Making Sense of Creative Commons Licenses

Interview with Jane Park

Last week I was fascinated to interview Jane Park, director of Platforms and Partnerships at Creative Commons. I always have to look up what the various licenses mean, so I was happy to have the opportunity to listed to Jane make sense of it for me! Following is a transcript of your interview. 

Tell us about you and your role.

I've been at Creative Commons (CC) for a number of years and currently I lead our platform initiatives. Which means working with OER platforms like Edmodo, Amazon, and Microsoft, as part of the U.S. Department of Education GoOpen initiative.

What is Creative Commons?

We're a nonprofit organization and we offer a suite of legal tools that make it easy for creators to share their creative work online. Prior to us, there were only two options if you wanted to share your work- all rights reserved copyright, where you had to ask for permission every time you used any part of someone's work, or in the public domain (you had no rights to that whatsoever). CC licenses are a set of copyright licenses that allow the creator to flexibly say, 'you can use my work and you have to give me credit,' and they allow the creator to manage those different permissions.

What does "open" mean in the context of OER?

The "Open" requires the 5 Rs. Retain (you can retain a copy- download/duplicate/store on your own computer), Reuse (use it in a class, in a study group, re-share it in a website or in a video), Revise (modify it, adapt it to your classroom, translate, and alter the content in other ways),Remix (combine the work with other works to create a collection or mashup), and Redistribute (share it on a website or video publicly).

On Edmodo Spotlight we have 3 choices: Attribution, Attribution Sharealike, and Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives. Can you tell us about what those three mean and why I would choose one over the other?

Attribution is the most liberal and accommodating of the licenses we offer. It essentially says hey, you have to give me credit for my work, but you can do whatever you want to do with it- you can remix it, adapt it, even use it for commercial purposes. We recommend this license as a default for OER.

The second option is Attribution Sharealike, which is basically the Attribution license with one extra condition attached. If you alter or modify the work in any way, you have to Sharealike your derivative work under the same license. You're still allowed to use it commercially. For example, if you take a song and sync it with a video, that video with the song you would have to Sharealike under the same Attribution Sharealike license.

The third license- Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives - is actually our most restrictive license. It signals to the user that you can redistribute my work verbatim, but if you make any modifications or changes, you cannot share it out. So it's saying "don't change my work but you can share it widely."

http://www.masternewmedia.org/how-to-publish-a-book-under-a-creative-commons-license/ 

What about paid resources?

If you're the owner, you can always sell it and/or add a Creative Commons license. If you're not the owner, you can use works under the first two licenses for commercial purposes, but not the third one, since it has a non commercial condition.

Do I need to worry about using someone else's work in my classroom? We teach our kids about fair use. How does that apply to this?

When you're using work in the classroom, it's more lenient than re-publishing in the open web, since the classroom is a closed setting. If the work is under a CC license, you're free to use it as long as you abide by the terms of the CC license. It applies in and out of the classroom. When it comes to using all rights reserved copyright works, you're free to use them both in and out of the classroom, the difference is the rules might be more liberal in the classroom, under fair use.

I'm not a fair use expert but there are 4 fair use factors that any court of law will judge fair use by. That is: the purpose and character of your use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion you use, and the effect of that use upon the potential market. But I would definitely read the wikipedia article on it, it will explain much better than I do.

What's the most common mistake teachers or students make when labeling using CC licenses?

If you are not the owner of the content, you should not be adding a CC license to that work. That's a common mistake, people put a CC license on works they don't own. A second one is adding a Noncommercial No Derivatives license, and say it's OER. As we discovered with the 5 Rs, if you can't remix it, then it's not OER. So if you want it to be OER, choose one of the licenses that allow derivative works or allows Remix.

What's the most important thing you want teachers to know?

There is a large world of OER out there. If you take 10 minutes to familiarize yourself with the CC licenses and how they work, you can tap that world of OER and clearly figure out what you can and cannot use and under what conditions. CC licenses really provide clarity, where there is often ambiguity, especially when it comes to fair use. That being said, we do encourage teachers to rely on fair use, exceptions and limitations to copyright, when using any educational resource.

Thank you Jane, for helping to make sense of this for us!

Quality Content on Edmodo Spotlight

Background

Edmodo Spotlight is a repository for Open Educational Resources, (ROER) as well as a source of content which is not considered "open" but is being made available, either for free or a nominal cost, from educators for educators. Edmodo Spotlight hosts and facilitates access to these resources.  

To be truly open, content must satisfy the 5 Rs: the consumers ability to Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix and Redistribute the resource. In an article published in the online Research in Leaning Technology journal, titled: Questions of quality in repositories of open educational resources: a literature review,  J.Atenas and L.Havemann discuss certain indicators of quality in the design and implementation of ROERs, and some of these include user evaluation tools, peer review and use of keywords (emphasis mine).

Call to Action

To ensure high quality content is available for Edmodo users, users such as the Luminary community can provide the most meaningful, authentic reviews. To help with the review process, I've come up with some suggestions.

When I introduce  Edmodo and blogging with my students, I use an acronym, R.A.M.E to remind them than any comment should be relevant, appropriate, meaningful and edited. The same is a good start for reviewing teacher created content. 

RELEVANT: When providing feedback, be sure that you have actually looked at the contributor's resource and that your comment reflects that - what is something you liked? what didn't you understand? what connections can you make to your own possible implementation? in short, is your comment relevant to the resource you are reviewing?

APPROPRIATE: Consider your audience. Is the public comment section the right place for your feedback? As fellow teachers, we may be reluctant to give negative feedback publicly - I know I am. When I see an issue that I feel needs to be addressed by the resource owner, I direct message them.The good news is, Edmodo understands this reluctance to 'call someone out' and they are building in a messaging option on the product (Spotlight Resource) page.

MEANINGFUL: The Huffington post had a nice article written by Kim Pisolkar about Why Good Job Isn't Good Enough where she provide the analogy of a gift:

Feedback is like a gift... and as with any gift, the initial impression is in the wrapping. Think about how you’d feel receiving a gift not wrapped nicely, just sort of thrown your way with little thought or sincerity. Now think of how differently you might feel receiving a gift that is lovingly wrapped, given with pride and thoughtful consideration. That analogy represents the difference between giving ordinary, bland feedback like “Nice job” and delivering effective, sincere feedback that actually tells a person what was good.

The article goes onto cite the SBI model developed by the Center for Creative Leadership. SBI is an acronym for situation, behavior, and impact:

1. Describe the situation where the behavior was observed.
2. Describe the behavior- the specific and factual actions or interactions that were observed by you or others.
3. Describe the impact - the effect the behavior had on others such as clients or team members, and/or the results.

So please include meaningful, perhaps even actionable feedback. Contributors are able to update their resources in Spotlight and often will based on community feedback.Your words do have an impact. 

EDITED: In general, please try to make sure your review comments are edited.

After studying Socrates, my students also added the final two letters of the acronym: N and N to make RAMENN - is your input nice and necessary? Are your comments, even criticism delivered with kindness? 

When you look at at resource in Edmodo, you have the option to rate it 1-5 stars. You can also post a comment, preferably using guidelines similar to what I have outlined above.

A final note about keywords. Users, content consumers, look for and find content using keywords. When you are reviewing a resource, if you notice they are missing some valuable keywords, please let the owner know. If they add them, your suggestion might make the difference for someone looking for just the right amazing resource.

Open and Free

One of my soapbox issues since I started in Education was the need for sharing and collaboration. Teaching is hard enough without cooperation. New teachers, including those I now find myself coaching, need all the help they can get. Providing them with free resources that they can adapt and edit to fit their student populations is so important, especially in those first few years when new teachers haven’t yet built their own personal arsenal of “go to” lessons and activities.

Decades ago in my first career, I first learned about Open Source software. Wikipedia defines Open source as computer software with its source code made available with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose.[1] Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative public manner.

Working in high tech, the idea of collaborative development seemed a little like the wild, wild west. I didn’t really care much about Open Source until I started working in Education and funds were limited. Suddenly the idea of free and accessible seemed like a godsend to cash strapped schools.  

Fast forward a few years and I have now figured out a platform for sharing lesson plans in Edmodo’s Spotlight. It is a place to share, collect, review, and discover helpful resources for your students and teaching. It acts as a marketplace where both publishers and teachers can create and share resources. Teachers from the Edmodo network can download, peruse or access these mostly free resources. Some teachers do choose to sell their lessons but that is not in my ethos.

As I am approaching the final years of my time in the classroom, I love having an outlet to share some of my favorite resources. I have shared original, editable content as well as recommended some of my favorite online resources.  I've been sharing my favorite resources. I was thrilled to see the First Lady announce #OpenEBks on @Twitter and shared the resource with my PLN. I tagged my tweet with #OER and #freeandopen.

Through the magic of Twitter, I was re-schooled by Douglas Levin. Doug is the founder and president of EdTech Strategies, LLC. He is an adviser to federal and state policymakers and education leaders, Mr. Levin has conducted research that has informed and shaped the field, and written and spoken widely about the trends shaping the future of education. Doug pointed out my misuse of the term “open”

He then sent me a link to an article explaining (reminding me of) the definition of open in this context.  We had a bit of a back and forth and I sent him a quote from the Princess Bride:

Which then inspired him to write a blog post which included this FAQ for educators about what OER really means.  

Open educational resources are and always will be free, but not all free resources are OER. Free resources may be temporarily free or may be restricted from use at some time in the future (including by the addition of fees to access those resources). Moreover, free resources may not be modified, adapted or redistributed without express permissions from the copyright holder.

How do I know if an educational resource is an OER?

The key distinguishing characteristic of OER is its intellectual property license and the freedoms the license grants to others to share and adapt it. If a lesson plan or activity is not clearly tagged or marked as being in the public domain or having an open license, it is not OER. It’s that simple (emphasis mine). Creative Commons copyright licenses are standardized, free-to-use open licenses that facilitate the development and use of OER and are recommended for use by all K-12 educators.

Hopefully this will help clarify but mostly inspire you to openly share what you have created! 

Six Steps to Submit Stellar Spotlights - plus a few other suggestions

Edmodo Spotlight helps you boost your lesson planning and find resources to spark your students’ curiosity and improve their overall learning experience. It is a place to share, collect, review, and discover helpful resources for your students and teaching. It is a marketplace where both publishers and teachers can create and share resources. Teachers from the Edmodo network can download, peruse or purchase these resources.

I was reluctant to use Spotlight, until I really stopped and looked at it. It was super easy, but it helps to be prepared. So this blog post is to help you plan ahead. When you upload, you’ll be asked for some information. If you have it ahead of time, it will make the upload flow much smoother. Also please know your resource is most likely to be approved if you include a title, at least 1 (but 4 is better) thumbnail images and both parts of the description.

1. If you are “recommending” a resource, first, please, search spotlight to be sure no one else has already shared it. If they have, simply add a comment using the [review] button, seconding the recommendation.

2. Title: be sure your title gives a clear picture of your product. For example, Sandy’s Shoes tells you nothing, but Measuring Distance with Sally’s Shoes gives you a better idea. A good title helps teachers decide whether to look at a product!

3. Up to 4 thumbnails: you will need to have 1-4 meaningful thumbnails representing your product. If you do not include your own, there are defaults, but these are not going to attract users to your product. (see images below)

Great thumbnails will help draw in teachers. For example, the images for the products here...

tell you more than these ...

4. Description: The Description Field provides an overview of your content. This is what teachers will read when clicking on your resource, before deciding whether or not to download it.

• Question 1: Describe your content, including how it addresses a specific subject and standards. Tell us what academic objectives it achieves. Hint: Try to anticipate questions that teachers may have. We recommend 50-100 words.This is the overview teachers see when they are deciding whether or not to download your product. It should provide a detailed overview of the content and related standards. It may include links to related resources or products. You could also provide data or social proof, “this project is a favorite with my 5th graders every year”. If you have this written up ahead of time, you can just paste it into the box when uploading
• Question 2: How can teachers use this in the classroom? Hint: Provide an idea for how the teacher can integrate this resource into their lesson. You can mention discussion, collaboration, assessment, etc.

5. Resource type: if your product doesn’t neatly fit into one of these categories, just give it the closest choice.

6. Grade levels (up to 4) and subjects addressed. You should also know the CCSS numbers, if applicable.

There is sometimes confusion about the licensing. There are six licence options but only two are available through Spotlight. Non-commercial, no derivatives means no one can sell OR modify your work for their purpose, to fit the needs of their students. If you are okay with others using and modifying your work to fit their needs, then use share alike. This allows others to build upon your work as long as they give you credit, even for commercial purposes. I am a big fan of open educational resources (OER) so I tend to use the most accommodating license.

You will also need to select a few other things but these are pretty straightforward.

A few other suggestions:

• Create a profile! I know I like to see that someone has put the effort into letting me know something about them. As we say in twitter-land, don’t be an egg! Upload an avatar or picture representing you. And come up with a motto. It can be a mantra, guiding principle or even a nickname.. just put something!
• Share your work! You are your own best salesperson. Tweet out links to your products. Share them in content specific groups in Edmodo, let your spotlight shine!
• Share the spotlight love… review and rate other teachers’ products. Not only will it help give you great ideas, a review helps that teacher by motivating, encouraging and giving them ways to improve their own offerings. After all, it is all about collaboration!

Coming up next, 

How to Search for Stellar Spotlights

LOA Diaries - Edmodoing Again

I am back on the train and that six a.m. alarm seemed incredibly early. +Edmodo invited me to come back and work on a new project so literally and figuratively I am back on board! My job this time around is to help increase awareness and use of an open education resource hub which is part of the Edmodo product suite. Spotlight is free, though teachers can sell resources if they choose.

Ever since my first year of teaching, I have seen the need for teachers to have a way to share resources. At each of the three grade levels I taught, I started a wiki where my district colleagues and I would, I envisioned, share resources such as lesson plans, unit plans, projects and the like.  I was shocked when one teacher I worked with said she didn't want to share anything because, 'what if I shared and no one else did, then I wouldn't get anything!' This, coming from an adult! It was an uphill road, one I never fully conquered within my districts. But many of the teachers I've worked with did see the value and contributed to our collections.

But then an interesting thing happened on the way to the classroom, teachers discovered the Internet. I began to connect with like minded teachers across the country who wanted to share ideas, questions and resources! Eureka!

Fast forward a few years to what was one of my worst years teaching. Edmodo unveiled Spotlight and I couldn't be bothered. It's not that I didn't want to share, I just didn't think anything I had to contribute was worthy of sharing. And honestly, I could not bear to add one more thing to my plate.

A year later, I found myself consulting with Edmodo and was asked to meet with a user experience specialist, +Kul Wadhwa,  to talk about why I, a long time user of Edmodo and an Edmodo Ambassador for goodness sake, didn't use Spotlight. This is how disconnected from the product I was, I wore my Snapshot (a different Edmodo product) shirt to the meeting! I didn't even know what we were meeting about!  I was brutally honest with my feedback. Kul was unflappable, took it all in and asked me to give it a try so I could give him user feedback.

Some of my barriers to entry were it looked confusing, I didn't have time or energy to try something new and I didn't think I had anything to offer. Kul started me off with simple searching using filters. Aha! I hadn't noticed the filter ability before and it made searching for resources oh so much easier. As I was looking at resources, I realized that hey, maybe someone might be interested in our Twitter Tuesday routine, or our Regions of the US project, or, or, or.... I started seeing how I could make that wiki dream part of reality, on a global scale!

So I agreed to upload one 'product'. I started simple with a presentation I'd given at a tech conference, Writing for the Real World. That was easy! So then I got brave and created a few more, using projects I'd done for years in my classrooms.  I started asking my Edmodo communities for feedback and their comments and suggestions were invigorating. The more feedback I got, the more I wanted to share.  

Later, when Edmodo wanted some help igniting its Spotlight Luminary (super user) program, I was invited to step in. There is an irony in that I was slow to adopt, and still haven't earned my Luminary badge, but like a reformed smoker, I've found I am quite the evangelist.  And I am not alone. We just launched an incentive program and many of the Luminaries are creating their own challenges. Ms. Osborne has challenged herself to review one product from every person who has submitted content! Ms. Collins challenged herself and others to upload one holiday themed product for the next four weeks! They are making my job easy!