Since 2012, the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training has funded B.C. Open Education initiatives and tasked BCcampus with managing it. BCcampus Open Education’s goal is to provide flexible and 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 subject areas.
In 2018, the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training provided BCcampus with $250,000 for the creation, modification, distribution, and evaluation of textbooks for the British Columbia Adult Graduation Diploma (or Adult Dogwood). Courses covered include math, English, science, social science, computer studies, and education and career planning.
What is an open educational resource?
Open educational resources (OER) are freely accessible, openly licensed documents and media that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing, as well as for research purposes.
What is an open textbook?
An open textbook is a textbook licensed under an open-copyright licence and made available online to be freely used by students, teachers, and members of the public. Print-on-demand copies are also made available at cost.
Synopsis
This call for proposals is for institutions or their representatives (e.g., articulation committees, teaching and learning centres, libraries, and OER working groups) in British Columbia and the Yukon to create a major adaptation by customizing an existing open textbook for Adult Basic Education (ABE) subject areas. The adaptation is to be in alignment with the ABE Articulation Handbook Learning Outcomes [PDF] for the subject area and include Canadian content and examples. The author(s) must follow the suggested stylings and spellings for a “Canadian” textbook as outlined in the Measurements and Canadian Spellings and Word List sections in the Self-Publishing Guide.
As of now,* this call for proposals is for the following adaptations:
(*As reviews are completed, additional calls for proposals will be posted for either the adaptation or creation of ABE open textbooks.)
| Subject and Level | Open Textbook(s) requiring Adaptation | Licence | Subject Lead |
| English- Intermediate | Commonsense Composition | CC BY-NC-SA | Michelle Vandepol at University of Fraser Valley |
| English- Advanced | The Word on College Reading and Writing | CC BY-NC | |
| English – Provincial – Literature-Based | Writing for Success: 1st Canadian Edition | CC BY-NC-SA | |
| English – Provincial – Essentials | Writing for Success: 1st Canadian Edition | CC BY-NC-SA | |
| Math- Advanced – Algebraic | CC-BY | Izabela Mazur at Thompson Rivers University |
Estimated completion time: 6-12 months
Grant: $7,500.00 (per adaptation)
All adaptations will be completed with supervision and feedback from the ABE Steering Committee Subject Lead (see above).
Application Process
The application form should be completed and emailed to: open@bccampus.ca.
While the application form outlines what basic information is required, those wishing to submit more details may attach appendices as required. The evaluation committee looks for proposals that are well written and specifically address the guidelines. Because proposals may include multiple institutional partners, you must designate a lead representative for the project and submit the proposal through the lead. Institutional partners should include a letter of support identifying names and roles of participants.
Criteria for Successful Proposals
Successful proposals must meet the following mandatory criteria. Proposals must:
- Document the reuse of existing openly licensed materials. These OER may originate from any source (see Open Textbook/OER Directory), including those created by B.C. post-secondary faculty and staff, and stored in SOLR. (Note: SOLR materials released under a BC Commons licence are not eligible.)
- Exhibit characteristics of quality teaching and learning such as alignment with ABE Articulation Guide learning outcomes
- Demonstrate collaboration of project faculty and staff in one or more of the following ways: 1) within a single institution, 2) between two or more B.C. post-secondary institutions, 3) within an articulation committee, 4) within a professional organization.
- Be released with an open licence, such as a Creative Commons licence (preferably CC BY), which allows others to freely retain, copy, modify, remix, and/or redistribute the content
- Include a budget documenting the use of the funding being requested
- Include a project timeline
The following criteria are preferred, but not mandatory. Preference will be given to proposals that:
- Impact large numbers of students across multiple institutions
- So as many instructors as possible can use this resource to help their students save money: Consider all courses across the province that might use this OER and include that information in your proposal.
- So all students have an equal opportunity to learn: Address accessibility and make use of the principles of Universal Design for Learning.
- So First Nations students and Aboriginal viewpoints are included: Incorporate Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies.
- So all students identify with and feel included while learning: Consider equity, diversity, and inclusion and make use of Inclusive Practices.
- Include the provision of resources necessary to complete the project, such as the assistance of an instructional designer, multimedia developer, librarian, and copy editor. If the applicant uses available resources, it promotes more institutional buy-in to the project and thus the potential for more adoption.
- Encourage the use of activities that embrace open pedagogies.
Project Requirements
For funding to be released, all OER Grant recipients must:
- Release all content under an open licence, such as a Creative Commons licence, which allows others to freely retain, copy, modify, remix, and/or redistribute the content
- Complete the OER Grant project on time
- Provide all source/editable files used in creating the resource (including any multimedia files) to easily enable further remixing and modifications
- Have all content copyedited
- Agree and participate in an interview about the project
Review and Selection Process
All proposals must be submitted to the ABE Steering Committee and Open Education Team by 11:59 pm, Monday, December 17, 2018.
Evaluation, selection, and awards are determined by an internal review committee against the Evaluation Criteria [PDF].
If you have any further questions, please email them to open@bccampus.ca.