It's important to check the licensing of any OER you select. Some are specifically designated for unmodified or noncommercial use only (ND or NC designations, respectively), while others allow for unlimited remixing and adaptation as long as the original author is credited. Be careful when combining works with different licenses - not all licenses are compatible with each other when combined. See License Compatibility.
ASCCC OERI — OER Basics, Rachel Arteaga & Suzanne Wakim, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) .
CC BY enables re
users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
CC BY-SA enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you modify it, you must share the modified work back under the same license.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
CC BY-NC enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
CC BY-NC-SA enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes, as long as attribution is given to the creator and the material is shared back with the same license.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
CC BY-ND enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
CC BY-NC-ND This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
Not all Creative Commons licenses are compatible with each other, due to conflicting permissions. See the chart to the right to check which licenses are compatible with each other. Learn more about CC license compatibility on the Creative Commons Wiki.
When using CC-licensed works, you can either combine content from other works (adapting, also known as remixing), or collect a series of whole, unmodified works (collecting, also known as curating). Slightly different rules apply to each method. Pick the method that best suit your purpose. For example, if you plan on creating a brand new textbook using parts of other works, you are adapting. If you are creating a course reader with complete works, such as an English or Social Science reader, you are collecting. See the graphic below for more details about the differences.
