An Introduction to OER for Langara Instructors

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Briana Fraser

Are you interested in sharing your material? Do you have an engaging course activity, image, assessment item, video, or a whole course that might be beneficial to your fellow Langara instructors or instructors throughout the province, country or world?

By releasing your work under a Creative Commons license you retain ownership while allowing others to use your work (as long as they attribute it to you) without needing to ask permission of you directly.

In this lesson, we will investigate the four steps for sharing images, videos, and course materials.

When it comes to creating and sharing your own OER, there are 4 steps for sharing images, videos and course materials:

  1. Ensure the work is eligible
  2. Create an open license
  3. Mark the resource with an open license
  4. Share the resource with others

Be sure the work is eligible to be shared

In order to release your work with a CC license, your work should be cleared from all copyright issues. To do so, your work should be one or a combination of the following types: 

  • your original work,
  • built from open resources,
  • built from works in the public domain, or
  • built from copyrighted work that you have obtained permission to use

Create an open license

Once you've determined that you have a resource to share, creation of a resource is as simple as licensing and sharing it as per the Creative Commons (CC) licence of your When it comes to creating and sharing your own OER, there are four steps to the process:

  1. Identify or create an educational resource to share as OER

  2. Create an open license (such as a Creative Commons (CC) license) for your work

  3. Mark your resource with the license you've created 

  4. Make your resource available for others to access 

Marking your Resource with your Licence

Choosing a license is only the first step; a CC license is only effective if others have a way of knowing about it. It is important to clearly mark your content so that others are aware of what permissions they have. 

One way to do this is to copy the code snippet from the license chooser and paste it into the HTML of your website. It is also recommended you display the license within the work itself, especially if your content will be shared online or displayed in a physical medium. Different types of content will have different limitations, but your marker should contain: 

  1. The full URL (link) to the license. Example: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ 
  2. Optionally, the Creative Commons license icons, including the CC logo


Text-based Resources   Text-based documents should contain a CC marker — a graphic or line of text stating the license — wherever a copyright notice would go, such as in a footer or on a cover page.
 Images  For images, a CC marker — a graphic or line of text stating the license — should be displayed on or near the image. Markers should ideally include the CC icons and full URL to the license. 
 Audio  There are a variety of ways to mark audio. One option is an audio bumper – a brief sound clip at the beginning or end of your audio work that states the author(s) and CC license.
 Video  Video should contain a video bumper — a notice at the beginning or end of your video that states the author(s) and CC license.


See the following Creative Commons document for more information on marking your resources: Download: Licensing and Marking your Content

Make your Resource Available to Others

The final step in creating your own OER is to share it with others using avenues through which they might easily locate and access the resource. Consider sharing the resource through:

  • the same OER repository through which you first found the resource you've used

  • a discipline or resource specific repository

Choosing a repository that offers an open licensing and public domain option.

 Images  Consider Flickr or Wikimedia Commons. As you upload your image to these repositories, you will see the option to select the terms of use. Here are instructions if you need help in uploading an image to your Flickr account and marking it with a CC license.
 Video  Consider YouTube or Vimeo. Here are instructions if you need help in uploading a video to your YouTube account and mark it with a CC license.
 Course Materials  Consider MERLOTor OER Commons.
You can also choose a web storage space that allows easy and free access, such as Drop-box or Google drive. If you choose a web storage space, make sure to:
    • manually mark your work as a CC licensed or the public domain work by placing the copyright notice somewhere visible and 
    • make the link accessible by public.


Activity

Review Questions:

  1. What types of works are eligible for sharing as OER?
  2. Why should you mark your OER with a Creative Commons license?
  3. Where can you share OER with others?

Resources:

BC Open Textbook Authoring Guide, Lauri Aesoph and Amanada Coolidge
https://opentextbc.ca/opentextbook/

Licensing & Marking Your Content with Creative Commons
https://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/61/Creativecommons-licensing-and-marking-your-content_eng.pdf


 Creative Commons License
This lesson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 
Creating OER contains material from: Module 6: Sharing OER by Open Washington, used under CC BY 4.0; and Licensing & Marking Your Content with Creative Commons by Creative Commons, used under CC BY 3.0


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