Using Creative Commons Tools & Licenses to Create Open Educational Resources: A Professional Development Module for Adopting & Adapting OER
Overview
"Using Creative Commons Tools & Licenses to Create Open Educational Resources" is a professional development module designed to train faculty in the adoption and adaptation of open educational resources. This module explotres what OER are and how CC licenses make them possible, how to use and adopt OER for courses, and how to adapt OER and license new adaptations and creations. This module will prepare faculty to adopt, adapt, or create OER through their understanding and use of Creative Commons tools and licenses.
Start here to begin professional development module!
Welcome to "Using Creative Commons Tools & Licenses to Create Open Educational Resources"! In this module, we will explore what OER are and how CC licenses make them possible, how to use and adopt OER for courses, and how to adapt OER and license new adaptations and creations. This module will prepare faculty to adopt, adapt, or create OER through their understanding and use of Creative Commons tools and licenses.
Objectives
- Module participants will define Open Educational Resources.
- Participants will paraphrase the relationship between copyright and Creative Commons licenses.
- Participants will express the differences between types of Creative Commons licenses.
- Participants will write attribution statements.
- Participants will write licensing statements.
- Participants will evaluate an OER for adoption.
- Participants will adapt and share an OER.
Except where otherwise indicated, "Using Creative Commons Tools & Licenses to Create Open Educational Resources" ©2024 by Veronica Goosey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international licenseLinks to an external site..
What are OER?
Reading: What are OER? sway
PDF of What are OER?
Assignment:
Unit 1 Assignment: What are OER?
Create an open educational resource that teaches others how to recognize OER.
Objectives
- Module participants will define Open Educational Resources.
- Participants will paraphrase the relationship between copyright and Creative Commons licenses.
- Participants will express the differences between types of Creative Commons licenses.
- Participants will write an attribution statement.
- Participants will write a licensing statement.
Assignments
Create a video, slide presentation, or infographic (or choose another medium) in which you describe Open Educational Resources, as well as how and when they might be useful to your institutions’ work. At a minimum, include the following:
- a definition of OER,
- a description of the relationship between traditional copyright and Creative Commons licenses, Links to an external site.
- descriptions of the six Creative Commons licenses,
- an evaluation of how OER use could benefit your institution,
- an attribution statement for the works used in your creation, and
- a licensing statement for your own work.
The DownloadsLinks to an external site. page of Creative Commons' website may be a helpful media resource if you're creating a visual assignment. That page includes downloadable CC license and element icons, and more.
Remember to cite and attribute your sources and license your work with a Creative Commons license. Help and directions on citations, adding attribution statements, and licensing your work can be found at the links below:
- How to add a Creative Common license to your workLinks to an external site.
- Citing and attributing sourcesLinks to an external site.
Links to an external site.
Post your video, slide presentation, infographic, or other work online, then provide the link to your work. Alternately, you can upload your work.
Rubric: Unit 1 Assignment Rubric
| Criteria | Ratings | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CC License & Attributions Work is licensed under a Creative Commons license. If other sources are used, work includes applicable references or attribution for those sources. |
| 2 pts | ||
| OER Definition Work defines OER. |
| 2 pts | ||
| CC & Copyright Work describes the relationship between CC and copyright. |
| 2 pts | ||
| CC Licenses Work describes all 6 CC licenses and the differences between them. |
| 2 pts | ||
| OER at your Institution Work evaluates how OER use could benefit an educational institution. |
| 2 pts | ||
Total Points: 10 |
OER Adoption
Reading: OER Adoption sway
PDF of OER Adoption
Assignment:
Unit 2 Assignment: OER Adoption
Create an open resource that assesses an OER for adoption in a specific course.
Objectives
- Participants will evaluate an OER for adoption.
- Participants will write an attribution statement.
- Participants will write a licensing statement.
Assignments
Create a video, slide presentation, or essay (or choose another medium) in which you assess an OER for a course and explain how and when it might be useful to your institutions’ work. At a minimum, include the following:
- an identification of the work to be replaced and course in which it is used and an identification of the OER under consideration,
- a detailed assessment of the OER according to the criteria on the OER assessment checklist,
- a description of desired adaptations to make before using the text,
- aaLinks to an external site.aan attribution statement for the work being assessed, and
- a licensing statement for your own work.
The DownloadsLinks to an external site. page of Creative Commons' website may be a helpful media resource if you're creating a visual assignment. That page includes downloadable CC license and element icons, and more.
Remember to cite and attribute your sources and license your work with a Creative Commons license. Help and directions on citations, adding attribution statements, and licensing your work can be found at the links below:
- How to add a Creative Common license to your workLinks to an external site.
- Citing and attributing sourcesLinks to an external site.
Links to an external site.
Post your video, slide presentation, essay, or other work online, then provide the link to your work. Alternately, you can upload your work.
Rubric: Unit 2 Assignment Rubric
| CC Licenses & Attributions Work is licensed under a Creative Commons license. If other sources are used, work includes applicable references or attribution for those sources. |
| 2 pts | ||
| Identification Work identifies the text/resource to be replaced and the course in which it is used. Work identifies the OER under consideration for adoption. |
| 2 pts | ||
| Assessment Work assesses the OER under consideration in the following categories, noting benefits and concerns: |
| 4 pts | ||
| Adaptation Needs Work describes the adaptions that would be necessary and/or desirable to be made to the work before it could be adopted for use in the course. |
| 2 pts | ||
Total Points: 10 |
OER Adapatation
Reading: OER Adaptation sway
PDF of OER Adaptation
Assignment:
Unit 3 Assignment: OER Adaptation
Adapt and share an open educational resource for a specific course.
Objectives
- Participants will adapt and share an OER.
- Participants will write an attribution statement.
- Participants will write a licensing statement.
Assignments
Create a video, slide presentation, document, (or choose another medium) which can be used as an educational resource in a specific course. While working on this project, consider the following:
- License permissions for the work you want to adapt,
- Assessment checklist elements (review unit 2),
- Accessibility requirements,
- Keep a record of your adaptations,
- How you will license the work, and
- Where/how you will publish the work.
At a minimum, include the following:
- a detailed record of adaptations that identifies the work being adapted,
- a link to your published adaptation/derivative work OR upload the work,
- an attribution statement for the works used in your creation, and
- a licensing statement for your own work which indicates how your derivative work has altered the original work.
The DownloadsLinks to an external site. page of Creative Commons' website may be a helpful media resource if you're creating a visual assignment. That page includes downloadable CC license and element icons, and more.
Remember to cite and attribute your sources and license your work with a Creative Commons license. Help and directions on citations, adding attribution statements, and licensing your work can be found at the links below:
- How to add a Creative Common license to your workLinks to an external site.
- Citing and attributing sourcesLinks to an external site.
Links to an external site.
Post your video, slide presentation, document, or other work online, then provide the link to your work. Alternately, you can upload your work.
Rubric: Unit 3 Assignment Rubric
| Criteria | Ratings | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CC License & Attribution Statements Work is licensed under a Creative Commons license; the licensing statement includes a description of significant changes and a link to the original work and its license. Work includes applicable references or attribution for sources that are used. | 2 pts Full Marks | 0 pts No Marks | 2 pts | |
| Adaptation Record Work identifies the work being adapted and provides a detailed record of changes made to the original work. | 4 pts Full Marks | 0 pts No Marks | 4 pts | |
| Published Adaptation Derivative work/adaptation is uploaded here and/or made publicly available on a blog or OER repository. | 4 pts Full Marks | 0 pts No Marks | 4 pts | |
Total Points: 10 |
Appendix: OER Repositories and Open Resources
Appendix: OER Repositories & Open Resources
There are many sites hosting OER repositories, and even more referatories and guides. There are also a wide range of open resources that can be used for educational purposes, and more that can be used to create educational resources. While this list is by no means complete, it should give you a good start on identifying resources that you can adopt or adapt.
Textbooks
- BCcampus OpenEd Resources access British Columbia’s open textbook library and information about the BC campus open textbook project.
- COERLL The Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning produces and disseminates language OER for the internet public.
- DOAB: Directory of Open Access Books directory open to all publishers who publish academic, peer reviewed books in Open Access and should contain as many books as possible, provided that these publications are in Open Access and meet academic standards.
- Galileo Open Learning Materials textbooks, ancillary materials, and other learning resources from Affordable Learning Georgia, an initiative of the University System of Georgia
- InTech - Technology Open Access Journals and Books one of the largest multidisciplinary open access collections of books covering the fields of science, technology and medicine.
- Internet Sacred Text Archive freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics. Texts are presented in English translation and, where possible, in the original language.
- JSTOR Open Access eBooks ebooks freely available for anyone in the world to use. Each ebook carries one of six Creative Commons licenses determined by the publisher. Users will not need to register or log in to JSTOR.
- Libretext multi-institutional collaborative project to develop open textbooks and other OER. Use the Explore the Collections menu to search academic discipline areas.
- Lumen Candela Catalog browseable by subject but not searchable. Textbooks are only available online in HTML format (not PDF, ePub, etc.)
- MIT OCW Textbooks many people are aware that MIT posts its course materials (e.g. syllabi, lecture slides) online, but they also have a page specifically for open textbooks used in courses at MIT.
- Oapen - online library and publication platform OAPEN Library contains freely accessible academic books, mainly in the area of Humanities and Social Sciences. OAPEN works with publishers to build a quality-controlled collection of Open Access books, and provides services for publishers, libraries and research funders in the areas of dissemination, quality assurance and digital preservation.
- Open Michigan collection of open educational resources (OER) from University of Michigan. Access a range of course materials, videos, lectures, student work and more. Nearly all of the content here is openly licensed for reuse under Creative Commons.
- Open Textbook Library The Open Textbook Library (OTL) is a project of the Open Education Network. To be included in the OTL, an open textbook must be affiliated with a university, scholarly society, or professional organization OR currently be in use at multiple institutions. Books in the OTL are peer reviewed and allow editing, and most of them are available in multiple formats.
- OpenStax OpenStax is the gold standard for open textbooks. Their books are created at Rice University using grant funding from the Gates and Hewlett Foundations. All of their books are peer-reviewed and available in multiple formats, including in print. Most of them are accompanied by free instructor resources (available only after you have been verified as a faculty member) and student resources.
- Pressbooks Pressbooks Directory is a free, searchable catalog of open access books published using Pressbooks. It's easy to copy, revise, remix, and redistribute any openly licensed content.
- Saylor Academy Open Textbooks. open textbooks developed or adapted by Saylor Academy for use in their open online courses.
Ancillary Materials
- Applied Math and Science Education Repository AMSER is a portal of educational resources and services built specifically for use by those in community and technical colleges but free for anyone to use.
- Creative Commons Search: OERs search for openly licensed content on several large, public platforms, including Google and YouTube. It will help you to find OERs that might otherwise slip through the cracks because they are not listed in OER repositories.
- DNA from the Beginning content and animations related to the study of modern genetics.
- Internet Archive’s OER Repository this library contains hundreds of free courses, video lectures, and supplemental materials from universities in the United States and China.
- MERLOT peer-reviewed digital repository of over OER created and supported by a user community. Resources are crowd-sourced, so check licensing before using them. A project of the California State University System and other institutions.
- OER Commons project of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), OER Commons is a hub for open resources for all grade levels up to the graduate level. A variety of course materials including modules, lesson plans, assignments, and 265 textbooks for community college-level courses.
- PhET: Biology interactive simulations in Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
- PhET: Chemistry interactive simulations in Chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
- PhET: Earth Science interactive simulations in Earth Sc ience from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
- PhET: Math interactive simulations in Math from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
- PhET: Physics interactive simulations from the University of Colorado at Boulder
- Skills Commons repository of open workforce development resources developed in partnership with local industries, reviewed by subject matter experts, and focused on business skills. All resources free to use.
- Virtual Lab and Science Resource Directory (2020) from BCcampus Open Education, this Pressbooks text lists free science resources designed to support remote science education. Please note that while all resources in this directory are free, not all are open.
Search by Discipline
- Mason OER Metafinder searches several OER repositories at once. If you check the "deeper search" box, it will also search older materials that are in the public domain.
- Oasis a search tool developed at Milne Library at SUNY Geneseo that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. It searches many smaller OER repositories at once, particularly institutional repositories. It is also browsable by subject and type of material.
Disciplinary Referatories/Resource Guides
- American Institute of Mathematics Open Textbook Initiative approved list of open mathematical textbooks for traditional undergraduate college courses.
- BC Campus OER by Discipline Guide frequently updated guide that lists popular OER by subject.
- Find Open Educational Resources by Open Michigan includes lists for nursing, sciences, education, and languages.
- Iowa Colleges and Universities OER in these collections have been adopted, created, or recommended by faculty in the state of Iowa; they are primarily focused on the sciences, including agriculture, engineering, and education.
- OER by Discipline Directory A reference of OER listed by subject area and discipline edited by Lauri M. Aesoph and Josie Gray. The BCcampus Open Education OER by Discipline Directory lists a wide range of open educational resources organized by discipline. This directory is updated as new resources are identified. Note that textbooks in the B.C. Open Collection are not included in this directory.
- Open Educational Resources by Discipline semi-regularly updated OER resource lists from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges including math, science, social sciences, and humanities.
Open Media
- AllTheFreeStock an aggregator for stock photos, videos, music, and icons, most of them in the public domain.
- Artstor Images, videos, documents, and audio files from public institutional collections. When doing a search, freely available items are labeled as "OPEN ARTSTOR" and should have a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
- Audio Library a YouTube channel dedicated to search, catalog, sort and publish free music.
- ccMixter community of sharing and open music. Explore remixes, samples and pells with CC-BY licensed music.
- Disabled and Here Collection a disability-led effort to provide free & inclusive stock images with photos and illustrations celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC).
- EDUimages a free library of photos celebrating students and the educators who teach them in seven schools across the US. Licensed: CC BY-NC 4.0
- Flickr Commons numerous participating institutions share images from the world's public photography archives. Use the "Any license" drop down menu and select "All creative commons" licenses.
- Free Music Archive access to independent artists and original music; PRO option provides a wider range of royalty-free music.
- The Gender Spectrum Collection contains a stock photo library featuring CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licensed images of trans and non-binary models.
- Google Images Use Google's Advanced Image Search to limit the usage rights with the menu option "Creative Commons licenses."
- LibriVox free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers from around the world.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art the Met's Open Access Initiative makes all images of public domain artworks and basic data on all accessioned works in its collection available for unrestricted use. Use "Show Only: Open Access" when doing a search to identify works in the public domain. These will have the "OA" symbol.
- The Noun Project collection of images, symbols, and icons.
- NappyLinks to an external site. a free library of high resolution photos of Black and Brown people.
- NegativeSpace stock images are in the public domain or have a CC0 license. Free to use, edit, and modify for personal and commercial uses.
- Openclipart All clipart in Openclipart is in the public domain. Images can be downloaded in various sizes and formats.
- Open Content Program of the Getty Museum includes digital images to which the J. Paul Getty Museum holds the rights or that are in the public domain. When using the Getty Search Gateway to look for images, make sure the "Open Content Images" filter is selected.
- Openverse Formerly CC (Creative Commons) Search, this search engine includes visual and audio resources with CC licenses or are in the public domain. Use the filter tool to search by CC license preference.
- PBS Frontline full-length programs on current social, political, business, and public health issues.
- Pexels more than 3 million free, open (Pexels license), high-resolution photos and videos.
- Picnoi Free stock photos of people of color with no attribution required. They ask that users link photos back to this site.
- Pixabay database of more than 2.6 million photos, illustrations, vector graphics and videos released with the Pixabay open license and no required attribution.
- Pixneofree, high quality public domain images that are tagged and categorized.
- Smithsonian Open Access includes over 2 million CC0 digital images from the 19 Smithsonian museums, as well as research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo. When performing your search, be sure the "Open Access Media" box (before the search box) is checked off for CC0 images.
- SnagFilms full length documentaries and lesser-known movies for free.
- TED-Ed a library of curated educational videos, many of which represent collaborations between talented educators and animators nominated through the TED-Ed platform.
- Unsplash Free high-resolution images gifted by the global community of photographers for commercial and noncommercial use. Utilizes the Unsplash open license. Attribution is a courtesy.
- VADS online resource for visual arts that includes a collection of over 140,000 images available for non-commercial educational and research use (copyright notice).
- Wikimedia Commons a database housing millions of media files that are either in the public domain or have a CC license. Please refer to each individual item to view the licensing.
- WorldImages database provides access to the California State University IMAGE Project. It contains approximately 100,000 images from around the world that are available under the CC license: CC BY-NC 2.5. For more information about use of images check the “Conditions of Use of Website Images” section available from the main page.
Open Resources
- American Memory-Library of Congress provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. Materials from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
- Bloomsbury Publishing Open Content selected research publications are published on open content licenses, meaning that the full text is available online for free in html format.
- Digital Commons Network free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide, including a growing collection of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work.
- Digital Public Library of America access thousands of primary sources (images, documents, films, etc.). Refine search by type, date, source, and subject.
- The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)repository of open-access journals
- HathiTrust Digital Librarya partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service a federally funded resource offering justice and drug-related information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide.
- National Library of Medicine Digital Collections free online repository of biomedical resources including books, still images, videos, and maps. All of the content is freely available worldwide and, unless otherwise indicated, in the public domain.
- The New York Public Libraries' Digital Collections public domain objects from the NYPL Digital Collections
- Open Book Publishers free academic non-fiction
- Open Humanities Press free scholarly books and journals focusing on the humanities from an international open publishing collective.
- PLOS (Public Library of Science) nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians striving to make scientific literature freely available to the public. All PLOS content is available without restriction, as long as the author and the original source are properly attributed according to the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
- Project Gutenbergover 70,000 free ebooks with an emphasis on public domain texts
- Social Science Research Network eLibrary provides 726,225 research papers from 335,176 researchers across 30 disciplines.
- Ubiquity PressLinks to an external site. open access publisher of peer-reviewed academic journals, books and data.
- WorldBank Open Knowledge Repository nonfiction books and reports on international topics.
- World Digital Library cultural heritage materials gathered during the World Digital Library (WDL) project, including thousands of items contributed by partner organizations worldwide as well as content from Library of Congress collections.
- Most U.S. government-produced creative works are public domain; see here for exceptions.