PropaGate Learning

About these Terms of Use

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh ("RBGE", "we" or "us") provides PropaGate Learning for visitors (the "Guest", "you"), to support the learning opportunities provided by RBGE. PropaGate Learning, RBGE's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) uses Moodle software to offer blended and distance courses to users together with providing free resources to guests. 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 this site.

The term ‘PropaGate Learning’ hereinafter refers to the site with the following URL: https://propagatelearning.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 Guest 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 when you first visit the site. If you do not agree to be bound by all the following Terms of Use you should cease using PropaGate Learning.

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.

Many materials are available to view without needing a user account. When you visit PropaGate Learning you are automatically logged in as a Guest. Guests can view content and have read-only access, meaning you cannot add content such as posting to forums or receiving grades in quizzes.

Young people

If you are under 18 and have any trouble understanding the conditions set out within these Terms of Use, in the first instance please discuss this with your parent, guardian or carer before you take any further action.

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 within the Help and Support pages of PropaGate Learning. Support is also available via the contact links on the site.

Online behaviour

You are prohibited from using PropaGate Learning to: 
•    undertake, facilitate, authorise or permit any text or data mining or web scraping of the sites; 
•    breach UK data protection law: The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018; 
•    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. 

Intellectual property rights and using site resources

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 the course of study, for reviewing materials as an RBGE tutor or for developing the course by RBGE staff.

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.  

Learning resources for schools

You may print off copies, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from PropaGate Learning Resources for 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 at propagate@rbge.org.uk.

Data protection and security of data 

Logging of activities

Activities on PropaGate Learning are fully logged. Records are kept of when Guests access and view the site, courses and resources. These records are available to tutors, managers and administrators and are used to measure ‘views’. This information is used to check how often resources are used and for reporting to funders.  Your IP address will be logged.

Personal information

As a Guest, your IP address is logged, however RBGE cannot identify any individual from this information.

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 RBGE shares information with the University of London. The University of London accesses information in order to provide technical assistance for the Learning Technology team at RBGE and to store the sites securely for RBGE. This includes guests’ IP addresses.

For more information please refer to the RBGE Education Privacy Notice (opens in a new tab)
 

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.

Created July 2025