Open Educational Resources

Creative Commons licenses give creators - whether individuals or institutions - a range of options for sharing their creative work. There are four elements that can be combined to let the public know what they are allowed to do with a work.

CC License Elements

Attribution (BY)

All CC licenses require that others who use your work in any way must give you credit the way you request, but not in a way that suggests you endorse them or their use. If they want to use your work without giving you credit or for endorsement purposes, they must get your permission first.

ShareAlike (SA)

You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify your work, as long as they distribute any modified work on the same terms. If they want to distribute modified works under other terms, they must get your permission first.

NoDerivs (ND)

You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only original copies of your work. If they want to modify your work, they must get your permission first.

NonCommercial (NC)

You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and (unless you have chosen NoDerivs) modify and use your work for any purpose other than commercially unless they get your permission first.

CC Licenses

CC-0		No rights reserved.
CC BY		Attribution or credit must be given to the creator.
CC BY-SA		Credit must be given to the creator and adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
CC BY-NC		Credit must be given to the creator and only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
CC BY-NC-SA		Credit must be given to the creator, only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted, and adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
CC BY-ND		Credit must be given to the creator and no derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
CC BY-NC-ND		Credit must be given to the creator, only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted, and no derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.