While an OER can be assigned any type of open license, Creative Commons are the most commonly used in open education.

Creative Commons Overview

Creative Commons licenses function within the copyright system. Creators who assign their works a Creative Commons license still own the copyright to their work, but they have determined that they do not wish to retain all the rights that copyright provides to them. Instead, they say that users can access and share their works (and maybe more depending on the license) without asking for permission.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization who has written and released these licenses to the public. You can read more about Creative Commons on their website.

Restrictions

Creative Commons licenses outline four rights/restrictions that the creator of the work retains:

  BY: Attribution. Users must attribute the original work and creator.

  NC: Non-Commercial. Users are not allowed to commercialize items. In other words, uses “primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation” are prohibited.

  ND: No Derivatives. Users cannot make any changes to the work (aka derivative works).  In other words, someone can share or reuse content as long as they present it as an exact copy of the original.

  SA: Share Alike. Any adaptations/derivatives must be shared using the same license as the original.

Licenses Overview

The rights/restrictions combine to make 6 licenses:

You’ll note a couple of things:

• All licenses include the BY restriction. Attribution and credit for work remains the underpinning for creative commons licensing.
• The SA and ND restrictions do not appear on the same licenses. The details of the restriction make them incompatible as No Derivations prohibits derivative works while Share Alike only applies to derivative works.

Creative Commons also has a Creative Commons zero (CC0) license, which creators can use when they do not wish to retain control over the work and instead release it into the public domain. This license is the only license which does not require attribution.

Interpretation

These licenses can can be interpreted by completing the following sentence with the relevant restrictions in the blank:

Users are allowed to do whatever they want with the work as long as they:

So, for example, the CC BY-NC-ND license can be interpreted as “Users are allowed to do whatever they want with the work as long as they attribute the original creator/work (BY) and don’t commercialize (NC) or make changes to the work (ND).”

Creative Commons Licenses

CC BY: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

CC BY-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-NC: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

CC BY-NC-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-ND: This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

CC BY-NC-ND: This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

Can OER use any Creative Commons License?

License Openness

While Creative Commons are open licenses, not all are open to the same degree. In other words, some works permit a higher level of openness/downstream usage of the works that others.  The most open license, CC0, has no restrictions on usage, sharing, editing, or derivatives, including not requiring attribution. Meanwhile, the lease open license, CC BY-NC-ND, only permits the unrestricted access and sharing of works. 

The 5 Rs

Defining the “Open” in Open Content and Open Educational Resources, originally written by David Wiley, released a framework to better articulate the characteristics associated with OER. This framework has become known as the 5 Rs, based on the five activities outlined in the framework:

• Retain – make, own, and control a copy of the resource (e.g., download and keep your own copy)
• Revise – edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource (e.g., translate into another language)
• Remix – combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new (e.g., make a mashup)
• Reuse – use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly (e.g., on a website, in a presentation, in a class)
• Redistribute – share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others (e.g., post a copy online or give one to a friend)

Open Education practitioners hold that, in order for a resource to be considered an OER, the license needs to allow for all of the Rs.

Which CC licenses can OER have?

While there are no formal restrictions, many open education practitioners do not consider works with the No Derivative restriction (CC BY-ND and CC BY-NC-ND) to be OER. This is because the ND restriction prohibits downstream editing, which would mean the work would not allow Revising or Remixing, two of the 5 Rs.

Activity: Choosing your Creative Commons License