Open Education Sustainability Grant for Institutions

Status: closed

Key Dates

  • Closing date for proposals:  Thursday, August 22, 2019 11:59 PM PDT
  • Successful submission notification date: Thursday, August 29, 2019 11:59 PM PDT
  • Grant recipient announcement date: Wednesday, September 11, 2019 11:59 PM PDT

Open to post-secondary institutions in British Columbia.

Application Form

Application form: Open Education Sustainability Grant for Institutions

Introduction

Since 2012, the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training has funded B.C. Open Education initiatives and tasked BCcampus with managing them. 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 2019, BCcampus will continue to advance the province’s open and affordable education vision by working closely with B.C.’s post-secondary institutions to not only continue to build the B.C. Open Textbook Collection, but allow colleges, institutes and universities to take the next step toward campus-based open education sustainability by integrating these practices and methods of teaching and learning into their current systems.

With financial support from the Hewlett Foundation, BCcampus Open Education will broaden those efforts in three key ways:

  1. Support the development of engaging, interactive open educational resources (OER) that replace or supplement commercial resources used by an institution’s faculty
  2. Encourage faculty to incorporate open educational practices (OEP) in their teaching
  3. Consider how OEP and OER might fit within an institution’s overall strategy on teaching, learning, and scholarship, and what steps can be taken to begin or continue this process

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.

What is open education practice?

Open educational practices (OEP), also known as open pedagogy, involve the use of open educational resources (OER) to support learning, or the open sharing of teaching practices with a goal of improving education and training at the institutional, professional, and individual level.

What is open strategy?

Open strategy is the application of open educational practice and resources at the institutional strategy level. For an example of open strategy, see the Carey, Davis, Ferreras, and Porter (2015) discussion paper on the steps KPU took in their Open Studies Plan.

Synopsis

This purpose of this call for proposals is for institutional open education working groups in British Columbia to provide small open educational grants, funded by BCcampus and matched by the institution, in order to improve the sustainability of open education. The Open Education Resource Sustainability Grant for Institutions may also be used for, but are not limited to workshops, training, and institutional support for OER and open education infrastructure such as:

  • Awareness building
  • Helpdesk support specific to open education
  • How to use or adopt OER
  • Open pedagogy
  • Open policy
  • Open publishing support or services (new creations or adaptations)
  • Pressbooks support and training

Four grants of $32,250 each will be offered.

Past Successful OE Grant Recipients/Projects

  • BCIT: Distribute OER grants for multiple projects using institutional support; develop OER sprints for ancillary resources or course redesign
  • KPU: Distribute OER grants for multiple projects using institutional support; course-specific OER adaptation and open pedagogy workshops
  • SFU: OER Protege Program
  • UNBC: Build an institutional open infrastructure: review, revise, write open textbooks/OER

Application Process

The application form should be completed and emailed to: open@bccampus.ca by Thursday, August 22, 2019 11:59 PM PDT.

While the application form provides the basic information required, those wishing to submit more detail may attach appendices 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 workplan.

Note: Applicants must secure matching funds by their institution (for the requested grant amount) in advance of submitting a proposal.

Criteria for Successful Proposals

Successful proposals will meet the following mandatory criteria:

  • Obtain administrative approval of matching funds from your institution. It is highly recommended that a letter of support be obtained from your institution prior to submitting a proposal for this grant.
  • Exhibit characteristics of quality teaching and learning such as alignment with learning outcomes or curriculum guidelines
  • Demonstrate sustainability and cost-effectiveness
  • Identify deliverables and their due dates
  • Include a budget documenting the use of the funding being requested
  • Include a timeline

Grant proposals are also evaluated for how they might:

  • Positively impact large numbers of students across an institution and its campuses
  • Encourage collaboration across disciplines and departments within the institution
  • Address accessibility and make use of the principles of Universal Design for Learning
  • Consider equity, diversity, and inclusion and make use of inclusive practices
  • Incorporate Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies

Funding Requirements

Grantees must submit interim and final reports regarding the open educational activities resulting from this grant. These might include:

  • Open textbook, or other OER, creation or adaptation
  • Workshops, training, and other events related to open education
  • Release time for a faculty or staff member to organize open educational events
  • Release time for a faculty or staff member to develop open educational support materials and/or systems
  • Release time for a staff member to investigate and track open textbook and/or other OER adoption or usage on campus
  • Release time for a faculty or staff member to explore how how OEP and OER might fit within an institution’s overall strategy on teaching, learning, and scholarship
  • Stipends for faculty interested in reviewing, curating, adopting and/or adapting an open textbook or other open educational resource

In addition, grantees must:

  • Complete deliverables on time
  • Follow sound open publishing practices for all OER created or adapted with these funds
  • Agree and participate in an interview about the project

Review and Selection Process

Evaluation, selection, and awards are determined by an internal review committee against the Evaluation Criteria.

If you have further questions, email open@bccampus.ca.