Open Content: Open Educational Resources (OER) and Creative Commons (CC)
PowerPoint presentations, explanatory videos or scripts – teaching is rarely done without external content. An image here and there, video links or text excerpts from other works are sometimes virtually necessary to convey or illustrate knowledge.
Third-party works are usually protected by copyright and may not actually be used without the author's consent. Exceptions are the so-called limitations of copyright, such as the right to quote (Section 51 UrhG) and Section 60a Teaching and instruction (Kreutzer & Hirche, 2017, pp. 10-13, 46-55.) More on copyright and limitations of copyright
In addition to the limitation provisions, so-called open content offers more extensive possibilities for using copyright-protected works.
Tip
You can find freely usable pictograms for scripts, presentations or videos in Word and PowerPoint under "Insert".
Search for Creative Commons, e.g. on External link opens in a new window:Openverse or CocoMaterial. TU Darmstadt offers a links list of images, videos and music under CC license as well as a list of links to open educational content.
Open Content
Open Content has created a simple way of granting other people the right to use copyrighted works. This is done through open content licenses. However, authors do not waive their own rights, which would make works public domain, as would be the case with public domain. It is not possible to waive copyrights in Germany, only to transfer the rights of use to others. In some cases, these are also automatically transferred to others, for example in the case of works created in employment relationships. Honorary professors, university lecturers and lecturers are exempt from this (Kreutzer & Hirche, 2017, p. 14 - 17).
Open content first emerged in the IT sector. The basic idea was that software could be used, modified and, above all, improved by anyone. Since the Creative Commons model was launched in 2001, the principle of open content has also become well-known in other industries. One prominent example is Wikipedia, whose content is available under an open content license.
Since then, it has been possible to create open educational resources and make them available to others for free use. There are certain license models that describe this use. One of these is Creative Commons (ibid., p. 20f).
Open Educational Resources (OER)
OER are open educational resources that are made available for (more or less) free use. The obligations of the contract (= open content license) must be observed.
It is important to note that "open" refers to free use, but not to "free of charge". It is true that OER can be used without license fees and are often accessible free of charge. Nevertheless, OER can cost money: e.g. if OER content is distributed in print or online access is provided via a paid platform. Free use or use depending on the open content license means that not every teacher has to obtain their own individual permission from the author. Rather, the license automatically creates a legally valid contract from which obligations also arise, usually the naming of the author and references to the legal ownership (Kreutzer & Hirche, 2017, p. 26-29).
Creative Commons (CC)
The Creative Commons open content licenses are now almost the international standard for OER works. The External link opens in a new window:Creative Commons website is available in many languages and explains the individual license models.
CC licenses are based on four attributes and their combination, so to speak in a "modular principle".
BY = Attribution
NC = non-commercial (no commercial use). Here, the rights holder reserves the right to commercial use. If someone wants to use their work commercially, they must therefore conclude an agreement with the rights holder that goes beyond the CC license.
ND = no derivatives (no editing)
SA = share alike (distribution under the same conditions) (Kreutzer & Hirche, 2017, p. 37-40)
About the "Download file:License options figure (Figure "CC license options. Explanation of the individual CC licenses" (Christine Ruthenfranz, CC-BY-SA 4.0) Status: 05.12.2018 " by Christine Ruthenfranz, Ruhr-Uni Bochum, e Scouts OER under the license CC-BY-SA via https://open.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/inhalt/ueber-openrub)
This results in a total of six license variants as well as the CC-0 license.
Please note: This implies a waiver of all intellectual property rights, which is not possible under German copyright law. Attribution of the author is therefore also recommended for CC-0.
Using OER content - correct labeling
When using open content, you use it under the conditions of the license provided. As a rule, this also includes naming the author and indicating the legal ownership.
The TULLU (Titel, Urheber*in, Lizenz, Link, Ursprungsort) rule helps as a mnemonic for the correct labeling of open content. The following should be mentioned:
title, author, license, link, place of origin.
External link opens in a new window:More information about the TULLU Rule
Further reading
Kreutzer, T. & Hirche, T. (2017). Rechtsfragen zur Digitalisierung in der Lehre Praxisleitfaden zum Recht bei E-Learning, OER und Open Content. Multimedia Kontor Hamburg (External link opens in a new window:available online).
For authors
Find the right CC license for your work.
You can find help on the External link opens in a new window:wb-web and Creative Commons websites.
Please note that you can only place a work under a CC license if you have the right to do so.
