Open Educational Resources: Creative Commons

Creative Commons licenses are an alternative to traditional copyright licensing:

• Allows copyright owners to apply different reuse licenses to their content which allows others to reuse their works in certain ways
• When others see a Creative Commons license on your content they may reuse the content based on the specific parameters you have selected

Advantages:

• allows you to safely share your content and allow others to reuse it without fear of copyright violations
• several different licensing options to choose from allowing flexible attribution and reuse 
• ability to trace content back to the original source through Creative Commons citations

Creative Commons licenses can be applied in two different ways:

• Use & Remix: reuse works created by others who have applied a Creative Commons license 
• Share Your Work: apply a Creative Commons license to a works you hold a valid copyright on for others to reuse 

Wanna Work Together? from Creative Commons on Vimeo.

This 30 minute presentation covers the basics of copyright and Creative Commons licensing commonly encountered in Open Educational Resources. Originally presented during the 2021 WTCS OER Symposium.

Build Your Own Creative Commons License

Learn about the different types of Creative Commons Licenses before building one