I recently purchased the Netflix service for use in my home via computer streaming and my Xbox 360. One of the real “world shakers” of television programming is rapidly approaching our present timeline…that of the self-programmed television lineup. For many, it’s virtually here already… think hulu.com and all of the other network affiliates that allow the viewer some type of free access to their video libraries. These types of services will only become more user-friendly, widely available, and desired by consumers… all but putting a stop to the “Friday night lineup” as people will be able to have their “on demand” lineup all of the time.
Netflix attempts to answer this “on demand” demand by offering near-DVD quality streaming and near-HD quality streaming with a number of their holdings (currently over 12,000!). They offer a whole host of instant-access, streamed movies to computers, Xbox 360s, and Roku types of “television appliances”.
What makes this interesting, educationally-speaking,is a combination of the multi-computer license, large number of educationally based titles in their library, and the standing educational copyright law for in-class usage of legal copies of media. As it stands, according to Section 110 of the Copyright Actregarding the usage of VHS tapes, DVDs, Laser Discs, etc., as long as the materials to be shown in class are acquired legitimately and “dedicated to face-to-face instruction” -not simply for a reward showing, educational institutions and teachers may elect to show these types of media, in their entirety, within the classroom environment. I see no reason as to why this would not apply to the legal “rental” and streaming of a Netflix title provided a legitimate and instructor owned account was used for the access (open the can of worms for discussion here!).
As Netflix limits the amount of computers that an account may be streamed to eight (per year) and if you decide to try this, I would suggest limiting your account usage to a main computer in the classroom or better yet, one of your laptops (which would be better as it’s your Netflix account and your laptop).
What initially sparked my interest in this idea was the very large and USEFUL holdings of jazz related DVD titles that I found in the Netflix streamable format while searching their holdings. As I teach Jazz History at the college and am always looking for ways to include various forms of media into the class, the combination of Netflix and streaming some of their educational related titles in the classroom seems like a natural and legal match.
Here is a sampling of Netflix’s streamable Jazz holdings:
- The Ken Burns JAZZ DVD Series
- Jazz Legends: Billy Cobham
- Jazz Legends: Chuck Mangione
- Jazz Legends: Arturo Sandoval
- Jazz Legends: Roy Ayers
- Jazz Legends: Mike Mainieri
- Jazz Legends: Golden Age of Jazz Part I
- Jazz Legends Live! Seires 1-14
- Sarah Vaughn & Other Jazz Divas
- Newport Jazz Festival 1962
- Jazz on a Summer’s Day (NJF 1960)
- Jazz Giants of the 20th Century
- Miles Davis: Cool Jazz Sound
- Louis Armstrong: King of Jazz
- And more!
While there are many other popular music genre histories listed and available (rock, country, etc,) there are also classical chronicles like that of of Anna Magdalena Bach, musicals, and even documentaries on the making of Opera. You may browse their seletions here.
What a truly wonderful classroom resource (albeit not intentionally) for the price of $7.99 per month for unlimited streaming and also regular DVD mailers (not to mention that you likely bought your subscription for home use in the first place!). I think this usage of Netflix for enhanced classroom learning is certainly “fringe” but one with great educational “benefits” as well.
While, I’m not completely sure of the copyright implications of this process as I’m not a copyright lawyer, it seems well within the sphere of legal usage as Netflix and others seem to treat the streaming licenses no different than a tangible rental other than the DRM limitations they place on the stream. I’m certainly not an advocate of copyright violation, but this seems to fall well within the realm of what is listed in the current copyright laws and the fair-use and educationally related policies. I’d welcome a professional opinion on this or at least an educated one.
Your thoughts and comments welcome!
This is really interesting Joe. Although I am certain their initial intent was not to become a bastion of educational usage, this certainly could be a secondary income stream for them… It will be interesting to see if any red flags go up on this… Since you now have time to blog… send me my list please ;-)
Cheers
Randy
Randy,
I sent you the list… I’ll resend… I use the e-mail you used here. I think that at some point they might consider “institution” pricing….
Joe
Joe,
This is a great idea! I never thought of it! I wish that my school firewall would allow any kind of streaming content, though. Everything is blocked in our district. They are afraid of the internet!
Doug
Thanks Doug… I know that school IT depts and old-school policies make any advancement in technology in the classroom slow at best. This is something that we need to develop an awareness of in the near future…
Randy… Your blog is down.. it’s yelling at you to fix it by going to a site that “doesn’t exist”…. :(
I have thougt about using this in my classroom as well. I can’t download anything on a district computer… but I have Netflix on my laptop* and can connect to our server with it.
* Have enjoyed many movies with my own kids, projecting on the wall in our living room. Gotta love Netflix!!!
Hello Linda,
You Travis and I still have to get together! Are you going to PMEA?
I am not going to PMEA. :( Such is the life of the elementary band teacher.
Read the terms of service. You don’t have the rights to stream to a group or classroom. Personal use only. Written permission from the copyright holder is required.
I’m in agreement with Copyright police. This may appear to be a fair use under the copyright law, but it seems to be a violation of Netflix Terms of Service.
If you violate the Netflix ToS, the “legitimately acquired” pre-requisite is not met and any claims to fair use may be null.
I read the terms of service as well, personal use could include use in a classroom setting I believe. It also says for non-commercial use. Educational use is by definition non-commmercial.
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I called Netflix and the guy told me that they do not have any problems with educators showing their videos. He said that the liability falls on us. He says that we show something that is not appropriate that it is our fault. I think he thought of showing nudity or things of that nature.
I just called them today with the same question and got the same answer. I wish they would put it in writing.
I also called Netflix and got a similar answer – one that suggested that if teachers are using their own account and following “fair use” guidelines, the Netflix rep said, it is “A-OK.”
FYI, the reason your school IT department doesn’t allow Netflix is most likely due to bandwidth issues. Many schools have limited bandwidth and Netflix is extremely bandwidth intensive. This is especially true for rural schools with limited access to high speed internet. I would recommend checking with your IT department and looking over your school policies relating to copyright before using Netflix in your classroom.
i wonder how difficult it would be to get written approval. It would certainly be good publicity for Netflix if they were to allow schools usage.