“Widespread adoption of the share-friendly copyright license known as Creative Commons encourages people to legally allow their own images, text, or music to be used and improved by others without the need for additional permission. In other words, sharing and sampling content is the new default. There were more than one billion instances of Creative Commons permissions in use in 2015.”
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly
Basically, Creative Commons is a way for students to access things like music or images for use with their projects without breaching anyone’s copyright.
While schools are permitted to use certain things in relation to education, the rules surrounding copyright aren’t always clear and the subtleties aren’t always easy for a student (0r a teacher) to understand.
As the website creativecommons.org tells us:
“Creative Commons helps you legally share your knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world. We unlock the full potential of the internet to drive a new era of development, growth and productivity.
“With a network of staff, board, and affiliates around the world, Creative Commons provides free, easy-to-use copyright licenses to make a simple and standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work–on conditions of your choice.“
Another website worth bringing to the attention of kids is the Australian one
The websites themselves explain about the licences. Depending on the level you’re using this with, you may use these sites to develop students understanding of such things as copyright and plagiarism. (It’s not as someone once said, “Copy from one source and it’s plagiarism; copy from many sources and it’s research.”)
And let’s not forget the whole thrust toward colloboration that many schools are embracing. Colloboration is not simply putting kids in groups and trying to ensure that Jason doesn’t let Jade do all the research work, while he operates the slides when they present. In the future, colloboration will include working with people you’ve never met face to face.
Here’s the video from the Creative Commons website:
Rossleigh's Education Blog 