Status: Closed
Key Dates:
| Date | Event |
| Monday, March 15 | Call for proposals opens |
| Friday, April 16 | Call closes |
| April 26–30 | Adjudication |
| May 3–7 | Successful submission notification |
| October 29 | Grant deliverables met |
Introduction
Since 2012, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training has funded B.C. open-education initiatives and tasked BCcampus with managing them. The goal of the BCcampus open-education project is to provide flexible, affordable access to post-secondary learning resources in B.C. by making available openly licensed textbooks that align with the most highly enrolled first- and second-year undergraduate subject areas as well as with select skills-training and trades.
A key component of the next phase of open-education work for BCcampus is the enhancement of the existing Open Textbook Collection with complementary open homework systems and accompanying formative assessment questions that provide students the opportunity to practice using and reinforce new knowledge.
Synopsis
This call for proposals is for post-secondary instructors and faculty in B.C. to develop sets of openly licensed questions for STEM-based subject areas that align with an existing STEM-based open textbooks, either in the BCcampus Open Textbook Collection or elsewhere. The intent of these grants is to develop activities in which students can practice applying new concepts and skills that align closely with content in an open textbook.
Eligible grantees include individual instructors, groups of faculty or instructors (either in a single institution or across multiple institutions), departments (either at a single institution or working collaboratively across multiple institutions), institutions, or external working groups made up of instructors and faculty connected to B.C. post-secondary institutions (e.g., articulation groups or other working groups).
The maximum value of each grant is $5000.
Application Process
Complete the application form and email it to clalonde@bccampus.ca.
Although the application form provides the basic information required, you may attach appendices to submit more detail as required. The evaluation committee looks for proposals that are well written and specifically address the guidelines. Designate a lead representative for the project, and submit the proposal through the lead. Include a letter of support from a member of your institution’s senior administration for the proposal work plan.
Criteria for Successful Proposals
Successful proposals will meet the following mandatory criteria:
- Question sets align with an existing openly licensed textbook, located in the BCcampus Open Textbook Collection or elsewhere. The main criterion is that the textbook be freely available for students and licensed with a copyright that allows the resource to be freely copied, distributed, and reused.
- Questions sets should be developed in a homework system that allows questions to be copied, reused, and modified by others. Preference will be given to applications that develop question sets in the open source WeBWorK platform. However, other open-source systems such as PrairieLearn or iMathAS/MyOpenMath will also be considered. Please check ahead if you have questions about the system you wish to develop for to ensure it is within the scope of the grant-funding requirement.
- Questions sets must be designed to support student practice. It is beyond the scope of this grant to fund the development of summative assessment questions.
- Proposal includes demonstrated commitment to provide these resources to students at no-cost.
- Questions demonstrate and support effective pedagogical practices, such as spaced practice, retrieval practice, elaboration, interleaving, concrete examples, and dual-coding principles.
- All activities are either developed or reviewed by an instructor or faculty member teaching in the subject area.
- Proposal includes a budget that documents the use of the funding being requested.
Grant proposals are also evaluated on the following secondary criteria:
- Positively impacts large numbers of students across the B.C. post-secondary system.
- Includes student voices and student feedback in the development or evaluation of activities.
- Encourages collaboration across disciplines and departments, both within the institution and with other B.C. post-secondary institutions.
- Considers equity, diversity, and inclusion and makes use of inclusive practices.
- Incorporates Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies.
Funding Deliverables and Requirements
Successful grantees will develop and deliver the following:
- A set of practice questions that align with an existing open textbook. The number of questions to be developed should be noted in the application.
- All questions must be made available for others to copy, use, and reuse. Please include how you plan to license and freely distribute the questions created with this grant.
- All questions will be licensed with a Creative Commons license that allows the reuse and remixing of each element.
In addition, grantees must:
- Complete deliverables on time.
- Follow sound open publishing practices for all OER created or adapted with these funds.
- Allow BCcampus to publish and promote grantee involvement in the project through blog posts, newsletters, and social media.
- Acknowledge the financial support of BCcampus in the development of these resources.
Review and Selection Process
Evaluation, selection, and awards are determined by an internal review committee and will be evaluated against the mandatory and secondary criteria listed above.
If you have questions, please email clalonde@bccampus.ca.