Creative Commons licenses provide a standardized way for authors and creators to grant the public permission to share and use their creative works. Creative Commons licenses mix and match the following elements:

	Attribution (BY) Give credit to the original author
	Share Alike (SA) Distribute derivative works under the same license
	Non-Commercial (NC) Only use the work for noncommercial purposes
	No Derivatives (ND) Only use verbatim copies of the work

According to UNESCO, "Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning or research materials that are in the public domain or released with an intellectual property license that allows for free use, adaptation, and distribution." OER include curriculum maps, course materials, textbooks, streaming videos, multimedia applications, podcasts, and any other materials that have been designed for use in teaching and learning.

The Creative Commons has gathered a number of definitions of OER from different organizations.

When and author or creator amends their Copyright with a Creative Commons license, they are giving you permission to reuse their work in the following ways: 

This material is based on original writing by David Wiley, which was published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at: Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources.

The UWM Libraries and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning work in partnership to support Open Educational Resource discovery and adoption in courses. Please contact Kristin Woodward if you would like more information:

open-textbook@uwm.edu