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Creative Commons

Creative Commons are “licenses that provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators.” Not to be confused with fair use, this is a pro-active way to share your content as a creator. On the flip side, it’s an easy way to find and use content if you need it for your class. People aren’t allowed to steal your stuff–they can use it, but they need to give you credit. Sounds like a good kinder class, right?

Creative Commons should have been created by a kindergarten teacher. It enables you to share what you’ve created. People aren’t allowed to steal your stuff–they can use it, but they need to give you credit. Sounds like a good kinder class, right?

What is CC?

To be more specific, Creative Commons are “licenses that provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators.” Not to be confused with fair use, this is a pro-active way to share your content as a creator. On the flip side, it’s an easy way to find and use content if you need it for your class. Here is an explanation of the creative commons symbols:

Or, if you prefer reading:

Attribution: You can use the work, but you need to give credit.

Non-commercial: You can use the work, but you can’t make money with it.

Share-alike: You can use the work, but you have to share your own work, too.

No derivatives: You can use the work, but only as-is. No editing allowed.

If you want to get fancy, these licenses can be combined. On my website (in the bottom right corner), the CC logos are: BY NC SA… so: you can use my work (CC), but you have to give me credit (BY), you can’t sell your work (NC), and your final product also needs to be shared (SA). There are a few more CC licenses, and they’re a bit more complex, but these are the by far the most common (hehe, common) ones.

CC Resources

One of the main objectives of creative commons is that you should give people credit. However, it can be confusing to keep track of dozens of images and their owners. Fortunately, Rushton Hurley has created a PDF to walk you through citing sources, titled Grabbing Copyright-Friendly Images. This is a great resource for you as a teacher, and for your students. As you find images, save them with a title “image name by author name from URL.” For example, “kyoto by billselak from Flickr.”

Here are my favorite websitse for finding CC works:

  • Compfight: search images from Flickr (my favorite way to find images for presos!)
  • The Commons:  From the National Archives to the National Library of Scotland, The Commons has tons of old photos. History teachers: bookmark this!
  • Creative Commons Search: This site searches 12 other sites for cc content.
  • Jamendo: Musicians can easily share their music here. Great for finding music that sounds like it was written for your project.
  • Soungle: sound effects, and only sound effects. If you’re making a video, this site is your new friend.
  • Vimeo Music Store: Once you upload a video, you can use cc music.
  • YouTube Audio Swap: AudioSwap lets you add music to your YouTube videos. You can mix it, so your original audio can remain.

So, the next time you create something and post it online, consider sharing it with a creative commons license. Most websites allow you to set a default license, making it easy to share your work with other educators. After all, sharing a photo is much easier than sharing a dream.