as you are not charging tuition specifically for the class based upon Open Yale Courses content.

    • Whether your students are in a physical classroom or online.

    We cannot provide a comprehensive list of methods you can use to incorporate Open Yale Courses content into your class, but some examples include:

    • Requiring your students to visit our website to read the transcripts, view the video lectures or listen to the lecture audio.

    • Printing out the lecture transcripts and providing them to your students.

    • Asking your students to take the quizzes made available through the Open Yale Courses website.

    • Using a portion of the questions included in our quizzes in your own tests and quizzes.

    • Using the reading lists made available on the Open Yale Courses website.

    • Visiting our website while your class is in session and watching the videos together, as a class.

    5. Can I award academic credit to my students based on learning they have done thanks to Open Yale Courses content?

    You are welcome to award students credit from your institution for any reason you feel appropriate. The decision to award your students academic credit is your institution’s to make. If you feel a course that included content from the Open Yale Courses website is worthy of academic credit from your institution, then you are free to award that credit.

    Yale will NOT offer any type of Yale academic credit to anyone based on their consumption of content through the Open Yale Courses website. Yale will not formally recognize – by awarding credit or any other formal distinction – learning you have done as a result of downloading content from the Open Yale Courses website.

    6. Can you give a few other examples of activities that are permitted under the Creative Commons license you use?

    Yes, but please note that this is not a comprehensive list. Some examples include:

    • Translating - and then redistributing for free - Open Yale Courses content. Of course you are also welcome to translate Open Yale Courses content for your personal use.

    • Downloading and editing Open Yale Courses video and audio content for non-commercial use. These “re-mixed” versions can be for your own personal use or you can choose to make them available under the same Creative Commons license that is used for Yale-owned Open Yale Courses content.

    • Linking to content on Open Yale Courses website from your website.

    • Downloading Open Yale Courses content from our website, adding it to your non-commercial website, and making it available to the public for free. Please remember though, that your website cannot include any advertising on it.

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