OER Grants

Grant Application Information and Guidelines

Purpose

The WCU Bookstore and campus partners have developed a faculty grant program to support the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) into the Textbook Rental Program. The program is designed to promote affordable access, reduce the long-term cost of attendance for WCU students, and to support faculty with flexible grant funds to support their work and programs. Grants provide support in many ways, including travel (post-project support), equipment, or supplies (project support).

Eligibility

Any undergraduate, residential credit course with a textbook rental adoption may participate in the program. When an OER grant is awarded, the textbook rental adoption is discontinued for the specified course/section and replaced with the proposed OER material. Other supplemental materials (access codes, digital resources, journals, etc.) may still be required, but the student should not be required to purchase a secondary textbook. In the event that an entire course converts to OER materials (i.e. multiple faculty members teaching multiple sections), each participating faculty member will be awarded according to the information below.

Who Applies

Faculty may apply for their own course, or on a course’s behalf for multiple participating faculty members.

For all submissions, the department head will be consulted and must approve the adoption and conversion to OER materials for the specified courses/sections.

Grant Types

  1. Textbook replacement grant: Adoption of an OER material to replace a textbook rental adoption: $2,500 per faculty member, per course.
  2. Course redesign grant: Complete course redesign that alters pedagogy, replacing traditional materials and the associated textbook rental adoption with OER materials: $3,500 per faculty member, per course.
  3. OER Contributor grant: Create and publish an OER textbook that will be used for a course at WCU, replacing the textbook rental adoption. The textbook must be made available under a Creative Commons-BY-NC-SA 4.0 License (Attribution, NonCommercial, ShareAlike), peer reviewed, and endorsed by the department head. The final textbook shall be shared via an accessible platform in coordination with the grant committee. Half of the grant is awarded upon application approval, with the remaining half awarded after the OER textbook is complete. If adding to or editing an existing OER material, the grant value will be determined by the selection committee based on the proposed and actual contributions. $5,000 per OER textbook.
  4. Open pedagogy grant: Designed to support innovative teaching and learning. Open pedagogy incorporates OER and assignments to enhance the learning environment in which students actively contribute to open knowledge. Awardees replace course required supplemental materials (“access code” style, vendor-specific courseware, paid access to materials, etc.). $1,000 per faculty member, per course.

For each grant type, departments agree to use the OER material as their textbook rental adoption for at least two academic years, and to submit program feedback during the first academic year.

Grant Restrictions

OER grants operate with minimal restrictions on usage but are required to follow all University and State purchasing guidelines. Faculty participating in the OER program act as accountable officers for their individual awards.

Award Information and Schedule

Applications for adopting existing materials should be submitted to the WCU Bookstore at least 90 days before the start of the term in which the OER material may be used. This provides the Bookstore and campus partners time to review applications, obtain permission from department heads, create funds and assign administrative rights, and, when applicable, produce printed versions of OER materials. Applications for OER creation may be submitted at any time.

Resources and Process

This program is a campus-wide effort to promote affordability for WCU students. As such, multiple departments are available to assist faculty exploring the adoption of OER materials.

The WCU Bookstore provides the application to apply for the program, and information regarding the status of applications. The Bookstore is responsible for obtaining the authorization of the applicable department head, as well as fulfilling the adoption, and funding/awarding the grant funds. For more information, please contact the Bookstore ([email protected], 828.227.7346).

Hunter Library serves the curricular and research needs of students, faculty, and staff while encouraging academic success, fostering critical thinking, and enriching the community. Hunter Library can partner with faculty to search for OER materials for adoption into the program. Hunter Library also works with the Bookstore to find non-OER textbook rental materials and supplemental textbook materials that may be accessible via existing library licensing. For more information, please contact Scottie Kappel or your subject librarian.

Colter Faculty Commons (CFC) is a comprehensive Teaching and Learning center. CFC partners with faculty, departments and programs in course design, evidence-based instructional approaches, assessment, curriculum mapping, new instructional methodologies, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. CFC also provides consultations for using educational technology to support student engagement and success. For more information, please contact Angela Fulk ([email protected], 828.227.7196).

Questions

Questions regarding the program and the administration of the program should be directed to Robert Walker, Associate Vice Chancellor for Auxiliary Enterprises, at [email protected].