2021 Connecticut Open Educational Resources Grant Program

Description

The Connecticut Open Educational Resources Coordinating Council is excited to announce the return of the statewide grant program for faculty and departments within Connecticut’s higher education institutions to explore, adopt, create, revise, and supplement Open Educational Resources (OER).

This grant program focuses on OER opportunities in “high-impact” areas – courses with high enrollment, and high textbook costs. Adopting OER has the potential to increase equity in our classrooms and enhance student success.

Requirements

Open to all eligible faculty from Connecticut institutions of higher education.

Grants are for "high-impact" courses, defined as courses with high student enrollments and high costs associated with the course materials (e.g., textbooks).  Several high-impact disciplines have been identified; proposals may be submitted in other disciplines, provided the course(s) meet the definition of high impact.

Eligible applications must demonstrate that students enrolled in the high-impact course(s) will realize savings as a result of the current or future use of the OER.

Applicants will be required to attest (in the application) that they have received permission from their institution, and that they are not already receiving compensation (grants, release, sabbatical) for the grant proposal. Any related funding should complement but not duplicate funding for work proposed in this grant.

Categories of Grants:

This grant opportunity will focus on OER proposals within the following categories:

1. Review Grant – Evaluate an openly-licensed textbook or other open content related to your course(s)/ discipline and write a review for public display. Where possible, student involvement in the review is strongly encouraged.

• Individual Reviews – For an individual faculty member writing an OER review - $250
• Department Reviews – For a department writing a single review as part of the curriculum review process. Faculty involved may determine how to allocate the work and the funds amongst themselves - $500

2. Adoption Grant – Adopt an existing open textbook or open course content with little to no changes made to the content. Applications should detail the work involved in the proposed OER adoption and the resulting benefits to students. Where possible, student involvement is strongly encouraged. This is for an individual faculty member seeking to transform their course by adopting OER materials - $1,000

3. Supplemental Grant – Develop missing ancillaries for currently adopted OER such as quiz question banks, lecture slides, or lab manuals. ($1,000). Applications should include information on the need for the proposed supplements and the resulting benefits to students.  Where possible, student involvement is strongly encouraged. This is for an individual faculty member seeking to substantively supplement their adopted OER materials - $1,000 (For applicants requesting non-stipend funds, please provide a detailed budget - see form).

4. Impact Grant – For proposals to create OER and for collaborative, large scale proposals not covered by the categories above that demonstrate a high impact on student success using OER. Cross-institutional collaborative proposals as well as student involvement are strongly encouraged.  This grant type requires a detailed budget (see form).  Examples include (but are not limited to):

• Course Wide Adoption – For a group of two or more faculty members, seeking to transform a majority of the sections of a course by adopting OER materials at a systematic and department-wide level. Faculty involved may determine how to allocate the work and the funds amongst themselves
• Collaborative Creations – For a group of two or more faculty members, seeking to create supplemental materials in support of currently adopted OER at a systematic and department-wide level. Faculty involved may determine how to allocate the work and the funds amongst themselves
• Creation/Significant Revision – For the development of openly-licensed materials that are designed to stand on their own (versus supplemental materials that are used in conjunction with existing OER). Proposals can consist of 1) significant revisions of existing OER content, or 2) newly created OER content.  Creation/Revision grants are for individual Faculty work or for Faculty collaborations. Faculty involved may determine how to allocate the work and the funds amongst themselves.

* Grant awards may be subject to standard payroll deductions.

Deadlines:
The following deadlines apply to all four grant categories.

• Proposals (all materials) must be submitted using the online grant form by 11:59 pm on Monday, March 15, 2021.
• Selected applicants will be notified by April 16th, 2021.
• Grant Reports are due no later than December 31st, 2021.
• Grant awards will be to the applicant(s) and will only be issued upon Grant Report completion.