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Open Educational Resources (OER): Licensing

This guide includes information and resources for finding, evaluating, using, and creating OER.

OER Licensing

This section of our OER LibGuide provides resources about OER licensing, including information about Creative Commons licensing and the 5R Framework.

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is central to the OER movement.

Creative Commons is a non-profit that offers free licenses for content creators to use when making their work available for the public to share and reuse. 

CC licenses provide a standardized way for content creators to give the public permission and rights to use their works freely and legally under copyright law.

Creative Commons Licenses

As an OER creator, you can apply a Creative Commons License to make your work re-usable on your own terms. It is free and easy to do.

Visit the links below from the Creative Commons website to learn more about CC license types and to decide on which license is right for your needs.

Creative Commons License Freedom Scale Chart

The chart below explains the six different Creative Commons licenses and what the licenses allow others to do with your work. Click on the image to see a larger version.

CC License Freedom Scale Chart by Romaine is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

About Open Licensing

Copyright and Use Links

The 5R Framework

The 5R framework was created to define open content rights and offer guidance on how to use OERs. 

RETAIN - the right to make, own, and control copies of the content
REUSE - the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
REVISE - the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
REMIX - the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
REDISTRIBUTE - the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)


Source: David Wiley. Available under a CC BY 4.0 license.