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Open Education Resources: An Introduction

OER overview, licensing, evaluating, ethics, citating, and more

WHAT IS AN OPEN LICENSE?

A license is a document that specifies what can and cannot be done with a work. It grants permissions and states restrictions. Broadly speaking, an open license is one that grants permission to access, re-use and redistribute a work with few or no restrictions (definition from Openedefinition.org). There are many open licenses developed for different areas of knowledge. However, when it comes to open educational resources the most typical and common open licenses used are Creative Commons Licenses.   Copyright & Open Licensing FAQs

Open Washington by SBCTC Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges licensed under CC BY 4.0 

 

  • Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.
  • Provides a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work  -- on conditions of your choice
  • Free, easy-to-use copyright licenses and tools
  • Six license conditions available. Choose a license
  • Looking for music, video, writing, images, code, or other creative works?  Search Creative Commons and find CC-licensed works.

Creative Commons Licenses

Open Washington Module 4 by SBCTC Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges licensed under BY CC 4.0

CC0

CC0  "No Rights Reserved"  A new CC license created to enable scientists, educators, artists and other creators and owners of copyright or database-protected content to waive those interests in their works and place them completely in the public domain.  Others may then freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purpose without restriction under copyright or database law.  

 

All Content CC-BY.