OER Course Transformation Incentive Program 2024 - 2026

1. AUTHOR - Create and adopt a substantially new open textbook (OER course materials) where it is possible to demonstrate that quality OER materials are not currently available to meet learning objectives of the course.
2. REVISE / REMIX - Update already existing OER course materials with major revisions OR develop custom course content from multiple open educational resources in order to support learning objectives not met by currently available OER materials.
3. ANCILLARIES - Adopt exiting OER materials and create ancillaries such as quiz banks, lecture slides, or lab manuals
4. UPDATE - Update and adopt exiting OER materials which require only minor editing for currency or relevance, without major changes to the content or structure.

Four funding models will be available to faculty who wish to substitute their existing required textbook with OER for use in their course(s).

1. AUTHOR an open textbook (OER) - Award in the amount of $5,000 - $7,500 to author and create a new OER if one currently does not exist. 
2. REVISE / REMIX existing OER course materials - Award in the amount of $4,000 to adapt already existing open educational resources and remix them to meet the learning objectives of the course
3. DEVELOP ANCILLARIES - Award in the amount of $3,000 to adopt existing OER and create custom course ancillaries
4. UPDATE and adopt existing OER course materials with minimal changes - Award in the amount of $2,000

NOTE: All project funding is dependent upon Adler Library's grant application being accepted by the State of Illinois (notification expected by June 2024).

One application per course on an Adler campus will be considered.

Each application is required to have a Project Lead*

An application can include a project team of two or more faculty members who each teach unique sections of the same course, in which each faculty member may be eligible for funding.

Adjunct faculty members who teach the course are eligible to be involved in a project team.

Students can also be on a project team as creators and receive compensation.

Individual faculty members can be involved in more than one applying team, but they may not be listed as the Project Lead* in more than one proposal.

*A Project Lead is required to be either (1) a full-time Adler faculty member or (2) a permanent adjunct who regularly teaches the Adler course under consideration.

The primary goal of the OER Course Transformation Incentive Program is to support student affordability of course materials at Adler through switching to zero cost course materials. 

To be eligible, all proposed projects must replace traditionally copyrighted, proprietary course materials with an open textbook/OER which meets this criteria:

• It replaces a paid textbook option typically used to teach the course, or fills a gap where there is no sufficient existing textbook.
• It uses a digital publishing platform (LibreTexts and/or OER Commons will be provided to all grant recipients, but other platforms may be used).
• It will be openly licensed using a Creative Commons 4.0 International License that allows for derivatives.
• It must be full accessible according to Web Content Accessibility (WCAG 2.0) Guidelines.
• Final materials will be hosted in the Open Illinois OER Commons Hub, LibreTexts, and the Open Textbook Library. The OER must be made available for printing through a printing platform such as XanEdu.
• Final materials must be used in the course by the Spring semester 2026 and for three years after the end of the grant.
• It provides students with day-one access to their course materials.
• It allows students to retain access to the OER content after the course is completed.