Free Creative Commons Digital Resources for Instructional Designers
Updated: Dec 15, 2022
Creative Commons (CC) is an open license that offers a great many digital resources to instructional designers and teachers. Here are a few of my favorite places on the web to get CC digital photos, videos, and music.
Free Stuff
For those new to the CC idea, let me quickly define it: Creative Commons (CC) is a type of copyright that means you are able to reuse the content under varying restrictions and open-use depending on which license was selected by the content creator. You always have to give at least credit/attribution to the original author/designer. Learn more here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Closely linked to CC are Open Educational Resources (OERS), but not to be confused with it. CC is a license for OERs and other digital resources. OER is the actual digital learning object or digital resource itself. Open Educational Resources (OERs) are eResources, eBooks, and digital learning objects that teachers can use in non-profit institutions without concerns for copyright, so long as credit/attribution is given back to the original author/designer. Learn more here: http://www.oercommons.org/
Some of my favorite CC Links on the Web:
Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Database of 16,899,643 freely usable media files.
Jamendo: http://www.jamendo.com
CC music
Tribe of Noise: http://www.tribeofnoise.com/
CC music
ArtistServer: http://artistserver.com/
7,000+ free audio files.
ccMixter: http://ccmixter.org/
CC licensed remixed songs.
Free-Loops: http://free-loops.com/
1000s of sound effects.
Freesound: http://www.freesound.org/
No music, but a lot of sound effects.
Open Clip Art : http://openclipart.org/
CC clip art.
Photopin: http://photopin.com/
CC Photos.
500px CC: http://500px.com/creativecommons
CC Photos
Flickr CC: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
Compfight searches Flickr CC images for you: http://compfight.com/
Internet Archive Book Images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/
14 million historical images extracted from 2 million Internet Archive public domaine ebooks.
Creativity 103: http://creativity103.com/
Library of free abstract backgrounds.
Animal Photos: http://animalphotos.info
1000s of CC animal photos.
PhotoEverywhere: http://pho1toeverywhere.co.uk/
1000s of free travel photos from around the world.
Vimeo CC: http://vimeo.com/creativecommons
CC Videos.
Do you know of some good websites to get free CC content? Please comment and share.
Image from CC website.