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Acceptable Use of Educational Multimedia Projects

multimediaNOTE: Some situations, such as using copyrighted materials in musical performances and on closed circuit TV and copying materials for the blind or for library archives, have specific requirements under U.S. Copyright Law. Contact your principal, school library media specialist, or principal’s designee for all situations that are not addressed in these guidelines.

PORTION LIMITATIONS:

  • Text Material
    • Up to 10% or 1,000 words, whichever is less
    • An entire poem of less than 250 words but no more than 3 poems by one poet or 5 poems by different poets from the same anthology
    • 250 words from longer poems, but no more than 3 excerpts from a single poet or 5 excerpts from different poets from the same anthology
  • Illustrations and photographs
    • Up to 5 illustrations or photos by a single artist/photographer
    • Not more than 10% or 15 images from a published collective work, whichever is less
  • Videos (must be age/grade appropriate—See Video Material)
    • Up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less
  • Music, lyrics, and music video
    • Up to 10%, but no more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work
  • Numerical data sets
    • Up to 10% or 2,500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less, from a copyrighted database or table

Note: These limitations apply to an educator’s/student’s projects and are cumulative for the same academic term or year. Grade K-6 students are granted more leeway in their use of copyrighted materials in terms of portion limitations.


Copyright YesWHAT YOU CAN DO if the copyrighted work is legally acquired AND the presentation has a citation page indicating the sources for the materials and images used in the presentation:
Educators:
Educators may incorporate copyrighted materials into multimedia projects for use as teaching tools to support curriculum-based instructional activities at nonprofit educational institutions. These projects may be:

  • Used for face-to-face teaching, self-directed study assigned to students, and distance learning instruction (real-time, after class, and/or self-directed study) through the district’s secure network that limits access to enrolled students.
  • Used for peer presentations, such as conferences.
  • Retained in the educator’s personal portfolio for later personal use such as a job interview.

Students (K-12 or Adult):
Students may incorporate copyrighted materials into a multimedia project that they create for a specific course and:

  • Perform or display the project in the course for which it was created.
  • Retain the project in their personal portfolio as an example of academic work for later personal use such as a job interview.

Copyright NoWHAT YOU CAN’T DO (or can’t do unless . . .):
Educators:

  • Use the multimedia project more than two (2) years after its first use with a class without permission for each copyrighted portion incorporated into the project.
  • Make alterations to a musical work that changes the basic melody or fundamental character of the work.
  • Make alterations in the portions of the copyrighted works that were incorporated unlessthe alterations support specific instructional objectives.
  • Copy or distribute more than two (2) copies (and only one can be placed on reserve for assigned student self-study), except in the following cases:
    • An additional copy may be made but only used to replace a “use copy” that has been lost, stolen, or damaged.
    • In the case of multiple creators, each creator may have one
      (1) copy but only for use at peer conferences and inclusion in professional portfolios.

Students:

  • Make alterations to a musical work that changes the basic melody or fundamental character of the work.
  • Make alterations in the portions of the copyrighted work that were incorporated unless the alterations support specific instructional objectives.
  • Copy and distribute these projects.