OER FOR EMPOWERING TEACHERS

CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES

NITTTR, CHENNAI

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OER for Empowering Teachers Instructional Material by P. Malliga is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at iastate.pressbooks.pub/oerstarterkit.

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 3. CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES
Learning Objective
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Describe the four different Creative Commons License components.

As we mentioned in the previous chapter, Creative Commons (CC) licenses allow you to
explain, in plain language, how your creative works can be reused. These licenses act as
explicit, standing permissions for all users.

3.1 THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES

Attribution (BY) Proper attribution must be given to the original creator of the work
whenever a portion of their work is reused or adapted. This includes a link to the
original work, information about the author, and information about the original work’s
license.

Share-Alike (SA) Iterations of the original work must be made available under the
same license terms.

Non-Commercial (NC) The work cannot be sold at a profit or used for commercial
means such as for-profit advertising. Copies of the work can be purchased in print
and given away or sold at cost.

No Derivatives (ND) The work cannot be altered or “remixed.” Only identical copies
of the work can be redistributed without additional permission from the creator.

These elements can be mixed and matched to create a total of six Creative Commons
licenses.

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3.2 CHOOSING A LICENSE

Choosing a CC license can be confusing at first, but the online Choose a License tool can help.
This tool generates a license based on which rights you want to retain and which you would like
to give to users. For example, if you want to share your work and allow others to adapt it, but
you do not want others to be able to sell your work, you might consider using the CC BY NC
license.

Attribution: “Wileys 5Rs and Creative Commons Licensing” is by Krysta McNutt, CC-BY 4.0

Before you choose a license, keep in mind that an OER should be able to exercise all the 5 Rs
of open content we discussed in the previous chapter. Not all of the CC licenses meet this
definition. Specifically, the CC BY ND and CC BY NC ND licenses do not allow revising or
remixing content, two of the most significant freedoms of OER for many instructors.

3.3 IMPLEMENTING A CC LICENSE

Creative Commons has an online Marking Guide that demonstrates how to mark your CC
license on different types of media. Making your license obvious on whatever item you are
sharing is an important part of the dissemination process for OER: otherwise, users won’t know
what license you’ve chosen! No matter the format, there are some standards you can follow:
• Make it clear
• Make it visible
• Provide links (to the license and the work)

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3.3.1. THE FOUR “OPEN” CC LICENSES

There are strengths and weaknesses to each Creative Commons license you might apply to
your OER. To help you make an informed decision, a short description of each license that can
be applied to OER is provided below.

CC BY

Strengths

• The CC BY license is the most popular and open license provided by Creative
Commons.
• By requiring attribution and nothing else, your CC BY work will be easy for others to
adapt and build upon.
• CC BY is often the default choice for open publications. Youtube uses the CC BY license
as their single “Creative Commons” option.

Weaknesses

• Because CC BY allows for easier sharing and adaptation, it also leaves the creator with
less power over their work. When you use a CC BY license, you cannot be certain that
your work will remain open or that your work will be reused for projects you support.

CC BY SA

Strengths

• The CC BY SA combines the openness of CC BY license with the caveat that an item
remains open under the same license when adapted.
• The CC BY SA license is the second most popular license, and the license used by
Wikipedia for their articles.

Weaknesses

• Because the CC BY SA license requires that adapted content be shared under the
same license, it can be difficult to adapt or to remix works licensed CC BY SA.

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 CC BY NC

Strengths

• The CC BY NC license gives the creator of a work complete control over any
commercial reuse of their work.
• As a user, you can adapt and remix CC BY NC works so long as your new works
provide attribution to the original author and do not turn a profit.

Weaknesses

• Some users may be concerned about what they are allowed to do with your CC BY NC
work and where the commercial “line” is drawn.

CC BY NC SA

Strengths

• CC BY NC SA is the most restrictive license that can be used for OER and gives you the
most control over its adaptations.

• Some creators apply this license out of concern for their works being “scooped” by
commercial publishers.

Weaknesses

• Because of its requirements, the CC BY NC SA license is the hardest to adapt, remix, or

You can learn more about the individual CC licenses on the Creative Commons website.

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If you want to reuse an existing OER, there are some aspects of CC licenses you should keep
in mind. Although there are different rules for each, every CC license includes the Attribution
component which requires that users provide proper attribution for an original work being shared
or adapted.

ATTRIBUTION VS CITATION

Attribution is a similar process to citing academic works in a paper, but there are some key
differences. The following table outlines some of the ways in which citations and attribution are
similar and different:

Citation Attribution
Purpose is academic (e.g. avoiding plagiarism) Purpose is legal (e.g. following licensing
regulations)

Does NOT typically include licensing Typically includes licensing information for the
information for the work work

Used to quote or paraphrase a limited portion Used to quote or paraphrase all or a portion of
of a work a work

Can paraphrase, but cannot typically change Can change the work under Fair Use or with
the work’s meaning advance permission (e.g., under most CC
licenses)

Many citation styles are available Attribution statement styles are still emerging,
(e.g., APA, Chicago, and MLA) but there are some defined best practices

Cited resources are typically placed in a Attribution statements are typically found near
reference list the work used (e.g., below an image)

Attribution: This table was adapted by Abbey Elder from “Citation vs. Attribution” by Lauri Aesoph, licensed
CC BY 4.0.

In this chapter, we have discussed how Creative Commons licenses work and how you can use
these licenses for publishing or sharing open content. In the next chapter, we’ll explore how you
can find existing OER to use in your course.

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REFERENCES:

1. Elder, A.K. (2019). The OER Starter Kit. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Digital Press.
Retrieved from iastate.pressbooks.pub/oerstarterkit
The OER Starter Kit by Abbey Elder is available under a Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License.

2. Bliss, T J and Smith, M. 2017. A Brief History of Open Educational Resources. In:
Jhangiani, R S and Biswas-Diener, R. (Eds.) Open: The Philosophy and Practices
that are Revolutionizing Education and Science (pp. 9–27). London: Ubiquity Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bbc.b.

3. William & Flore Hewlett Foundation. (n.d.). OER defined. Retrieved from
https://hewlett.org/strategy/open-educational-resources/

4. Free Sotware Foundation. (2008). GNU Free Documentation License. Retrieved from
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html

5. Copyleft Attitude. (2007). Free Art License 1.3. Retrieved from

6. Free Software Foundation. (n.d.). What is copyleft? Retrieved from