Importance of Creative Commons Licensing and the Creative Commons Movement to Open Education Resources Initiatives in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper looks at the role of Creative Commons Licenses (CC) in promoting Open Education Resources (OERs) initiative in Nigeria in the light of the newly formed Creative Commons Nigeria Affiliate. It discusses the importance of nurturing and strengthening the Affiliate as essential to promoting the use of CC licenses in Nigeria in order to facilitate the effective deployment of OERs in the country. Noting that OERs tools typically depend on copyright rules or licensing models that permit open and free use and sharing of content, it notes that the two initiatives can be harnessed to achieve their common objective: free and effective dissemination and access to learning materials. Thus, it discusses the status of the newly formed Nigerian CC Affiliate, its goals and strategies for achieving them, its relevance to OERs development in Nigeria, the challenges in meeting its goals and useful lessons offered by the experience of other CC Affiliates in Africa and beyond. It suggests approaches and measures towards surmounting the challenges and achieving the goals of the Affiliate on one hand, and how to align the two initiatives (CC and OERs) for better results on the other hand. // Paper ID: 362