Accessibility and Fair Use Guidelines
Copyright and Fair Use
Copyright grants protection under the law to the authorship of a medium of expression. Copyright covers both tangible published and unpublished works. As a form of the intellectual property law, copyright protects the original works of the author whether it is artistic works, musical ballads, poetry, movies, songs, etc – if it is tangible it is more than likely covered by the copyright law. The copyright of any piece of intellectual property authorizes the owner of the copyright to dictate reproduction, derivative works, and performance of the original work. The bounds of the copyright law are extensive and are applicable to the university setting. According to Gene Leisz - Distinguished Graphic Artist for LTS, under the copyright law if an instructor uses copyrighted images in a PowerPoint presentation, after three semesters the images and/or PowerPoint must be updated or discarded or permission must be sought from the owner of the copyright. Another instance of the copyright law requires that a recording of a program be used within forty-five days of the recording and once this timeline expires permissions must be sought or the recording must be discarded. Copyright laws present a vast array of guidelines that must be adhered to and it is important to either seek the permission of the copyright owner or ensure that use of the material is within the bounds of the copyright law.
Section 508 - Accessibility
Under the scope of pandemic influenza continuity of instruction, an instructor must be compliant with Section 508 of the American Disabilities Act. This is a federal law that requires the public to provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities, which encompasses the use of instructional technology and requires that an instructor provide social distance teaching content in an accessible format. As a general guideline, Section 508 standards require updating existing and creating new media and web-based resources to guarantee accessibility by all individuals. The UW System has mandated that instructors adhere to these standards to ensure that all students have access to a quality education. This means that for all course content that is distributed in conjunction to social distance teaching must be supplemented by a written manuscript.
Accessibility Resources:
Section 508 - Accessibility Requirements
