Prior to the passage of the TEACH Act in 2002, distance education environments were subject to restrictive copyright laws. The TEACH Act attempts to equalize the playing field between face-to-face and distant courses.
Key points to remember when using copyrighted works in distance education environments include:
- Copyrighted works may not be made freely available on the web: access must be restricted. Use either the Blackboard course module or Mansfield Library's E-Reserve system to restrict access to enrolled students.
- Instructors may make available only portions of works that are comparable to the amount used in face-to-face classrooms during the actual teaching process. This means that instructors should not post a coursepack of articles online, for example, because presumably a pack of articles would not be distributed for reading during a face-to-face classroom session.
- Similarly, all copyrighted materials used in distance education courses must be instructor-mediated. These should generally not be passive or optional materials.
- Use of copyrighted works must directly relate to course content.
- There are stringent restrictions on the use of dramatic works, such as plays or films. Only 'reasonable and limited' portions may be used.
- If use of copyrighted works is permissible under Fair Use, yet restricted under the TEACH Act, Fair Use would control.
- If neither the TEACH Act nor Fair Use applies, the instructor must seek permission from the copyright holder to use the material.
