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Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials available in a variety of formats, such as textbooks, courses, journals, multimedia and more.

Understanding Creative Commons licenses

Creative Commons licenses provide an easy way to manage permissions to your work, while retaining the copyright. The exception is CC0 (Public Domain), with which you would relinquish your copyright. There is no single "Creative Commons license," so it is important to identify which of the licenses you are applying to your material, and which of the licenses has been applied to any material that you intend to use, including the specific version.

When choosing a license, it is useful to know what the conditions of CC licenses are, so that you can select which combination you would like to use. The four main elements are as follows:

  • Attribution (BY): users must provide attribution (BY) to the creator when the material is used and shared. All licenses (except CC0) require attribution.
  • ShareAlike (SA): adaptations of the material be released under the same license.
  • NonCommercial (NC): commercial use of the material is prohibited.
  • NoDerivatives (ND): users cannot modify the material.

CC licenses may be applied to any type of work, including educational resources, photographs, and many other types of material. Creative Commons does not recommend its licenses for computer software and hardware. You should also not apply Creative Commons licenses to works that are no longer protected by copyright or are otherwise in the public domain, which can instead be marked with a Public Domain Mark.

Modified from What are Creative Commons licenses? from Creative Commons used under a CC BY 4.0 License.

Visit the Creative Commons Education Programme to learn more about using CC licenses in educational material.

Types of CC licenses

There are seven main Creative Commons licenses. Each license grants users permission to use works in specific ways. In order from most open to least open, as follows:

  • CC0 (Public Domain) - The creator of the work has waived their copyright, and the work is considered in the public domain. These works and can be used without asking permission, and do not legally require attribution (although it is considerate to provide one and give credit to the author.)
  • CC BY (Attribution) - You can share and modify the work, even if you use it for commercial purposes, as long as you provide proper attribution.
  • CC BY SA (Attribution-ShareAlike) - You can share and modify the work, even if you use it for commercial purposes, as long as you provide proper attribution. If you change the work in any way, you must make your version available under the same license.
  • CC BY NC (Attribution-NonCommercial) - You can share and modify the work, as long as you do not use it for commercial purposes. You must provide proper attribution.
  • CC BY NC SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) - You can share and modify the work, as long as you do not use it for commercial purposes. You must provide proper attribution. If you change the work in any way, you must make your version available under the same license.
  • CC BY ND (Attribution-NoDerivatives) - You can share the work, even if you use it for commercial purposes, but you cannot modify it in any way. You must provide proper attribution.
  • CC BY NC ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives) - You can share the work, as long as you do not use it for commercial purposes, but you cannot modify it in any way. You must provide proper attribution.

Adapted from About The Licenses from Creative Commons under a CC BY 4.0 License.

CC license combinations and what they mean

License Retain? Reuse? Revise? Remix? Redistribute?
CC-Zero Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Attribution Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Attribution
ShareAlike		 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, but (1)
Attribution
Noncommercial		 Yes Yes, but (2) Yes Yes Yes, but (3)
Attribution
Noncommercial
ShareAlike		 Yes Yes, but (4) Yes Yes Yes, but (5)
Attribution
No Derivatives		 Yes Yes No No Yes, but
Attribution
Noncommercial
No Derivatives		 Yes Yes, but (6) No No Yes, but (7)
All Rights Reserved No No No No No

1. Yes, but I must share my work under the same license as the work I'm modifying/sharing, even if it is for commercial purposes. In this case a Attribution - ShareAlike license. And I must provide attribution to the original content creator.
2. Yes, but I may not reuse for commercial purposes.
3. Yes, but I must attribute the original content creator.
4. Yes, but I but I must attribute the original content creator, and I may not reuse for commercial purposes.
5. Yes, but I must attribute the original content creator, I may not redistribute for commercial purposes, and I must share my content under the same license. in this case a Attribution - Noncommercial - ShareAlike license.
6. Yes, but I must attribute the original content creator. Also, I may not reuse for commercial purposes, and I'm not allowed to make any derivatives of the original content.
7. Yes, but I must attribute the original content creator. Also, I may not reuse for commercial purposes, and I'm not allowed to make any derivatives of the original content.

[Adapted from an image by: Claire Nickerson, Learning Initiatives & OER Librarian, cenickerson@fhsu.ed]

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