Student Selection of Content Licenses in OER-enabled Pedagogy

Students acting as content creators is an emergent trend in the field of open educational practice. As more faculty turn towards the use of open pedagogy or OER-enabled Pedagogy, they must be prepared to address concerns related to intellectual property rights of student work. This article addresses student concerns related to intellectual property rights, specifically related to Creative Commons licensing as well as faculty awareness of use of Creative Commons licensing. Research was conducted at a small, liberal arts college in the Appalachian Region of the United States. All first-year students engaged in an OER-enabled Pedagogy project where they collaboratively created a reader for the First Year Studies seminar course. Following class, students and faculty were interviewed regarding how dynamics of intellectual property and Creative Commons licensing impacted the educational process. Results indicate students are open to sharing their works with credit, and value helping others. Faculty tend to be unfamiliar with Creative Commons licensing and must balance the desire to help students understand licensing and prescribing their own preferences when asked about licensing selection.