Providing Attribution When Using OER

Introduction

1. Review: What are OER?

2. What is OER Attribution?

3. What Key Elements Should I Include in an OER Attribution Statement?

4. Can I Use an Online Generator to Make Attribution Quick and Easy?

5. Where Do I Place an Attribution Statement on the OER?

6. Where Can I Find Additional Resources?

REFERENCES

Introduction

Before we begin, let’s take a moment to figure out where you are on your OER journey.

At this point, you might be ready to share openly-licensed OER material with others. But, before you do, you must properly give credit to the original source or author. This is done by providing attribution.

Note: This same lesson is also available in the formats below.

1. Review: What are OER?

Open Educational Resources are openly licensed educational materials that can be used for teaching, learning, research, and other purposes.

5R Permissions

An OER's open license grants permissions by the original author for you to retain, reuse, revise, remix and redistribute.

RETAIN

REUSE

REVISE

REMIX

REDISTRIBUTE

Creative Commons

The most widely used open licenses are issued through Creative Commons, a global nonprofit organization.

They make it possible for creative works to be freely and legally shared. Each license comes with a set of conditions that the author wishes to apply to their work. And that specifies how the work can and cannot be used by others. But regardless of the license chosen, they all require you to meet one shared condition called Attribution! Marked by an icon of a person enclosed by a circle.

2. What is OER Attribution?

OER Attribution is a clear, simple statement that contains key elements used to credit the original author of openly licensed material. It’s about giving credit where credit is due!

But OER attribution differs from the credit given through scholarly citations that you may be used to seeing in academic literature like journal articles or research papers. The major differences are…

Scholarly Citation

Used for academic and legal purposes
Copyrights are NOT shared with the general public by the copyright holder.
Intended to protect author from plagiarism or copyright infringement.
Used to quote or paraphrase a limited portion of a restricted work.
A reference list of cited resources are typically placed at the end of the work.

OER Attribution Statement

Used for legal purposes
Copyrights ARE shared with the general public by the copyright holder.
Author gives advanced permissions to use their work.
Used to quote or paraphrase all or a portion of a restricted work.
Attribution statements are found on the same page as the resource.

3. What Key Elements Should I Include in an OER Attribution Statement?

TITLE

What is the name of the material?

AUTHOR

Who owns the material?

SOURCE

Where can I find the material?

LICENSE

Which license is the material under?

4. Can I Use an Online Generator to Make Attribution Quick and Easy?

Creative Commons and Open Attribution Builder are two FREE online tools to make attribution easy.

Remember, T-A-S-L
Simply place the title, author, source, and license information in the appropriate field and
The tool will automatically generate a correctly formatted attribution statement to place on the OER.

CREATIVE COMMONS

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

OPEN ATTRIBUTION BUILDER

Open Attribution Builder is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Managed by WA SBCTC. https://creativecommons.org/choose/#metadata

5. Where Do I Place an Attribution Statement on the OER?

TEXT

Place where it naturally makes sense, such as immediately preceding or following the work, or as a footer where the work appears.

PHOTOS/ IMAGES

Place under the photo or at the end of a post with an embedded photo.

VIDEO

Place near the work as it appears on the screen or as a bumper at the start or end of a video.

SOUND RECORDINGS

Mention the name of the artists during the recording and provide full attribution details near audio file on the hosting site (e.g., blog, LMS, intranet).

Attribution Example

Here is a real example of how to provide attribution for this PowerPoint presentation.

Included is a license button for this presentation in the bottom right corner.
This can be placed on a website and hyperlink to what’s called a
License deed that outlines the terms of use for an attributed work.

6. Where Can I Find Additional Resources?

Now that we have covered the basics for providing OER attribution… It’s time to check out some additional references and resources to help along your journey.

Creative Commons

Get more information and downloadable license logos, video bumpers, and content about OER attribution at Creative Commons.

Best Practices

Visit Wiki Commons for examples of ideal, good, and incorrect ways to provide attribution.

REFERENCES

Creative Commons Wiki

https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/What_is_OER%3F

Instructure/ Canvas Training

https://training.instructure.com/courses/1276118/pages/what-is-an-open-license

Creative Commons Downloads

https://creativecommons.org/about/downloads

https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/facultyoertoolkit/chapter/attribution-statements/