What is the TEACH Act?

The TEACH Act addresses the use of  copyrighted materials in distance education. President Bush signed this new legislation into law on 11-02-02.  It is an acronym for, "Technology, Education And Copyright Harmonization."

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What does the TEACH Act do?

The TEACH Act remedies the draconian restrictions previously forced upon distance educators who wanted to transmit copyrighted materials for their distance ed students.  The TEACH Act improves course content in regards to using copyrighted materials for use in the distance education classroom.  Instructors no longer need to craft their instructional objectives around the constraints of the old Copyright Law limitations.

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How does the TEACH Act improve the use of copyrighted materials in the distance education environment?

TEACH allows the displays and performances of nearly all types of works.  Secondly, the Act allows certain transmissions of copyrighted materials to remote students.  Third, it allows for the digitization of certain analog works if there is no commercial digital copy available.  All three of these involve requirements.

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What are the requirements?

There are 11 institutional requirements, 9 technological requirements and the distance education instructor has 22 requirements.  Most, if not all, of these 42 total requirements are easily met and are probably standard operating procedures.

Probably the most significant requirement for the institution is to have a copyright policy in place.  A problematic technological requirement might be the "unauthorized further dissemination of the work in accessible form." For the instructor it might be the prohibition of being able to use materials created exclusively for educational purposes.

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What are some of the benefits of the TEACH Act?

The main benefit is that the TEACH Act tries to take what can be done in the face-to-face classroom and make a parallel to the distance education classroom.  It is not totally successful since there still prohibitions for distance education that are not there for the face-to-face classroom.

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How does the TEACH Act relate to my face-to-face teaching activities?

Three of the more important changes for distance education vis-à-vis the face-to-face classroom include:

• The use of "reasonable and limited portions;" and,
• The display of any work in "an amount comparable to that typically displayed in the course of a live classroom setting."
• Not having to obtain transmission permission for instructional materials when the two items above are met.

In plain English, that means whatever clips would be used in a face-to-face classroom to meet instructional objectives now carry over into the distance education classroom. 

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Is there any time limit on materials used under the TEACH Act?

Yes.  The "reasonable and limited portions" and/or the "…amount comparable to that typically displayed I the course of a live classroom setting" are limited to "one class session."  The Act does not define the meaning of a "class session."  It does seem clear, however, that TEACH suggests that a transmission of qualifying copyrighted material would requires a definite, limited amount of time with distance ed students not being able to access the material at the end of this time.

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What are some examples of copyrighted materials I can use in my distance education classroom?

• Digitizing an analog work that is not available commercially.
• Videostreaming a clip of Casablanca that is exactly equivalent to the time of the clip you would use in the face-to-face classroom.
• A performance of a non-dramatic musical work, e.g., Handel's, "Messiah."
• Showing a clip from 20/20 or Animal Planet or Survivor, etc.
• A performance of a "reasonable and limited portion" of a dramatic work, e.g., "Dark Shadows" that corresponds to the face-to-face use.
• Using a music video as part of your instructional objectives activities.
• Making copies of a newspaper article from The Muncie Star Press.
• Playing recorded music as part of your instructional objectives activities.

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What are some examples of copyrighted materials I cannot use in my distance education classroom without permission?

• Illegal copies.
• Videostreaming a clip of Casablanca that is more than the amount you would use in the face-to-face classroom.
• A performance of a dramatic musical work, e.g., Rockapella music video
• Using a rented or legally purchased video program for entertainment purposes, to "baby-sit" the class, or as a reward.
• Copying articles from the same book, magazine, journal, anthology, etc., for class every week.
• Compiling audio and/or video materials and distributing them to each student in your class.
• Using a copyrighted work that was is sold exclusively for educational purposes. For example, anything from The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development would be prohibited.
  
  

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What do I need to do to qualify for the TEACH Act?

You must contact the University Copyright Center personnel to assist in the educative analysis required by the TEACH Act.

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Do I have to use the TEACH Act in my distance education classroom?

No.  Fair Use, licensing of copyrighted materials, the Conference on Fair Use Multimedia Guidelines, and royalty free materials can all apply to the distance education classroom. A judicious use, however, of all of the distance education tools including TEACH is the best approach.  Please contact the University Copyright Center for additional information.

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