3 Common Questions on Fair Use in the Classroom

Creating engaging online course content feels like directing and producing a show. Similar to a movie, you want to entice your viewers (in this case, learners) to join you in an experience that teaches them about the topic and, oftentimes, themselves. Unlike directors, many educators do not create content from scratch. Instead, we “remix” existing readings, movies, music, and other multimedia for our courses.

With the internet at our fingertips, it is very easy to find educational and exciting content for our students. However, educators need to know the policies on properly crediting sources and distributing material legally.

This week, I learned that “public domain” sources include multimedia that is free to use and is not bound by copyright restrictions. Think about a YouTube blogger’s background music--oftentimes this music is public domain because they can legally use it as a part of their video without acquiring rights from the artist. If you do choose to use copyrighted material, read up on “fair use.” Under fair use, educators can use limited content in their classroom or professional work without acquiring copyright.

Check out my video below on “3 Common Questions on Fair Use in the Classroom.” The video covers several assumptions on using external resources in your classroom. Specifically, I address whether or not educators can:

• Develop and distribute a “course reader” of compiled articles and texts

• Use informative posts and infographics from Instagram on their course website

• Screen a film in their course

Do any of these practices sound familiar to you? I encourage you to reflect on how you’ve acquired and utilized content for your course. At the end of this blog are resources on the topics I've covered above

After watching the video, let me know if there’s something new you learned! I’d love to hear about it on Twitter @KristenSurla.

Resources:

Buxton, Madeline (2018, April 19). What you can and can't do with other people's Instagram photos. Refinery29. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/04/196864/instagram-copyright-dos-donts

Washington & Lee University (2021). Copyright guidelines for showing movies and other audiovisual works. https://my.wlu.edu/general-counsel/answer-center/copyright-and-intellectual-property/copyright-guidelines-for-showing-movies-and-other-audiovisual-works

Xavier University (2021). Copyright and fair use guidelines for teachers. https://www.xavier.edu/library/about/documents/Copyright_9-23-08.pdf [chart].