One of the biggest benefits of open educational resources (OER) is that you can tailor existing materials to meet your needs and the needs of your students. Before you start adapting a resource, be sure to check the license on it. Some Creative Commons licenses allow you to use a work as long as you don't change it in any way.
Tools to get you started
Choosing and attributing licenses
- – Outlines things to think about before applying a Creative Commons license to your material, or using Creative Commons-licensed materials.
- – Contains information on how to choose the appropriate license for your work.
- – Teaches how to mark your work with a Creative Commons license.
- – Provides some good (and not so good) examples of attribution.
- – Cites open materials for you. This tool will automatically generate an attribution.
Creative Commons licenses
is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free, legal tools. Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs.
Creative Commons offers to choose from when publishing your work.
Attribution, CC BY
Attribution-ShareAlike, CC BY-SA
Attribution NoDerivatives, CC BY-ND
Attribution-NonCommercial, CC BY-NC
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike , CC BY-NC-SA
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives, CC BY-NC-ND
Need help getting started with OER?
Michele Behr, our scholarly communications and open educational resources librarian, will point you in the right direction, help you figure out what to do next, and answer your questions.
Other options to consider
University Libraries provides access to various free materials for students and instructors to use in Western courses.