Skip to Main Content

OER Resources

An online resource to help faculty navigate the world of OER

What is Creative Commons?

More Information

Creative Commons Home Page
The home page for Creative Commons has a lot of information pertaining to your role(s) as a rights holder and an user of CC Licenses.

Types of Licenses

Here is a chart with the 6 most common Creative Commons Licenses along with the rules governing each one:

License Type

Symbol

About

Attribution

CC BY

Symbol for CC BY

This license will allow others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work even commercially as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

Attribution -- Sharealike

CC BY--SA

Symbol for CC BY--SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.

Attribution -- NoDerivs

CC BY--ND

Symbol for CC BY--ND

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.

Attribution -- NonCommercial

CC BY--NC

Symbol for CC BY--NC

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Attribution --NonCommercial--Sharealike

CC BY--NC--SA

Symbol for CC BY--NC--SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

Attribution --NonCommercial--NoDerivs

CC BY--NC--ND

Symbol for CC BY--NC--ND

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially