The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH Act) was signed into law in November 2002 and expanded instructors' ability to use works that are protected by copyright without first obtaining permission from the copyright owner. The TEACH Act updated copyright law so that instructors could utilize technology while teaching. Before these changes were made, digital disbursement of materials was not allowed. Instructors were only able to share materials in a face-to-face classroom setting. While there still are important differences between the classroom use exemption and the TEACH act, instructors are allowed to share copyrighted materials in person and online– with certain limitations.
The Classroom Use Exemption (in Section 110(1) of Copyright Law) allows educators to perform or display all types of copyrighted materials in person as long as the materials were lawfully required. For example, showing a movie to your class (even if it is a whole movie) or projecting copies of a book is allowed under this exemption. However, this does not apply to making or distributing copies, or to online instruction.
For online learning (Section 110(2) of Copyright Law), the rules are slightly different. Instructors are only allowed to display:
- nondramatic literary or musical work, or
- Reasonable and limited amount of any other work, or
- An amount comparable to what would be displayed during a live classroom session.
Instructors must work for an accredited, nonprofit educational institution, and are only allowed to display qualifying materials under direct supervision of the instructor as long as:
- the display will help the instructor teach the course
- the audience is only limited to students enrolled in the course
- The materials are shared during regularly scheduled course instruction
- the materials are not available to students after the class session
- The display of the work is comparable to face- to- face instruction
The TEACH Act covers works an instructor would show or play during class– think films or clips, music clips, images of artworks, etc. It does not cover materials an instructor may want students to study, read, watch, or listen to on their own time outside of class.
You can consult ASU Online's Teach Act Implementation and use their abbreviated checklist to help with assessing whether the TEACH act will support your online learning. And don’t forget that fair use is still an option, often allowing more flexibility than provided by the TEACH Act.
However, if you are still unsure whether your use of copyrighted materials is covered by a protected exemption, you can avoid copyright infringement altogether by using open educational resources (OER), which are teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and licensed to be free to use, share, and modify. Our Open Education library guide has an extensive list of OERs as well as additional information about OER in general. Some popular OER search tools to help get you started are:
- Open Textbook Library: Complete textbooks reviewed by a variety of college and university faculty, and can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost. All have higher ed use or affiliation. Includes the OpenStax collection.
- OASIS: Search tool for finding open content, including textbooks, courses, course modules, audiobooks, video and more.
- Pressbooks Directory: A directory of all the books (textbooks, handbooks, and other text-based media) published on Pressbooks. Filter by License, H5P Activities and more.
- OER Commons: freely accessible online collection of open educational resources. This fully searchable catalog includes hundreds of open textbooks for use in higher education, especially the newly launched OERizona Network hub, featuring content from colleges and universities in Arizona!
As an educator, you are granted certain exemptions from copyright law– as long as you follow the specific guidelines laid out in Sections 110(1) and (2) of Copyright Law. While copyright was made to protect creators, there have been limits put in place so that educators can do their jobs. Dispersing information (sometimes copyrighted information) is integral to instructors’ work, and understanding the Classroom Use Exemption and the TEACH ACT empowers teachers to utilize all the resources available so they can have the biggest impact on their students.
If you want to learn more about Open Education, next week is Open Education Week, so stay tuned for more resources and posts, and sign up for the Getting Started with OER webinar on March 5!