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OER Mini-Grant Program

Call for Proposals

The CLIC's Open Educational Resources Committee is seeking applications for their first OER Mini-Grant Program. Three types of proposals are being sought: one $600 Adoption Grant, one $1,000 Creation Grant, and one $2,000 Departmental Grant. Applicants may apply for one type of grant for the 2022-23 academic year. Instructors may apply by clicking the "Application" tab to the left.

Applications will be due by Sunday, October 16, at 11:59 pm, and grant awards will be announced on November 1, with the final product due by the beginning of the 2023-2024 academic year.

Background

The University of Wisconsin - Superior OER Mini-Grant Program was created in 2021 to support the adoption and creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) by instructors at UW-Superior, and is funded by the Markwood Center for Learning, Innovation and Collaboration at the Jim Dan Hill Library. These grants aim to support faculty development through the use of new and existing open resources in the classroom, improve faculty engagement, as well as increase student retention and completion, make sure students have access to their course materials on day one, and save students money.

The goal of the OER Mini-Grant Program is to enhance the scholarship of teaching and learning at UW-Superior by providing instructors with the resources they need to redesign their courses around the use of OERs. OERs are defined as “teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions” (UNESCO). This includes any course materials (textbooks, lab books, videos, and so forth) released under an open license.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligible applicants must: 

  • Have instruction responsibilities at the University of Wisconsin - Superior 
  • Intend to use an Open Educational Resource in a credit-bearing course within the next academic year
  • Only submit one (1) proposal per year

This grant may not be used for:

  • The adoption or creation of resources intended for commercial purposes
  • The creation of educational resources that are not licensed under Creative Commons
  • The creation of an educational resources under a "No Derivatives" Creative Commons license type (CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-ND)

What are the expectations of a grant recipient?

Before
During
After
  • Meet with the OER Committee to discuss the project, timeline, and support available
  • Become aware of the four approved Creative Commons licenses
  • Only use works that are openly licensed, public domain, or authored by the grant recipient, and otherwise follow copyright laws
  • Check in with the CLIC at least three times through the course of the project
  • Publicly share any new accessible course material created for this project under a Creative Commons license that does not include a No Derivatives (ND) term
  • Complete the project
  • Use in a credit-bearing course at UW-Superior before September 1, 2024
  • Share your syllabus with the library
  • Share experiences and outcomes with other faculty members during an event on campus

Award Levels

Award
Amount
Expectation
Adoption $600.00 Find existing OERs and use them in your course as your main required course materials rather than requiring students to purchase materials. Adapting, updating, or combining existing OERs to fit the needs of the course is optional but encouraged.
Creation $1,000.00 Create an OER to use as your main required course material rather than requiring students to purchase materials.
Departmental $2,000.00 Create an OER or adopt an existing OER into a course with multiple sections from a single department. If creating, the grant recipients will be expected to create an original OER that will be used substantially in their course. If adopting, the grant recipients will be expected to locate, evaluate, and adopt an OER into their course. Adapting, updating, or combining existing OERs to fit the needs of the course is optional but encouraged.