2. What is the TEACH Act?
- A sort of branch of the U.S. Copyright Act allowing accredited, non-profit
institutions to use materials for distance education courses
- TEACH follows specific copyright requirements in regards to online distance
learning
- TEACH allows institutions apply to accredited military institutions too
- TEACH allows for materials to be sent digitally
- TEACH cannot be used commercially or from a textbook sources
- TEACH is not used instead of agreements such as Fair Use
3. Range of works
Background:
Instructors may use a variety of works from internet and
scholarly resources found on the web. An institution
should have a system for categorizing articles for digital
use as well as a developed copyright policy in place for
online distance courses.
This can be used by teachers in a classroom setup of a
flipped classroom. This method requires the students to
read or watch a lesson at home, and I think TEACH would
certainly apply to this since it is partly distance learning.
Teachers would use a range for the different lessons
covered throughout the year.
4. Distance Learning Sessions
Background: Just like how we participate in weekly discussions, students in a distance
learning course may participate in sessions no matter their location.
This would apply to teachers because for group assignments, the students would be
possibly working from home on some parts, and they would have the option of ‘meeting’
virtually, no matter where they are.
5. Use of materials
Background:
Both instructors and students will realize the ease that comes with organizing digital
materials. It is easier to create files online for digital materials, rather than organizing the
hard copies of these pieces. There will be longevity in the materials since less time will be
spent on organizing in filing cabinets and more can be spent on reviewing the material.
This can be used by teachers because they can organize their lessons and the materials
digitally, whether it is on a flash drive, Google Drive or a drive on the school’s computer.
Students can also use these to store their materials for class (except the school’s drive),
and have quicker access to essential class documents.
6. Conclusion
The TEACH Act applies to institutions that offer or are planning
to offer distance education courses to students either on or off
campus.
The TEACH Act applies to online sites used by an instructor for a
class held in person, or “live”.
The TEACH Act is used if chosen to use it for a distance education
program- it is not mandatory.
The TEACH Act is a lot to put together, but there are an endless
amount of benefits of using it- each institution will find its own
pros & cons to using it and will decide based on what is best for
the institution.
