Educators Welcome the Teach Act

Back in the days of VHS tapes and audio cassettes, long before iTunes and YouTube, copyright laws were relatively straightforward: always ask permission from the author and purchase all material before using it.  Every teacher and librarian is well aware that a hard copy of any material must be paid for prior to being used, displayed or accessed, even in the classroom.

The first real effort to impose guidelines on copyrighted materials began in 1976 and went under the name of “Fair Use.” Fair Use (which did not even have the force of law,) evolved into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.  This act heightened and defined the penalties for copyright infringement.

The restrictions outlined in Fair Use and other subsequent laws have caused a great deal of delay and hassle for teachers who wish to present copyrighted materials in their classrooms.  Obtaining permission from the author of a work to display even a short media clip can be tedious, time-consuming, and inconvenient.  Even then, much of the obtained material has been limited to face-to-face instruction, meaning that students in online or “distant” classrooms could not benefit.  These are a few of the issues that led to the Teach Act of 2002. 

The Teach Act has come as a great relief to many educators and students because it does not require obtaining permission from the author.  It allows for greater flexibility in obtaining and displaying copyrighted works in the classroom.  Additionally, the act gives equal benefits to students on and off campus.  For both teacher and student, the Teach Act provides more liberty to store, copy, and digitize media. 

There are a few limitations that legitimize the use of this media.  Firstly, all materials must be mediated through a technically secure environment.  In other words, the material can only be accessed through a school website, such as Blackboard or ILearn, an environment that is protected by a password.  Secondly, the material can only be applied if it is for genuine educational use.  Lastly, the Teach Act requires that material be shown only in “reasonable and limited portions.” 

Written by Krislyn McCandless

October 30, 2007