The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh ("RBGE", "we" or "us") provides PropaGate Learning for its students and members of staff (the "users", "you"), to support the learning opportunities provided by RBGE. PropaGate Learning, RBGE's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) uses Moodle and Mahara software to offer blended and distance courses to users. The purpose of these terms of use set out below ("Terms of Use") is to inform you of your obligations to RBGE and to lay out appropriate conditions on your use of these sites.
The term ‘PropaGate Learning’ hereinafter refers to the sites with the following URLs: https://propagatelearning.rbge.ac.uk and https://myportfolio.rbge.ac.uk/. Where the term ‘Site Administrators’ is used, this means Learning Technologists, office staff, IT staff, managers, and also support staff at CoSector, University of London, our Hosting Company.
Each user (Staff, Student or other authenticated user) is responsible for ensuring that their use of PropaGate Learning complies with these Terms of Use.
By using PropaGate Learning you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use, which shall take effect immediately at your first log-in. If you do not agree to be bound by all the following Terms of Use you should cease using PropaGate Learning and immediately notify the Biodiversity Education and Training department at propagate@rbge.org.uk.
RBGE may revise these Terms of Use periodically. We will use reasonable efforts to inform you of any material changes.
RBGE will undertake all reasonable steps to provide you with a safe, secure and operational online learning environment. If at any time you feel your rights have not been upheld or you have any questions regarding the Terms of Use, please contact us immediately.
We reserve the right to suspend your use of PropaGate Learning at any time if we reasonably believe that you are in breach of any of these Terms of Use. This could mean removing your account or suspending access/use of PropaGate for an undetermined period with immediate effect, without prior notice.
Who may use PropaGate Learning
PropaGate Learning user accounts are for users aged 16 or over only. Many materials are available to view without needing a user account. If you are not a registered user and are accessing PropaGate Learning as a Guest, please refer to the Guests Terms of Use. For the avoidance of doubt these Terms of Use apply to users who log in with a username and password only.
If you have been given a user account and you are under 16, please contact education@rbge.org.uk before going any further unless you have already organised for someone to give consent on your behalf.
Young People
RBGE is committed to creating a safe and supportive environment for all young persons using PropaGate Learning in line with National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) guidance.
Consequently, we request that if you are a young person between the ages of 16 to 18, and you are having trouble understanding any of the conditions set out within these Terms of Use or how they might apply to your use of the site, please ensure that in the first instance you discuss the Terms of Use with your parent, guardian or carer before you take any further action.
Please do not agree to these Terms of Use until you fully understand them. In particular, you need to be aware that you are solely responsible for your behaviour when using PropaGate Learning, including ensuring that you do not breach any of the prohibitions from the "Positive Online Behaviour" section.
Availability and Site Maintenance
PropaGate Learning is intended to be available at all times however we do not guarantee that it or any content made available on it will always be available or that availability will be uninterrupted. PropaGate Learning will occasionally be unavailable for short periods of time as we release new system features and security updates. We will endeavour to provide reasonable notice of any scheduled maintenance via the site news. Major upgrades may result in the site being unavailable for an extended period and we will ensure we give you timely advanced warning.
Using the site
We provide advice on how to use the site in course introduction activities and within the Help and Support pages of PropaGate Learning. Support is also available within the Help and Support forums on courses and via the contact links on the site.
Positive online behaviour
PropaGate Learning's forums and email are used for communication. You will have access to online messaging if you use My Portfolio as part of your course.
Each user is responsible for their behaviour on PropaGate Learning - this includes for all content added and language used.
We expect that all staff, tutors and students will be polite and courteous to one another and always act in a professional manner. This includes contributing positively to forum discussions and respecting others’ opinions.
For the avoidance of doubt, you are prohibited from using any words or pictures which:
• are sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, pornographic, paedophilic or similarly discriminatory and/or offensive;
• harass or bully other users;
• advocate or condone, directly or indirectly, criminal activity, or any other activity which may otherwise damage the RBGE’s standing in the UK or abroad;
• are defamatory, libellous or threatening; and/or
• contain personal data (as defined by the UK GDPR) about third parties, unless their permission has been given explicitly.
Furthermore you are prohibited from using PropaGate Learning to:
• impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your relationship with any person or entity;
• post any content for which you do not have the necessary licences and/or approvals for;
• post any material which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, computer viruses, logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms, harmful components, corrupted data or other malicious software or harmful data);
• undertake, facilitate, authorise or permit any text or data mining or web scraping of the sites;
• post excessive feedback, posts or comments in a message, on forums or on any other user's portfolio;
• breach UK data protection law: The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018;
• misuse the objectionable material reporting system;
• infringe our intellectual property rights, for example by using our trade marks without our approval; and/or
• any other behaviour deemed to be a nuisance or offensive by a Site Administrator.
Please be aware we will take action against any breach of these prohibitions and will thoroughly investigate any allegations of a breach. We have the right to remove or edit any material or posting you make on PropaGate Learning if, in our opinion, the content does not comply with the provisions set out in these Terms of Use.
Reporting
If you are concerned or upset about any content or behaviour you witness on the site, you are encouraged to report it immediately. Please contact either your tutor or the Learning Technology Manager at propagate@rbge.org.uk. We will ensure the matter is investigated timeously.
Your user account
Access to courses on PropaGate Learning is controlled by user permissions. You must log into PropaGate Learning using your own user account and never allow another user to access PropaGate Learning using your account. You must not reveal your password to others.
All student accounts are set up with email addresses hidden from other students – you may change this setting to allow other students on your course to view your email address if you wish. This can be done within your profile settings.
On the rare occasion that you find yourself with access to any part of PropaGate Learning that you do not require or should not have the permission to view, you must immediately inform the Learning Technology Team at propagate@rbge.org.uk and not proceed any further.
Intellectual Property Rights
Course materials and any other materials published by us on PropaGate Learning, unless otherwise stated, are solely owned or licensed by RBGE and we are the owner or the licensee of all associated intellectual property rights. Course materials are protected by copyright legislation and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.
With the exception of learning resources for schools, any downloading or copying of course material must only be for the purposes of completing or teaching/developing the course of study.
You may print copies, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from PropaGate Learning for the purposes laid out above only. Students must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials printed or downloaded in any way, except for personal annotations, and must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
You must not use any part of the content on PropaGate Learning for any other reason without first obtaining permission to do so from us or our licensors.
Employees
RBGE retains the right to continue to use and display existing resources and content created by an RBGE employee after that employee has left the organisation.
Students
All files and content uploaded to PropaGate Learning where the student owns the associated intellectual property rights continue to be owned by the student and are subject to relevant copyright legislation.
You are responsible for ensuring you have appropriate permission to reproduce and publish any material (e.g. images, etc) that is not your own on PropaGate Learning, and /or confirming that the material is a public domain resource.
RBGE will delete content created by a student in line with our RBGE Education Privacy Notice (opens in a new window), unless specific permission has been granted by the student for RBGE to display the content on PropaGate Learning for an extended period.
Freelancers
Content uploaded to PropaGate Learning will be subject to the appropriate terms and conditions in individual agreements and / or contracts.
Learning resources for schools
You may print copies, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from PropaGate Learning schools pages for non-commercial educational purposes only. You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, except for personal annotations, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
If you wish to change any learning resources for schools to suit your own project or your learners’ needs, please contact us as propagate@rbge.org.uk.
All courses and materials
If you print, copy, download, share or repost any content from PropaGate Learning in breach of these Terms of Use, your right to use PropaGate Learning may at our discretion be terminated and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made (except that you are permitted to print off a copy of these Terms of Use).
Uploaded assessment work
You should always keep original copies of work uploaded to PropaGate Learning. RBGE accepts no liability for lost or corrupted data that has been stored on PropaGate Learning.
All assessment work uploaded to PropaGate Learning should be your own. Copying others’ work, cheating, collusion, plagiarism and attempting to obtain unfair assessment advantages is forbidden.
User Generated Content Not Approved by RBGE
PropaGate Learning will include content which has not been vetted or approved by RBGE. The views expressed by users on PropaGate Learning do not represent our views or values.
Data protection and Security of Data
Logging of Activities
Activities on PropaGate Learning are fully logged. Records are kept of when you access the site, courses and resources along with a log of all online communication such as forum posts, assignment submissions, page views etc. These records are available to tutors for course/activity completion information, but may also be used as a point of reference for any matters arising, such as accounts of harassment, bullying or the transmitting of inappropriate material.
Students should be aware that in addition to the Site Administrators, course tutors are able to directly access your files.
Accessing your account
Site Administrators may access your account, profile, forum posts, assignment uploads or quiz responses, however, they will avoid doing so unless specifically required to support your use of PropaGate Learning or if required to undertake investigations as per these Terms of Use.
From time to time, a system administrator may need to login as a user to observe exactly what the user is seeing. This is used for troubleshooting purposes and as a last resort, when all other avenues have been exhausted and the user is still experiencing difficulties. The administrator may do so without requesting permission. This can be done without any login information from the relevant user, thus preserving the security of the user’s password.
Personal Information
Fellow students on the site and other persons authorised by RBGE, for example, tutors, Site Administrators, system administrators and external examiners will have access to your name, photograph and any discussion comments you make on PropaGate Learning. For information, discussions within courses can only be seen by other students within that course.
Please exercise caution when posting personal or sensitive information on the site e.g. forums, such as phone numbers, email addresses and location data (such as your address). Be aware that other students on your course can see this information.
If you are under 18, do not arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone you meet online unless you have discussed this with your parents and you are accompanied by a trusted adult.
How we use, process and store your data
PropaGate Learning is hosted by The University of London. In order to provide access to online course(s) provided by RBGE at https://propagatelearning.rbge.ac.uk and https://myportfolio.rbge.ac.uk, RBGE shares your information with the University of London. The University of London accesses your information in order to provide technical assistance for the Learning Technology team at RBGE and to host the sites securely for RBGE.
For more information please refer to the RBGE Privacy Notice and the RBGE Education Privacy Notice (both open in a new window).
Assessment Information and Grades
Only you and authorised persons (your tutors and Site Administrators) will have access to your assessment information.
External Content
Tutors may add links to useful websites on PropaGate Learning. RBGE does not accept any responsibility for the content of external sites.
Liability
RBGE accepts no liability for any claims, penalties, loss or expenses arising from: any reliance placed on the content; the use or inability to use PropaGate Learning; or any unauthorised access to or alteration of PropaGate Learning or its content. Furthermore, we will not be liable for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of anticipated savings, loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation or any indirect or consequential loss or damage. Nothing in this provision limits or excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited under UK law.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the Laws of Scotland and any disputes that may arise will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.
Queries
Please email propagate@rbge.org.uk if you have any queries regarding any of the content outlined in this document.
Updated November 2025