Copyright Considerations for the Online Classroom

“…if you’re using materials that belong to others without their permission and the material you’re using is freely accessible…, then you’re probably breaking the law.

If you are teaching in a classroom or online, you may make use of materials that you don’t own, as long as you do not make them freely available for distribution and the amount you use does not exceed certain fixed limits.” (from Teaching Online by Susan Ko, pp )

Copyright Quiz 1. The Copyright Act restricts the use of copyrighted materials in an educational setting. 2. Fair Use guidelines provide direction for ascertaining legal use of copyrighted materials in the classroom. How familiar are you with current copyright law? Take this 10-question quiz to find out. Answer “yes” or “no” to each question on your own.

Copyright Quiz 3.The TEACH Act broadens the previous use of copyrighted print, still images, audio recording, video recording, diagram, chart and graph use in online instruction. 4.The TEACH Act does not equate the use of copyrighted materials in online instruction to legal use in the physical classroom.

Copyright Quiz 5.All provisions of the TEACH Act must be followed to afford the protection it provides for use of copyrighted material in the online classroom. 6.Harper College has a copyright policy in place.

Copyright Quiz 7.Copyright educational resources for Harper faculty, students and staff are available in an online format. 8.The Harper College Copyright and Fair Use Handbook contains information on specific amounts of copyrighted materials that can be used under the Fair Use guidelines.

Copyright Quiz 9.Specific Harper faculty and staff are available for consultation on questions regarding use of copyrighted materials in all courses. 10.A recommended copyright informational statement is available for use in online courses.

Copyright Quiz Answers The correct answer to each question is “yes!” To help check copyright compliance of your course materials, visit the Harper College copyright information website for faculty and students:

Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Use of Copyrighted Material The use of copyrighted materials (without first gaining permission) in an instructional setting is allowed based on the “four factor test” listed below: 1. Character of use – Commercial (no) or educational (yes) 2. Nature of work – Public domain (yes) or copyrighted (within specific limits based on type of work) 3. How much of work is used – Large amounts (no) or small portions (yes) 4. Effect of use on market – Significantly damage market value (no) or little impact (yes)

Scope of Fair Use Where there is an established market for permissions, there will be a narrower scope for fair use. Likewise, where it is hard to get permissions, more reliance will be placed on fair use in the educational setting. To find out how much copyrighted material you can use without permission, use the “Rules of Thumb” from the Copyright Crash Course website:

TEACH Act: Use of Copyrighted Materials for Distance Delivery Explicit improvements to the Copyright Act: Wider range of works may be used Receiving locations not limited to classrooms Copyrighted content may be stored for future use Instructors may digitize analog works Learn more about the TEACH Act from the websites located on the next slide.

TEACH Act Resources Copyright Crash Course on the TEACH Act: New Copyright Law for Distance Education: ices/ALA_Washington/Issues2/Copyright1/Distance_Education_ and_the_TEACH_Act/teachsummary.pdf ices/ALA_Washington/Issues2/Copyright1/Distance_Education_ and_the_TEACH_Act/teachsummary.pdf

Fair Use Still Important While the TEACH Act relaxes some of the original copyright restrictions for online delivery of course material, fair use remains important because this act only authorizes a small subset of use of electronic resources educators may wish to utilize in their online classrooms.

TEACH Act Implementation Requires cohesive effort from institutional sources: – Faculty representatives – Administrative policymakers – Legal council – Librarians – Technical experts

Copyright Resources To better understand the principles behind copyright, the requirements for copyright protection and the parameters of use and access of copyrighted material, view the University of Maryland University College Interactive Copyright Tutorial: Print and use the “11 Steps to Protect Yourself Against Copyright Violation” checklist located as course material in the Copyright folder.