In Argument in the Real World, Turner and Hicks (2017) state that teachers engaging students in digital writing should “teach them to craft an argument using media in strategic ways” (p. 54). Also, they assert that for students to be able to skillfully create a blog post it is critical that they have the knowledge to select the right media, give credit, and follow the terms of copyright and other types of licensing (Turner & Hicks, p. 55). However, much of their discussion centers on applying fair use to use copyrighted materials. In addition to the application of fair use, there are tools and products that can help your students find content with little or no usage restrictions. Specifically, students can incorporate from Creative Commons licensed materials into their digital projects. In this post, I am providing an overview of Creative Commons licensing. Further, as Paskevicius (2021) notes, “educators are in an excellent position to model appropriate content creation processes and activities to their learners through the development of their own educational materials” (p. 8). By modeling the use of these Creative Commons works, you can save time and effort in creating instructional content while providing examples of the ethical use of others works for your students. To exemplify this modeling, I am sharing some instructional content that I created using Creative Commons licensed material.
What’s the difference between all rights and some rights?
When someone creates a work, it is covered by copyright law, meaning that the creators have “all rights reserved” in regards to copying, distributing, changing, or presenting their works (Creative Commons, 2021). However, through licenses, Creative Commons allows creators to choose from “a spectrum of choices between retaining all rights and relinquishing all rights (public domain), an approach we call ‘Some Rights Reserved'” (Creative Commons, 2021). Creators who want less restrictions on the sharing and use of their work can use CC license labels to indicate their rights preferences. To learn more about about Creative Commons, watch the video below (University of Guelph Libraries, 2018).
What are Creative Commons Licenses? by University of Georgia Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
What do the Creative Commons symbols and licenses mean?
Creative Common licenses visually represent the rights granted by a creator to users of their work. Each license contains one or more symbols that are read together as usage labels.
Note: The last two symbols listed, CC Zero and Public Domain, have the same meaning: there are no restrictions on the work (Creative Commons, 2019).
These examples of CC licenses show how the symbols can be combined in different ways to produce a different meaning. By interpreting the symbols, you can quickly determine the rights and restrictions covered in each license (Creative Commons, 2019).
Note: Creative Commons gives permission to use CC symbols and licensing on your materials. So, I could include the symbols and licenses in the tables I created.
Where can you find creative commons licensed content?
Currently, over there are over 2 billion CC licensed items, including videos, images, literature, research, and educational materials (Creative Commons, n.d.). You can use the search platforms, and others, to find them.
- Creative Commons: Openverse Search
- Google Search: Click “Advanced Search” then use the “narrow your results by” “usage rights” filter
- YouTube: Conduct a search, click “Filters” and under “Features” click “Creative Commons”
- Vimeo: Conduct a search, click “More Filters”, under “Refine by” find “License”, and select the license type
Where can I see an example of CC licensed items reused in instructional content?
Recently, I was asked to develop a Canvas course to orient students to online learning. I knew that some content already existed online; and, I looked for CC-licensed materials. I found a version of a True/False game about myths of online education that was covered with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Because I modified the text version of the work into a slideshow and changed some wording, my attribution statement (located below the slideshow) had to acknowledge these changes. However, attribution statements can vary based the license type and the extent of your use, so you should refer to the “Best Practices for Attribution” wiki for more examples.
This slideshow was partially adapted from “Introduction to Online Learning” by Chancellor’s Office, California Community Colleges under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Do you have any questions or resources you would like to share?
I look forward to your comments!
- Do you have any questions about Creative Commons?
- Do you have any examples of CC licensed content you wish to share?
References
Creative Commons. (2019). About CC licenses. https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses
Creative Commons. (2021, November 22). Frequently asked questions: What does some rights reserved mean? https://creativecommons.org/faq/#what-does-some-rights-reserved-mean
Creative Commons. (n.d.). https://creativecommons.org
Paskevicius, M. (2021). Educators as content creators in a diverse digital media landscape. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2021(1), 1-10. http://doi.org/10.5334/jime.675
Turner, K. H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.
University of Guelph Libraries. (2018, September 21). What are Creative Commons licenses? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/srVPLrmlBJY
I feel like I learned about some great resources from your blog. I also teach my students about licenses for images and they are always amazed that Google Images does not mean free to do with what you want. Sara Hawkins wrote a great article called Copyright Fair Use and How it Works for Online Images. She outlines 5 things everyone should do before using an image. I agree that modeling the behavior you want to see from your students is a best practice. If we are willy nilly using images in our examples, then they will not understand the difference. She explores the idea that “fair use doesn’t mean fair game”. (2011). I hope I can incorporate the Creative Commons Openverse Search into my class soon. It is pretty neat.
Hawkins, S. (2011, November 23). Copyright fair use and how it works for online images : Social Media Examiner. Social Media Examiner | Social Media Marketing. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/copyright-fair-use-and-how-it-works-for-online-images/
Hi Sheila!
WOW….your blog is amazing!! Great job! I also loved your topic. Turner and Hicks (2017) note that a post “explores a particular issue, concept or question” (p. 47). I am not super familiar with Creative Commons and have a lot to learn. However, your content, hyperlinks, video, pictures and slide show were very informative! You packed a tremendous amount of information into your post, and yet I wasn’t overwhelmed by the material. Thank you for sharing!
Suzanne
Reference:
Turner, K. H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.
Hi Sheila,
Your blog looks amazing! I have learned quite a bit in my research on the topic from reading the informations you gave. I agree that modeling is always key in ensuring our expectations are met by our students. If we model in our lessons the way we would like digital media to be used in their writing it would go a long way in reducing plagiarism. “Using copyrighted materials and avoiding plagiarism are overlapping and interrelated, especially when thinking about how to have our students find, manage, and cite sources that include text, images, video, and other forms of media” (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p.56). When I assign writing assignments in my class I always give guided questions for students to research and I often find that they just google the answers and never give credit to the sources especially when using words I know they have no idea what they mean. Creative commons gives students the opportunity to use other people’s work that have given some rights reserved. It also gives students the opportunity to use certain videos and images they may find to embed in their work as well (Broussard, 2007).
References
Broussard, S. L. (2007). The Copyleft Movement: Creative Commons Licensing. Communication Research Trends, 26.
Turner, K. H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.