January 1, 2005

Two years ago, distance education administrators breathed a collective sigh of relief when the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act was signed into law. TEACH is an amendment to the U.S. Copyright Act that allows distance educators more freedom to transmit copyrighted materials on-line. Previous copyright legislation assumed that distance education was limited to TV viewers who, for example, watched 6 a.m. public television classes on everyday mathematics. The new law was written for the digital age. Gone is the archaic requirement that a classroom has to have four walls, a ceiling, and a floor in order to use copyrighted materials. Gone are many of the copyright infringement penalties for faculty, staff, and students. In many cases, improvements in the law mean that distance ed classes can include the same resources that face-to-face classes use.

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