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Faculty Resources

Media Shared Via BlackBoard

Posting an item to Blackboard does not exempt an instructor from copyright regulations, however, it does allow educators to, so-to-speak, stretch the provisions of fair use. The Blackboard system does this by limiting access to posted materials to registered members of a course, and by limiting the availability of those materials to the active duration of that course.  

With the understanding that access to course materials on Blackboard is limited by registration, the following table provides guidelines as to how materials on BlackBoard should be used:

Posting Copyrighted Material to Blackboard

Item being shared/posted Allowed/Recommended Not Allowed/Recommended
Copyrighted web image Must be educational in nature; displayed for one semester Repeated use over multiple consecutive semesters
Scanned copyrighted image Must be educational in nature; displayed for one semester. Image scans must contain appropriate alt text attached to them. Repeated use over multiple consecutive semesters
Audio files 10% of the total work or a single chapter, whichever is less -- allowed for only one consecutive semester Repeated use over multiple consecutive semesters
Video files 10% of the total work or a single chapter, whichever is less -- allowed for only one consecutive semester Repeated use over multiple consecutive semesters

Brevity

One of the most important considerations in determining fair use is the amount, or brevity, of the use.  When copying and/or reroducting visual materials, try to stay within the following limits:

  • One chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture per book or per periodical use.

Cumulative Effect

In order to satisfy the terms of cumulative use:

  • copying of material can be for only one course in the school at a time
  • not more than one short poem article, story, essay or two excerpts may be copied for the same author, nor more than three from the same collective work of periodical volume during one class term
  • there shall not be more than nine instances of such multiple copying for one course during one class term

Current periodicals and newspapers fall into a separate category