Creative Commons (CC) Certificate training develops people’s expertise in CC licenses in order to openly share and engage in our digital commons. With a foundation in open licensing expertise, we can build and foster a world where education, culture, and science are equitably shared to benefit humanity.
Learn more about our training from expert facilitators in nine countries, and how our vibrant community of 2,013 CC Certificate graduates in 70 countries champion open movements around the world today. Join us, and register to get CC Certified today.
The CC Certificate program offers in-depth, sector-specific courses that provide the training and expertise to champion open practices and CC licensing at the individual, institutional, and community level. Past participants include librarians and archivists who work in copyright, open access, and open education; K-12 teachers, higher education faculty, instructional designers, and administrators who are interested in more expertise about open practices; museum directors, gallery curators, and other cultural heritage professionals who are interested in opening up access to their collections.
“Participating in the CC Certification course was an absolute delight. The content is well-organized and paced, providing an approachable introduction to open licensing for educators from a range of diverse backgrounds. One of the greatest benefits was the opportunity to connect with others from all over the globe, who share a passion for opening up the education process for ALL learners. I highly recommend this course to anyone seeking to work with openly licensed content.” -Sarah Hutton, University of Massachusetts Amherst
CC Certificates
We currently offer a CC Certificate for Open Culture, a CC Certificate for Academic Librarians, and a CC Certificate for Educators. Each 10-week, online course is designed by CC licensing experts and legal advisers, open advocates and practitioners, and leaders in the field. Each cohort hosts a max of 25 learners for hands-on training, personalized engagement, and in-depth discussions. Graduates of CC Certificate courses receive microcredentials documenting their open licensing expertise.
CC Certificate courses are open to everyone, from university students and entry-level professionals to experts in the fields of library science, education, and cultural heritage.
CC Certificate for Educators
In this course, specially designed for educators and open educational resources (OER) practitioners and advocates, participants will learn about the open education landscape, open pedagogy, and how to both create and make the most of OER. By participating in this course, you will also gain access to a global community of educators working toward similar open education goals.
“This is the best training to learn everything you need to know about CC licenses and licensing practice including info related to OER. The course is well structured and tutors offer great support.”- Maja Bogataj Jancic, Intellectual Property Institute
CC Certificate for Academic Librarians
Academic librarians are essential leaders in open movements, providing critical guidance and recommendations to their colleagues on developing open access policies and practices, increasing access to research. In this course, early career academic librarians or anyone supporting the development of equitable publishing, dissemination, and access approaches at the institutional level, will learn about open access and open education efforts, and how to apply open practices throughout an academic library or department. Participants will also gain access to a global community of librarians working on similar open access goals.
“If at all possible, take this course. It’s probably the most valuable and rewarding professional development training I’ve done since becoming an academic librarian in 2013. I thought I had a pretty decent grasp of the ins and outs of Creative Commons before taking the course, and the difference in my knowledge and skillset now compared to then is night and day. In my experience, the heavy majority of faculty don’t have a great idea of what CC is, how it works, or what it can do for them. Being a campus resource for CC has raised my profile at the university, which has done wonders for work building and running an OER program. As soon as I started helping faculty with individual reference consultations about CC, word started getting around. Now I’m getting faculty I’ve never met emailing me to ask for advice on a CC question, because they heard about me from a peer. Money well spent.” – Stephen Craig Finlay, University of Nebraska Omaha
CC Certificate for Open Culture
The CC Certificate for Open Culture is a professional development training for institutions or community groups engaged in cultural or documentary heritage. As more galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs) adapt to increasingly online audiences and users to make cultural heritage globally accessible, they often seek CC legal tools, expertise, and community support to implement open culture practices.
In this course, participants will develop a deeper understanding of open licensing and copyright considerations with CC licenses, digitization projects, working with the public domain, and how these interact with other relevant topics, such as indigenous knowledge rights. Participants will also gain access to a global community of professionals and activists working toward similar cultural and policy changes in their own cultural heritage institutions.
CC Certificate Bootcamps
CC Certificate Bootcamps provide dedicated training for the whole team!
Bootcamps are intensive online or in-person workshops, which cover the CC Certificate course content. Bootcamps are custom developed for teams, institutions, and organizations and offer CC Certificate training that is catered to your specific context. CC works directly with an institution or organization point person who is then responsible for selecting their participants.
The time commitment for bootcamps is approximately six to ten hours of reading in advance, and 40 hours of work during the bootcamp.
In-Person Options
In-person CC Certificate Bootcamps are one-week, intensive workshops for approximately 15-25 participants held at a host institution.
Online Options
Online bootcamps offer either a one-week (full day) or a two-week (half-day) intensive workshop for up to 50 participants affiliated with a host institution.<
Organize a CC Certificate Bootcamp workshop for your team today! Bootcamps are available upon request for groups. We work with host institutions to schedule Bootcamps at times convenient to the institution. Please contact certificates@creativecommons.org if you would like more information or to organize a Bootcamp.
The CC Certificate training program regularly adds and adapts courses to meet the evolving needs of the CC community. If your institution is looking for a custom training program, or has suggestions for future CC Certificate courses, please contact us to discuss more.
CC also offers consulting to address your specific challenges and support you in meeting your open licenses and access to knowledge goals. Take a look at our other training offerings on the CC Training page.
A special thanks to our Certificate graduates, as well as the organizations and individuals who contributed to the creation, revision and refinement of the Certificate content and course design.
Disclaimer: Please note that earning a Creative Commons (CC) digital credential will not authorize you to provide legal advice, represent your opinions as official interpretations of CC tools, or speak on behalf of CC or its Network Chapters.