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Open Educational Resources

Learn about the potential impact of open educational resources (OER) on student engagement, and how to adopt, adapt and create your own for use in the educational environment

In 2023, The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) awarded JWU $20,000 to implement course marking attributions in the course catalog to designate courses that have zero textbook cost (ZTC) to students and/or use open educational resources (OER). The course markings must be live by Fall 2024 to meet the grant requirements.

ZTC OER Guidelines

 

The JWU Library, in partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning, has determined to use the grant funds to incentivize faculty to create, adapt, or adopt OER/Open textbooks. 

See the OpenEd@JWU Faculty Mini-Grant tab for more information. 

OpenEd@JWU Mini-grants for Faculty 

 

Through funding from the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), JWU Library is partnering with the Center for Teaching and Learning to offer incentives for JWU faculty to increase the number of Open educational resources (OER) and ZTC (zero textbook cost) marked courses at JWU. Open textbooks reduce student costs by eliminating textbook purchasing and provide equity in access to learning materials for students from historically marginalized backgrounds. Research has also shown that incorporating open textbooks and OER impact DFW rates, positively impact grades for students from historically marginalized background, among other benefits.* Beginning in spring 2024, CPS courses using open textbooks will be tagged as zero textbook cost (ZTC) courses in Banner, allowing students to prefer such courses during the registration process. In Fall 2024, all JWU courses using open textbooks will be marked with the ZTC designation in Banner.** 

To receive the cash award faculty will be expected to: 

1.      Complete this proposal application by March 1, 2024, to either publicly review and adopt, adapt/adopt, or create OER material. 

2.      Attend an OER workshop offered by the library and CTL. Virtual and in person options will be offered throughout the year. 

3.      By specified dates, complete all steps of the project in the approved proposal: 

  1. Attend project check-in every eight weeks until project completion.   

  1. Submit project completion form by August 15, 2024 for payment initiation.   

 

Mini-grant levels  

Mini-grant Type 

Award Amount 

Number of Awards Available 

Faculty Requirements 

Review and Adopt 

$500 

19 

  • Locate OER in the Open Textbook Library 

  • Use Open Textbook Library Criteria and submit review for publication in the OTL and the JWU CTL 

  • Obtain academic department authorization to use OER in JWU high enrollment course 

  • Work with instruction designer to integrate OER into uLearn  

Adapt and Adopt 

$1000 

5 

  • Locate OER in the Open Textbook Library to adapt for a course you will be teaching and before implementation, document and justify the changes that will be made to the CTL 

  • Work with staff to ensure best practices, quality design, and ADA compliance 

  • Publish OER in an open, editable format, under a Creative Commons license that allows modification. Text based OER must be published in OpenEd@JWU 

  • Obtain academic department authorization to use OER in JWU high enrollment course 

  • Integrate OER into uLearn course site 

Create and Adopt 

$2500 

2 

  • Work with support staff throughout the creation of original OER to ensure best practices, quality design, and ADA compliance 

  • Publish OER in an open, editable format, under a Creative Commons license that allows modification. Text based OER must be published in OpenEd@JWU 

  • Obtain academic department authorization to use OER in JWU high enrollment course 

  • Integrate OER into uLearn course site 

 

*Colvard, N., Watson, C. E., & Park, H. (2018). The impact of open educational resources on various student success metrics. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 30(2), 262-276. 

**Learn more about the ZTC initiative, ZTC and OER, and the NEBHE grant in the JWU ZTC OER Overview and Guidelines for Faculty 2023-2024 

 

Please contact lspicola@jwu.edu (JWU Library) or kmherold@jwu.edu (Center for Teaching and Learning) for more information.