This is a grant opportunity for instructors and creators interested in using Affordable Learning Materials and OER.

Purpose

The Open Educational Resources (OER) and Affordable Learning Material (ALM) Incentive Program is designed to:

• Support students’ affordability for learning materials
• Increase equitable access to students’ education
• Encourage faculty in exploring high-quality and suitable learning resources to meet their course’s outcomes and objectives
• Provide students with customized learning materials to best serve their learning needs

Funding Categories

Eligibility

• Full-time tenure track or non-tenure track faculty
• Teams, departments, and programs are encouraged to work together to develop unified adoption of materials for multiple sections of courses.
• Priority is given to team developments with higher-enrollment courses

Components of the Proposal

Proposals will be submitted online and will include the following information:

• Name of Instructor(s), Position Title/ Rank, Department and School/College, Contact Information (email, phone)
• Basic information about the course (including course number and title)
• Current textbook(s) and costs; number of students; number of total course sections for the course
  • What is the potential saving to students in this course if you use OER?
• Outline of the plan
  • What is the nature of the course materials to be adopted (open educational resource/textbook, use of freely available educational resources, digital collection(s), etc.)? What modifications would be needed for the existing materials (if any) and/or what new material will need be created to fill in missing content/gaps? Also discuss any challenges or barriers anticipated in carrying out your plans. If appropriate, address any internal approval required within your department.
  • How will students access and utilize this open access material?
  • If you create materials, how will you make these materials openly accessible for others to use? What Creative Commons license will you apply and why?
  • How will you assess the effectiveness of the open access textbook/materials in your course?

Proposal Deadline and Other Requirements

• Applicants are required to enroll in and complete an overview OER/ALM Canvas course on topics relevant to affordable learning as a prerequisite to applying for funding. It is estimated that most faculty will be able to complete the course in 3-4 hours. The Canvas course will be available no later than June 15, 2022. Register for the Canvas course by emailing ckristof [at] kent.edu (subject: OER%20and%20ALM%20Incentive%20Program) (Cindy Kristof). Each awardee will be assigned a subject librarian to assist with identification and evaluation of affordable course materials.
• The deadline for submission of proposals is November 1, 2022. Proposals will be reviewed by the OER and ALM Committee by December 15, 2022. Awardees will be announced in January 2023.
• For mini-grant and grant awards, implementation of the OER/ALM is expected to take place in Fall 2023. For super-grant awards, implementation of the OER is expected to take place no later than Fall 2026.
• A final report is due after the project is completed. The final report should include:
  • The number of students enrolled in the course and cost savings; summary of usage across sections (if applicable)
  • Evaluation of impact on learning
  • Explanation of how material was accessed
• Applicants for mentorship grants must have previous experience with implementation of affordable course materials for their courses.

Submit a proposal

University Support/Resources for OER/ALM Proposals

• Kent State University Libraries will offer educational and training efforts including:
  • OER/ALM online course delivered via Canvas starting in Summer 2022
  • Libraries Affordable Course Materials Summit scheduled for Friday, Sept. 23, 2022
• KSU Libraries offers many resources for Affordable Learning and Course Materials. Contact Cindy Kristof (ckristof [at] kent.edu) or Molly Wang (zwang3 [at] kent.edu) with further questions.