Creative Commons in the Classroom

As technology becomes a more vital tool for learning in the classroom, students and teachers will be using it to find, build, and share self-created content (websites, documents, media and more). With so much information and lots of resources available to view and download, the lines of ownership become blurred. It will be increasingly important to label self-created content so that users/viewers understand how the creator of the content wants it to be used.

Creative Commons (CC) is a website and licensing agency that helps people share their knowledge, creativity, and content with the world. Creators can obtain a license by downloading an icon/badge to place on their content so that viewers know the creators' intent. 

In the classroom, teachers are encouraging students to create digital content and publish it via the Internet. Most often, teachers will share student work through the class website, but other times, teachers push their students to publish work on their own websites. 

Tools like Blogger and Wordpress make it easy for students to share their writing, Flickr and Picasa are photo sharing sites, and YouTube or Vimeo are options for uploading video. Students are taking advantage of these widely used resources as part of their homework, class projects, and extra-curricular group activities.

As more schools and individuals gain access to the Internet, and then begin publishing their work, more and more similar content is created. Students and teachers will need to identify their work so that others that view or use it will give credit to the original creator. 

Ronald Reagan once said, "Imagine what could be done if nobody minds who gets the credit." In the age of the Internet and digital technology it's nice to give credit to those who share freely and openly.