Episode 1
Creative Commons Licenses
Creative Commons licenses are the practical mechanism behind most open educational resources. They let you specify exactly which permissions you're granting – without requiring individual negotiations with each user.
The Six Licenses
All CC licenses require attribution. The other conditions – NonCommercial, NoDerivatives, ShareAlike – combine to form six licenses:
| License | Free to share | Free to adapt | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC BY | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CC BY-SA | ✓ | ✓ (same license) | ✓ |
| CC BY-NC | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| CC BY-NC-SA | ✓ | ✓ (same license) | ✗ |
| CC BY-ND | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| CC BY-NC-ND | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Which License to Choose
For educational materials intended to be remixed and adapted by other educators, CC BY or CC BY-SA are the most open choices. CC BY places the fewest restrictions and is compatible with the widest range of other OER.
If you want to ensure that adaptations are always shared under the same terms, CC BY-SA (ShareAlike) creates that expectation – similar to how open-source copyleft licenses work.
Note
The NonCommercial condition is often misunderstood. "Commercial use" covers a wide range of activities, and its meaning is context-dependent. When in doubt, CC BY is simpler and more reusable.
Applying a License
To apply a license to your reader, add the license name and URL to the reader home page frontmatter:
license: CC BY 4.0
license_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
attribution_text: 'This work by Jane Smith is licensed under CC BY 4.0.'
Enable Show OER Attribution Block in the Helios Open Reader plugin settings to display this in the footer of every page.