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Are you a little unsure what kinds of course materials you can share on line
with students?
Let's talk about few options. First, there's a couple options that are zero
cost to you and your students
and that raise almost no legal issues.
If there's anything you'd like to use that's publicly available online
just link to it. Be careful
of linking to things that look like kind of sketchy copies -
like, say, a Youtube version of a movie that's currently
out in theaters. That kind of linking can look like you're encouraging students to infringe
But there are tons of high-quality publicly available resources
from scholarly articles on sites like PubMed Central
to public domain feature films available through the Internet Archive.
Our subject specialist librarians
may be able to help you find the perfect free resources for your class.
Sharing links to library subscription: resources
is another easy option. You can create the links yourself
and put them on a Moodle site. We have instructions for that on our website.
But we recognize that it's a little harder to learn to link to library subscription
resources than to public ones.
That's why if you give us your course reading list -
and a little bit lead time - Libraries Course Reserves staff
are happy to create a linked list of readings for you.
It can even show up automatically in your Moodle site.
Incidentally, a little bit of the reason that
it's so complex to link to library subscription resources
is because all the different publishers provide lots of different means
a subscription access. If you'd like to make life
easier for yourself, and other instructors in the future,
one thing you can do is try to provide
free online copies of your own publications.
We have some information on our website about that, if you're interested.
Finally, if the resources you want to use for your class are not available for
online either through subscriptions
or publicly, you may still be able to use them
but you're gonna have to think a little bit about the law, and there may be some
costs for your students.
Sharing copies online
with students can sometimes be a fair use
- that's a kind of used that's permitted by law without permission
or payment. Fair use can look a little intimidating to understand,
but we think that most instructors can get the basics
with a fairly minimal investment of time. We offer
in person and online workshops, as well as online course materials
for you to teach yourself. The university wants to support
instructors in making informed and reasonable decisions to exercise fair use.
You can read a little more about that on our website too.
But if sharing materials online -doesn't- seem like fair use to you,
you may still be able to share after you've obtained permission.
Sometimes permissions cost a little bit of money, but sometimes its minimal.
And it may be the best option for sharing materials with your students.
The Copyright Permissions Center can help with permissions and payment.
So there you go - sharing materials online
with students: linking, fair use,
& permissions. All options that you can pursue.