University of Alberta Open Educational Resources (OER) Grants
The University of Alberta (Open Educational Resources) OER Grants are funded by an endowment fund through the Provost's Office and from the University of Alberta Libraries. $75,000 has been allocated for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 academic years to support the use of OER to benefit teaching and learning through increasing access and discoverability of learning resources and contributing to student cost savings.
More information on open education and OER can be found here.
- Open Textbook Adoption - customize and use an existing open textbook.
- Course Enhancement - find, customize, pilot, and redistribute open educational resources.
- OER Development - extend the impact of your existing OER through engagement with students, community, and/or public partners.
Successful projects will be awarded:
- Funding to hire an undergrad or graduate student
- On-going training and coaching from the Centre for Teaching and Learning and the Library
- Support from a CTL OER Student Specialist (e.g. importing content into Pressbooks)
- Support to evaluate the effectiveness of the new resource(s) from CTL’s Research Coordinator
- Optional project management support
University of Alberta OER Grants will support faculty in the use of open educational resources (OER) in their course delivery. The grants will give faculty support and structure in the selection, integration, and use of open educational resources through collaboration and/or consultation with units such as the Centre for Teaching and Learning, University Libraries, and the Copyright Office.
Applications are invited from University educators including sessional instructors, faculty lecturers, tenured faculty, librarians, and other members of the academic staff who offer teaching and learning sessions for students. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who are assigned formal teaching responsibilities also may apply.
University of Alberta OER Grants aims to:
- Reduce the cost of textbooks and course materials through open educational resources.
- Increase access to educational resources for students, faculty, and the community through open licensing.
- Explore new and collaborative teaching opportunities through the use of open educational resources.
OER Grants will support instructors to:
- Adopt, modify, and/or create openly licensed course materials
- Pilot OER-enabled classroom activities and assignments (e.g. renewable assignments)
- Engage students, community, and/or public partners to enhance the value of OER
- Evaluate and share the outcomes of OER Grant projects
Applicants do not need experience working with open educational resources. Awarded projects will include collaboration with CTL and Libraries.
Additional questions about the grants program or requests for consultation are welcome. Please contact the OER team at library.publishing@ualberta.ca