COPYRIGHT ON TEACHER WEBSITES -Megan Rucker

EDUCATIONAL EXEMPTIONS TO COPYRIGHT

Teachers may use any original materials in a face-to-
face teaching session without fear of copyright
infringement. The same rules do not apply to online
sessions.
FAIR USE
Use the four rules to check for the possibility of a Fair Use
exemption of Copyright:
Purpose and Character of the use
Nature of the work
Amount of the work used
Affect on the market
 IN-PERSON VS. ONLINE CLASSROOM
The Fair Use rules contain added restrictions for online
classrooms.
Public websites are available to those outside of your
classroom, so it is impossible to police who looks at materials
Materials that are scanned or shared digitally are endlessly
reproducible, and it will be much harder to prevent loss of
revenue for the original author.
 WHAT TEXTS CAN BE PLACED IN A PUBLIC
ONLINE CLASSROOM?
Works in the public domain
Before 1928= Fine to upload
1928-1978= Depends on whether the owner chose to
enforce Copyright
After 1978= 70 years after the authors death & 95 or
120 years for corporate texts.
Works created by the U.S. government
Works with an appropriate Creative Commons License
IS IT ALRIGHT FOR MRS. JONES TO POST A
SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET ON HER PUBLIC ONLINE
CLASSROOM?
Yes, Shakespeares works are now in the Public
Domain
HOW DO I USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IN AN
ONLINE CLASSROOM?
There are instances when copyrighted material may be
used by educators in an online classroom.
Rules:
It must be password protected
It must be used by an educator directly with students
enrolled in the course
It must be directly tied to the content of the course
The material may not be a textbook that is normally
purchased as a classroom material
Mrs. Smith thinks that her senior Chemistry students
would benefit from watching a copyrighted film about
the importance of voting. Can she stream it to her
online classroom?

No, it is probably not a good idea because the

material does not relate to the content of her course.
OTHER RESTRICTIONS
While copyrighted material is permissible to be used in
protected online classrooms, you may need to obtain
permission to use materials if you use them year after
year.
You should make students aware that distributing
copyrighted information is restricted under Fair Use and
the Teach Act.
IS IT A BETTER IDEA TO E-MAIL MY STUDENTS
COPYRIGHTED WORKS?
No, this is considered distribution of the materials and
might be harder to control than posting it to a password
protected online classroom.
LINKING TO OTHER WEBSITES
At this time there are no guidelines preventing teachers
from linking to reputable publically available webpages
It is probably a good idea to avoid webpages that may
be posting pirated content
Linking to reputable content providers is a better choice
than posting documents to your own online classroom
when the option is available.
RESOURCES
What faculty need to know about copyright for teaching.
(2010). Find More: American University Library.
Retrieved from:
https://www.american.edu/library/documents/uploa
d/Copyright_for_Teaching.pdf