Open content licenses

Open content licenses

Open content licenses allow creators to exercise their copyright and balance access and control of their intellectual property.

"A legal mechanism that has been developed, known as open-content licensing that provides copyright owners with a facility for sharing their content with the world and thereby establishing a zone or space on the internet for lawful and seamless access. (...) Importantly, open content licenses can be represented in machine-readable metadata which can allow the technology to understand the legal obligations attaching to a particular document. (...). Ultimately, the belief is that if we can harness the great store of information that exists, we can tackle problems and provide insights and solutions on a scale greater than we have ever done before". (SOURCE)

Important Note: In adult education, in particular, lecturers, tutors, and mentors need to be well-informed about the rights and regulations that are imposed on them by UP. In some institutions, for example, the exchange of the material among colleagues may be allowed (or even encouraged), but not the release of resources with an open license! Furthermore, the protection of intellectual property not only affects teaching professionals who create or repurpose teaching and learning material. Open pedagogies increasingly involve the learner in the development of resources, who therefore need to be made aware of the rules of copyright as well. More information on how to teach copyright you may find HERE.