Chapter 1
Intellectual Property Policy
As the instructor, you have complete responsibility for the management of your Blackboard course sites. Officially registered students are automatically added to Blackboard courses for the sake of convenience, but no other person is enrolled without an instructor's permission.
Material placed in Blackboard is not considered as material in the public domain, per se. This is due to the fact that Blackboard is password protected and only students registered for the course are given automatic access to your course site. However, instructors should use copyright protected material under the "Fair Use" copyright doctrine or obtain permission from the copyright holder to place material in Blackboard, just as you would in your classroom.
The instructor is responsible for all material placed in the Blackboard course site; therefore, instructors who use copyright protected material outside of the "Fair Use" standard may be liable. Instructors also control whether or not Guest Access is enabled. If you place copyright protected material in your course and then enable Guest Access (opening up your Blackboard course site to the public), then that may be an infringement of copyright.
What's the bottom line? If you would feel comfortable using the material in your classroom, you should feel comfortable using it in your Blackboard course site as long as Guest Access isn't enabled. If it is material you would normally get permission to use or pay for before using it in your classroom, then you should get permission/pay for it before you place it on Blackboard.
For more information about copyright, please contact UF's Shafer Library.