Copyright Guidance for Faculty

Online Course Considerations

In the online environment, its important to keep copyrighted materials inside the LMS (Canvas) to avoid issues regarding the exemptions given to teaching under fair use. With that said, materials accessed through the library will almost always be acceptable for use in your online course.

The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act of 2001 allows instructors at non-profit educational institutions to share audio-visual and other works in distance education, similar to how they would in a live classroom.

Under the TEACH Act, instructors may provide:

• Full performances of nondramatic literary or musical works (excluding plays, musicals, operas, etc.).
• "Reasonable and limited portions" of dramatic audiovisual or other works.

Access must be restricted to enrolled students (e.g., through a password-protected course management system) and limited to the course duration (e.g., semester, quarter). Additionally, all materials must include a copyright notice stating they are for use in accordance with copyright law and institutional policy.

Here is a TEACH Act checklist that can be used to confirm your content is acceptable use.