In academia, a license is permission you get from the copyright owner (author, artist, creator) of the work you want to use. A license grants permissions to use the work, but sometimes it states restrictions as well. The license specifies what can and cannot be done with a work.
An open license grants permission to access, reuse, remix and redistribute a work for free, with few or no restrictions. With open licenses, creators maintain the rights to their copyrighted work. Open educational resources use open licenses!
Adapted from Learn OER modules from Open Washington, by the SBCTC, licensed under CC BY 4.0
Creative Commons (CC) is an international organization that advocates for open practices. Creative Commons has developed a set of open licenses to facilitate sharing and reuse of all kinds of creative and scholarly works. CC licenses reduce barriers to new knowledge production by clarifying copyright expectations of creators.
Learn about Creative Commons licenses and how to apply them to your OER work on our Creative Commons guide.
Adapted from "Difference between open license, public domain and all rights reserved copyright" by Boyoung Chae licensed under CC BY 4.0
University of Washington Bothell & Cascadia College
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Land Acknowledgment: The University of Washington Bothell & Cascadia College Campus Library occupies Land that has been inhabited by Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial. Specifically, this campus is located on Sammamish Land from which settler colonists forcibly removed Coast Salish Peoples to reservations in the mid-19th century. Today, descendants of the Sammamish are members of several Coast Salish communities.