Faculty in today’s world have the need to find new, alternative, online resources to teach their classes. Knowing what resources are available for use without violating copyright law is difficult. This session will give attendees a primer on copyright law and options and strategies to find alternatives to copyrighted materials.
In March of 2020, the higher education world was thrown into chaos by the Covid -19 pandemic. Neither the schools nor the students were ready for it. Over 1000 higher education institutions, in all fifty states, closed their campuses due to the corona virus and much of the faculty scrambled in order to re-create their classes as “remote learning” classes.
Since it was emergency measures, faculty were forced in a very short time (weeks if not days) to convert their on-campus class to a remote learning format with little to no guidance. The focus of the faculty was to provide the same level of engagement, information and reassurance as their on-campus classes would have provided, in the online environment.
To say that faculty were scrambling is an understatement. The question of how faculty could engage and inform during remote learning was the big question? However, the question that was not asked as much was what can we use as resources without violating someone’s intellectual property rights? Often in this time of remote teaching, faculty members, resort to looking on the internet for course materials. Whether your class is a true online class or a remote learning class the “can we use this” question should be one that is asked and answered clearly and from the beginning.
There is a general belief that if it was ok to use the resource in the classroom then it is ok to use it online. However, not every found resource used in class may be ok to use online. In this time of emergency, the use online of these resources, in many cases, is not even questioned as long as the course gets taught. The immediate panic that ensued when the universities went to remote learning is understandable. It is also understandable and probable that there will be the need to continue remote learning or a hybrid approach to learning in the semesters to come.
This session will discuss Fair Use and the classroom. Fair Use is often thrown out as an excuse for using resources without the faculty actually being aware of what it means. After Fair Use, the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act (T.E.A.C.H. Act), must be reviewed and attendees will review a checklist that can be used to help faculty’s use of materials in future classes. In addition, the question of who owns the work product you and your students create will be addressed. This session will address these issues as they apply to face to face instruction, online teaching and emergency remote instruction as is done on Blackboard Collaborate/Zoom/Microsoft Teams. The attendees will work on strategies that will help them find materials and verify copyright. We will discuss Open Educational Resources (OER) and learn how to understand Creative Commons Licenses.This session will be interactive. There will be a lecture discussing the basics of copyright, fair use and the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act (T.E.A.C.H. Act) then the attendees will be given a course topic and guided to find certain resources to build a class upon. Discussion and questions shall occur during this portion of the session. Attendees will have access to power points and handouts with guided notes.
Attendees should leave this session with a grasp of the applicable law, a checklist of what type of resources to look for along with resources they can apply to their own classes whether they are on campus, online or engaged in remote learning.