Create 3.1.2 Fair Use and the TEACH Act Quest

As discussed throughout this quest, Fair Use and the TEACH act allow educators to use copyrighted material for educational purposes. Referring to the checklist and resources provided, determine how this information may be applied in an online classroom. In your respective blog, discuss the following:

• How does an understanding of Fair Use affect one’s role as an online instructor?
• How do Fair Use and the TEACH Act correlate to the delivery of reliable content?

Seems that this issue comes down to common sense.  While the last quest left me feeling nauseous and looking for government cars to pull up in my driveway, this quest eased my fears somewhat.  It has always been my position that if a teacher is utilizing a resource for the betterment of their students and are applying Fair Use to the object, they should be within the boundaries of the law.  Teach Act is novel in that the government is finally applying some semblance of common sense to the issue of copyright materials for educational purposes.  TEACH Act has removed many of the useless restraints that have preciously limited instructors.  I have worked in districts where the librarian, sorry media specialist, was like Darth Vader.  You could sense that she was coming to your classroom and no amount of Jedi mind tricks could stop her in her quest to ensure that every T was crossed and every I dotted.  Of course, the standard that this type of media specialist was attempting to enforce was impossible and only resulted in teachers looking for loopholes.

TEACH Act provides flexibility to teachers who only seek to provide novelty for their lessons.  While some teachers do cross the line and seek to create commercial products, I've always seen that as unethical as they attempted to do so while still employed by the local school system.  This legislation provides a level of security for teachers who only seek to educate their students and are not looking for any type of material gain.

With this new found freedom, I'll return to my including images:)