"Supported by the Library Services Fund, the OER Advisory Group invites proposals for projects that will use open textbooks in Concordia University courses."
Open Textbook Grants
Open educational resources (OER) include open textbooks and learning materials that are freely available to use, copy, modify and share, significantly reducing costs for students. Especially when tailored to the content needs, learning objectives, assignments, and activities of a course alongside the integration of accessibility and diversity best practices, open textbooks will go a long way to enhance teaching and learning.
About Concordia's Open Textbook Grants
Supported by the Library Services Fund, the OER Advisory Group invites proposals for projects that will use open textbooks in Concordia University courses. The grants provide funding to faculty members to hire Concordia students in support of the work involved in identifying and evaluating, adopting, customizing, or creating open textbooks and revising course content as a result of incorporating a new textbook. Student work typically involves working with Pressbooks, an open-source content management system designed to create and adapt books.
Goals of the grant program
- Enhance access to learning materials and reduce textbook costs for students
- Provide both financial support and accompanying services to faculty members in adopting, customizing, or creating open textbooks
- Develop an educational community that supports open access, student-centred learning, and the OER movement
Types of Grants
- Adopt grants (up to $1,000) - Identify and adopt an existing open textbook with minor changes if needed
- Customize grants (up to $5,000) - Identify and customize an existing open textbook (e.g., add/remove/remix content, provide local examples)
- Create grants (up to $10,000) - Produce a new open textbook. Create grants are limited to one awarded per academic year (June to May)
Eligibility
Open to all full-time and part-time Concordia University faculty teaching undergraduate courses, including online courses. While a faculty member should fill out the application form below, Concordia students are welcome to seek out professors who might be interested in leading an open textbook grant project.
* Recipients can only hold on grant at a time.
** Applications that provide answers to all fields in the grant forms can also be sent as a Word file to OER@concordia.ca.
*** CUPFA member grant recipients may be eligible for Extra Duties Contracts to support their contributions and work on OER customize and create textbook projects. For more information, contact OER@concordia.ca
Evaluation of Grant Proposals
| Evaluation Criteria |
|---|
| Cost savings for students |
| Improves teaching and learning |
| Feasible scope and timeline |
| Aligns with expectations of grant recipients |
The proposals will be reviewed by the OER Advisory Group, consisting of librarian and professor faculty members, Centre for Teaching and Learning staff and students.
Expectations of Grant Recipients
- Lead, plan, and implement the open textbook project
- Collaborate with the Scholarly Publishing Librarian, OER Advisory Group, and Concordia’s OER community
- Hire student(s) using Concordia University HR policies and protocols
- Pilot the open textbook in an existing course
- Launch the open textbook in Pressbooks using an open license (e.g., a Creative Commons licence), allowing others to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute
- Gather feedback from students on the piloted open textbooks and submit a final report
- Comply with eligible expenses
Eligible Expenses
Funding is primarily directed towards hiring Concordia undergraduate students to assist with the adoption, customization, or creation processes. This work may include helping to identify and evaluate resources, developing and adding content in Pressbooks, and providing teaching support using the open textbook in class. Concordia University HR policies and protocols must be followed. Grants cannot be used for travel or equipment.
Fill out our application form:
