Using personal streaming accounts in the classroom
You might subscribe to streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Disney+ and also find content you would like to use in class that are exclusively on those platforms. These platforms have terms of use that often say something like the following, in this case from Netflix:
The Netflix service and any content viewed through our service are for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.
These terms of use technically prevent you from streaming films from your own account to your students. However, streaming films are often only available exclusively through these platforms. This creates a problem for providing access to these films for students in our classes, as they do not provide for institutional access to these films that we can subscribe to. It is the best approach to ask students to subscribe to these platforms themselves (just as they would buy a text), or even rent an individual film, that is required for class. They could take advantage of trial accounts or subscribe for a month at a time.
Streaming portions of a film via zoom during a remote class session would technically be acceptable under the TEACH Act for films that are not available in streaming format, however, your individual license with Netflix/Amazon Prime might supercede this. So while this might work for a physical film that you or the library legally owns, it is a different story if a film is already available in streaming format on some platform.
The library can help you search for options through our streaming video collections if you are unsure so if you have any questions, just ask.