Call for Proposals: Open Educational Resources Grants

Open Oregon seeks grant proposals that implement high-impact, collaborative projects in support of open education and reduced textbook costs for students. Grant funding of $200,000 is made available by the Oregon Community College Distance Learning Association.

Proposals are invited in four categories:

1. Adopt – Redesign your course to incorporate an existing open textbook or open course content as is ($500 per person, capped at $3,000 per course; let us know if you have a very large department that needs special consideration). Apply for an Adopt Grant

2. Revise/Remix – Remix existing open educational resources and create new open content to bridge gaps in available resources to enable a fully open course. New content may add missing chapters to existing OER or create ancillaries such as quiz question banks, lecture slides, or lab manuals ($1500 per person, capped at $9,000 per course). Apply for a Revise/Remix Grant

3. Author – Create a substantially new open textbook or open course where it is possible to demonstrate that quality resources are not currently available to meet learning objectives ($5,000 per person with a project cap of $30,000 per course). Apply for an Author Grant

4. Other – Propose a different kind of project not covered by the three categories above (up to $30,000). Proposals should directly use grant money rather than re-granting smaller amounts to other applicants. Apply for an “Other” Grant

Completed application forms are due Friday, January 29, 2016. The grant committee will notify applicants by Monday, February 29, 2016. Project timelines may vary but must be completed by June 1, 2017.

Eligibility:

Applications are welcome from Oregon community college stakeholders, including faculty, librarians, support professionals, administrators, students, bookstore staff, and multi-institutional collaborations. Teams can include members that are not affiliated with Oregon community colleges. Applications are encouraged for courses that contribute to transfer degrees; career and technical education; developmental education; and high enrollment courses. Avoid duplication with the 2015 grant cohort projects.

Requirements for applicants:

• Identify the open educational resources that you will use as your starting point in the project, or demonstrate that existing resources are not available to meet your learning objectives. Good places to start your research include the Open Textbook Library, BCcampus, OER Commons, and Open Oregon’s Resources page. (Contact a librarian or Amy Hofer for search help.)
• Identify the support available for your project’s needs, such as librarians, accessibility services, technical support for online options, bookstore for print options, copy editors, peer reviewers, illustrators, etc.
• Notify the unit that will receive and distribute the grant funds that you are applying for this grant.

Requirements for grant recipients:

• Share your work with an appropriate open license so that others can easily adopt and reuse.
• Work with Open Oregon to develop a timeline of deliverables, payment schedule, and assessment data.
• Publicize your work by providing Open Oregon with press-worthy updates; participating in webinars, workshops, and professional meetings; giving a presentation to your department colleagues; and posting your adoption on the Open Oregon Resources Page.

Project proposals will be evaluated using a rubric that balances the following criteria to prioritize impact and collaboration:

• Student savings compared to grant amount
• Quality considerations such as accessibility of proposed content, support for user experience and curriculum, appeal for future adoption in other settings, and demonstrated need to create new rather than reuse (if applicable)
• Department commitment (for example, redesign all sections of a class or all classes in a sequence)
• Multi-institutional commitment (for example, collaborators on more than one community college campus, commitment to implement at more than one campus, or a 4-year partner)
• Feasibility of project as proposed

The grant evaluation committee is:

Amy Hofer, Linn-Benton Community College, Open Oregon
Lisa Brandt, Portland Community College, Oregon Association of Higher Education and Disability
Kendra Cawley, Portland Community College, Council of Instructional Administrators
Claire Dannenbaum, Lane Community College, Reference and Instruction Librarian
Jen Klaudinyi, Portland Community College, Faculty Librarian
Chris Rubio, Central Oregon Community College, 2015 OER Grant Cohort
Michael Weissenfluh, Tillamook Bay Community College, Oregon Community College Distance Learning Associaton