General Suggestions

There are general recommendation for using materials in online courses:

•Public Domain - a work is in the public domain if it is not protected by copyright.(typically created in the US before 1925, or life of the author+70 years) http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/index.html

•Open Access (OA) - peer-reviewed scholarly research and literature that is free, online, and openly licensed for sharing. (Directory of Open Access Books)

•Open Educational Resources (OER) - (read NJIT Library Guides)

•Licensed in Creative Commons - licenses which allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators (https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org-search engine)

•Commercially available licensed resources – materials in a variety of formats available by subscription (vary). To get Public Performance Right you might want to contact such companies as Swank or Criterion.

•Ask for permission to use (copyright owner or Copyright Clearance Center)

•Open Access (OA) - peer-reviewed scholarly research and literature that is free, online, and openly licensed for sharing. (Directory of Open Access Books)

•Open Educational Resources (OER) - (read NJIT Library Guides)

•Commercially available licensed resources – materials in a variety of formats available by subscription (vary). To get Public Performance Right contact such companies as Swank or Criterion.

•Ask for permission to use (copyright owner or Copyright Clearance Center)

•Limit access to course participants only and for the duration of the class (Canvas, Moodle or controlled Zoom attendance)

•Link to resources that are legally available online when possible, post a portion at a time, make it a part of the discussion that stresses the educational nature of its use.

•Use diverse sources (not too much reliance on a single source),

•Use the material in a "transformative" way; that is, the purpose of the use in the course is completely different than in the original purpose of the material. Examples of "transformative" use could include juxtaposing images next to each other to show differences, or overlaying commentary or drawings on top of an image to highlight particular features.

•Cite everything and use a disclaimer, for example: “The materials in this course are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course and may not be retained or further disseminated. They may be protected by copyright; any further use of this material may be in violation of federal copyright law”.

For Streaming a Video

•use documentary, educational, older, or historic films and videos wherever possible.

•show clips of short portions of a recording (there is no definition of what is a short portion) along with discussions between these clips that can stress the educational nature of its use.

•ask your students to access a video independently online through Kanopy, Hulu, Netflix, etc. The Library cannot support individual rental fees for streaming services such as: Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc., which are for individual, at home uses only.

•Use a licensed video from the library collection or available via Kanopy

•If you own a lawfully acquired DVD and it is not available in a streaming format to be purchased and you are not taking any market value from the work, it is up to the institution to decide if it is an acceptable risk.

For Using Images

•Use images that are in Public Domain, OA materials, Creative Commons and other licensed resources

•The works selected should further the teacher’s substantive pedagogical objectives. It is better to directly critique or comment on the image, explaining how it relates to a larger point.

•When displayed, images should be accompanied by attribution of the original work as is customary in the field, to the extent possible.

•“If providing downloadable images online is justified by the teacher’s objectives, those images should be suitable in size for satisfactory full-screen projection or display on a personal computer or mobile device, but generally not larger”(College Art Association)

•“The copyright in an architectural work that has been constructed does not include the right to prevent the making, distributing, or public display of pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work, if the building in which the work is embodied is located in or ordinarily visible from a public place” (Visual Resources Association)

•Acknowledgment of the source material (such as citing the photographer) may be a consideration in a fair use determination, but it will not protect against a claim of infringement.

For Including Text

Link to publically available legitimate resources
Link to articles available by subscription
Follow the general suggestion guidelines

Fair Use

To make a fair use determinations one has to examine four factors (especially critical are factors 1 and 4):

•1) the purpose and character of the use - enabling education, research and scholarship. (continuity especially in the time of crisis – broad public benefit while minimizing health harm)

•2) the nature of the work copied – unpublished vs published, fictional vs factual

•3) the amount and substantiality of the work used -is the amount used is reasonable to serve the purpose (situation specific)

•4) the effect on the market for the original – if your use deprives the copyright owner of income or undermines a new or potential market for the copyrighted work. Consider in light of the purpose.