Creative Commons 4 Educators

Topics: using CC materials; attribution; sharealike; noncommercial; licence compatibility; verifying licensed material

Due Date: 21 February 2011

Overview
In this case study, we go beyond the basics of finding and recognising Creative Commons material, and look at the practicalities of using that material in class. The biggest benefit that Creative Commons provides to educators is the ability to use copyright material without having to pay fees, get permission or understand how copyright law works. However, Creative Commons material isn't a free for all - you must still obey the licence on the material you wish to use if you don't want to breach copyright. This can create complications - particularly when you are combining material under difference licences into the same new work.

Case Study
Bongani teaches at a community college. Students pay fees to attend the college, but the college also gets some funding from the government. Bongani is paid for her teaching (although not very well).
 
She wants to use the following interesting resources she found marked Creative Commons in her classes:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4479185727/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimconn1/5329443940/
• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Play_fight_of_polar_bears_edit_1.avi.OGG
  
• http://www.slideshare.net/markwoolley/creative-commons-in-our-schools
  
• http://ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/29240

Bongani wants to show the resources in class and distribute copies to her students. She also wants to create a short movie for the class that will include cropped versions of the two images, run an excerpt from the video, and use the song in the background.

Finally, she is thinking of uploading all the resources to her personal blog, which is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.

Questions (to be answered by each group)
 
Note: If you need additional information to answer any of these questions, identify that information in your answer and note how it would influence your responses.

1. Can Bogani use these materials in her classes? Answer for each item separately and list any steps she would have to take to comply with the Creative Commons licences.
2. Would your answer change for her blog? What if she has Google Adsense running?
3. Can Bogani combine these materials together in the video?
4. Write attribution statements for each of the materials.
5. Bogani has also found another video which she would like to use. The song is licensed under a CC Attribution licence, but has a Michael Jackson song in the background. She isn't sure if the licensing is legitimate. What would your advice to her be?

Reading and Resources

• Remixing OER: A Guide to License Compatibility, ccLearn, http://learn.creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cclearn-explanations-cc-license-compatability.pdf
  
• How to attribute Creative Commons licensed materials for teachers and students, Creative Commons Australia, http://creativecommons.org.au/content/How_to_Attribute_CC_Materials_edu.pdf
• Chapter 8 of Introducing Copyright: A plain language guide to copyright in the 21st Century by Julien Hofman published by the Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver 2009. Accessible and/or downloadable from: http://www.col.org/resources/publications/monographs/Pages/Copyright.aspx/
• What are the Creative Commons licences?, Creative Commons Australia http://creativecommons.org.au/learn-more/fact-sheets/what-are-the-creative-commons-licences-factsheet
• Marking: Users, Creative Commons http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Marking/Users