What Are Those Weird Symbols Under the Profile Picture?

Choosing a Creative Commons License

The premise behind creating a license is to give advance permission for sharing work with interested people  (Licensing Portal for Educators, 2010). For a teacher this may seem silly and up until now, I had not considered putting a license on my work. Plenty of people have shared their work with me and I am happy to share what I create with others. It is an added joy if my efforts can make another teacher’s day a little easier or help someone learn. As a teacher who is often changing lessons and improving activities up until the last minute, I understand the requirement to ask for permission is limiting. By granting certain permissions up front to a possible user, the work can be used at the moment it is found and the user is inspired.

I assume teachers are honest about borrowing and using the work of other teachers. In my role as a teacher, I create videos, lessons, labs and activities and many of them are posted in various places on the internet. I also give workshops and presentations on various topics for flipped learning.  I also know that others use things I have posted in one form or another. Some ask for permission, and I am sure that many have not. I do not mind if people use my work, but there are some things that would bother me.

Choices for the Creative Commons license range from permission to freely use material in any manner for any purpose to restricting how and when the material can be used (Licensing Portal for Educators, 2010). For items that I post, I do not care if they are changed or edited. I do feel strongly that none of it should be used to create income. I would also like credit for my hard work. I thought the share-alike license was unnecessary and adds complication.  I chose the license you see in the sidebar of my blog, giving advance permission if there is attribution and the use is non-commercial.

For those teachers who are kind enough to ask for permission before using my work, thank you for your consideration. You now have my permission, for what it is worth, enjoy and please return the favor by sharing improvements with me and others. For those teachers wanting to learn more about Creative Commons and getting your own badge for your website, go to the Licensing Portal for Educators to learn more and pick your own.

Licensing Portal for Educators. (2010, December 1). Retrieved September 4, 2014, from Creative Commons: https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Licensing_Portal_for_Educators