Open Educational Resources Grant Program

OER grants are now administered through the ALT-2040 Fund

In Fall 2021, the Open Educational Resources Pilot grant program was merged into the ALT-2040 Fund as a distinct stream.

Learn more 

The UBC Okanagan Open Educational Resources Grant pilot program provided funding and support to UBC Okanagan faculty who wished to adapt or create open educational resources. Open Educational Resources (OER) are any teaching and learning materials that are made available to others to use without cost, and with an open license that allows for their reuse, revision, and redistribution. OERs may include open textbooks, lesson plans, quizzes and test banks, videos, animation, and simulations, class handouts, interactive activities and tools, and presentations.

After a successful pilot program, the OER Grant pilot program was merged into the ALT-2040 Fund as a distinct stream in the Fall of 2021.

Context-Embedded Guided-Inquiry Learning Modules for Large Introductory Chemistry Courses

Lead applicant: W. Stephen McNeil, Faculty of Science

Co-applicants: Tamara K. Freeman, Faculty of Science


Fostering best practices in reproducible analyses across the biology curriculum

Lead applicant: Jason Pither, Faculty of Science

Co-applicants: Sharon Hanna, UBCO Library, Mathew Vis-Dunbar, UBCO Library, Corrina Thomsen, PhD Student, Biology, Clerissa Copeland, BSc Hons. Student, Biology


Development of formula-driven question bank for randomised in-lecture activities and tutorial questions for APSC181 Dynamics

Lead applicant: Peyman Yousefi, School of Engineering

Co-applicant: Ernest Goh, School of Engineering


Introductory thermodynamics:  an open textbook for engineering undergraduate students

Lead applicant: Claire Yan, School of Engineering


Developing Open Educational Resources to Contribute to the Indigenization of a Japanese Language Class: Introducing the Ainu Culture to Japanese Language Students

Lead applicant: Nina Langton, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies


Statistics Lab Manual for Psychological Science

Lead applicant: Brian O’Connor, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Co-applicants: Leanne ten Brinke, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Zakary Draper, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences


Developing an open, versioned, algorithmically randomized physics problem bank using inclusive language

Lead applicant: Firas Moosvi, Faculty of Science

Co-applicants: Graham Bovett, Faculty of Science, Michael Kudla, Faculty of Science, Stephen Collins, Faculty of Science, Teresa Saller, Faculty of Science


Listening and Speaking English for Academic Purposes:  Materials Development for Students Learning English as an Additional Language on UBC Okanagan Campus

Lead applicant: Scott Roy Douglas, Okanagan School of Education

Co-applicants: Amber McLeod, Okanagan School of Education


Psychological Science Lab Manual: An Open Resource for Introduction to Research Methods and Design

Lead applicant: Derrick Wirtz, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

The type of activities covered by this grant include:

  • Adapting open textbooks (e.g. adding interactive content, localizing, updating)
  • Developing open ancillary materials (e.g. quizzes, test banks, interactive activities with H5P)
  • Redesigning a course to incorporate open educational practices (OEP)
  • Creating content for use in open homework systems (e.g. question banks or reusable assignments)
  • Hosting an event (e.g. a sprint) that results in the development of open educational resources

 

This initiative is jointly funded by BCcampus and the Provost and Vice-Principal Academic at UBC Okanagan. The program will be administered by the UBC Okanagan Library.

  • Increase the creation, adaptation, adoption, and integration of high-quality OER, including assessment materials, in UBC Okanagan credit courses.
  • Reduce student costs for learning materials and assessments.
  • Enable instructors to create, modify, edit, or adapt high-quality OER to fit their unique specifications and goals in order to help provide meaningful, contextualized learning materials for UBC Okanagan students.
  • Engage with the UBC Okanagan community to increase awareness of OER.
  • Grow capacity at UBC Okanagan to support and sustain OER activities.

Successful applicants may receive up to $5,000.

  • Faculty members may individually or jointly submit grant proposals. A lead applicant must be designated; the lead applicant must be a full time continuing faculty member. Faculty members with other term appointments, non-academic staff, community members, and students may be co-applicants.*
  • Principal Applicants to the OER Grant cannot hold more than one OER Grant grant concurrently. Co-applicants can be involved in more than one active OER Grant project at a time.
  • Applicants can hold an OER Fund grant and external open education grants (e.g., BCcampus) to develop the same project if the use of the funding meets different project outcomes.
  • We will prioritize proposals for OER that can be used in high-enrollment undergraduate courses.

*Edited on Friday, October 16 to better reflect appointment types.

  • Proposals for the creation or development of technologies, new systems, or platforms are not eligible for this funding.
  • The OER Grant will not fund equipment purchases.
  • The OER Grant cannot be used for travel funding or scholarly dissemination.
  • Support for student assistants to perform tasks related to the project (e.g. research, writing, editing, translation, graphic design, and audio or video recording services).
  • Honoraria for contributors or collaborators.
  • Event expenses (e.g. catering, room booking).

OER Grant proposals will be reviewed by an adjudication committee composed of faculty, students, and staff. Successful proposals will meet the following criteria:

  • Have the support of the applicant’s Department Head or Supervisor.
  • Describe a clear plan for how the OER will be developed and/or integrated into courses to support and enhance learning outcomes as part of the course design.
  • Include an evaluation plan complete with outcomes-based criteria that will be used to determine the project’s success and impact.
  • If planning to host an event that results in the development of open educational resources (e.g. a sprint), the applicant must include a contingency plan for possible COVID-19 restrictions that do not allow for in-person events.
  • Commit to release and share the resources with an open license, such as a Creative Commons license, that allows others to freely adapt, modify, copy and/or redistribute the resources.
  • Adopt or develop materials that are in a format or on a platform that readily enables modifications or reuse of the content.
  • Commit to contributing the resources to the future Open UBC Okanagan website to facilitate discovery and sharing of the OER.
  • Grant recipients will commit to integrating and sustaining the OER developed with this funding as required learning material within UBC Okanagan courses by January 2022.
  • Resources developed with the support of the OER Grant must have an open copyright license (e.g., Creative Commons) assigned to allow for reuse, remix, revision and redistribution of the content for educational purposes.
  • If finalized resources are published in a non-editable format (e.g., a text published as a .pdf) an editable version or source file (e.g., the .doc version of the text) must also be made available.
  • Correctly attribute any openly available content used or adapted, where required.
  • Sharing of experience with interested colleagues at UBC Okanagan events, in media stories, and an agreement that the end product will be open, accessible and listed on the future Open UBC Okanagan website.
  • Teaching and Learning materials developed will follow the guidelines in the Open UBC OER Accessibility Toolkit.
  • Acknowledge support from the UBC Okanagan OER Grant within any adapted or newly created work.
  • Provide written status updates at the midpoint and conclusion of the projects.
  • Evaluation of the OER that has been implemented through this grant.

OER Grant applications will be reviewed according to the timeline below.

 

2020/2021 Application Cycle Dates
Launch September 25, 2020
Application Deadline November 27, 2020
Adjudication Complete December 18, 2020
Funding Starts* January 15, 2021
Implementation Deadline** January 1, 2022
 

*Grant funds will be disbursed to each grant recipient’s department.

**Latest possible implementation cut-off. Projects may be implemented any time within the year.

  

The CTL and UBC Okanagan Library will provide in-depth information, consultation, and support on open textbooks, open educational resources, and open homework options to any prospective applicant.

 

Additionally, the CTL and UBC Okanagan Library will provide in-kind support for successful grant applicants, which includes:

  • Identifying, evaluating, and adapting high-quality OER
  • Guidance and consulting on best practices for open licensure, such as Creative Commons
  • Copyright review of third-party materials
  • Pedagogical consulting on effective implementation of OER to support the projects’ teaching and learning goals
  • Consulting on accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles
  • Learning technology and OER publishing platform support and consulting
  • Consultation and support in sharing OER in open access repositories and through the UBC OER Catalogue
  • Instructional and open resource design expertise
  • Project evaluation consulting
  1. The Department Head/Unit Head, Director, or equivalent of the Principal Applicant, must be consulted and agree to support the project.
  2. Complete Project Proposal Form*
  3. Complete Budget (template)

 

*The project proposal form cannot be saved. If you wish to prepare your answers before you start the survey please use this template

 

The criteria for the UBC Okanagan OER Grant Program was adapted, with permission, from the UBC Vancouver Open Educational Resources (OER) Fund.

What are open educational resources (OER)?

“Teaching, learning, and research resources that permit free use and repurposing because they are under an open-copyright licence or because they reside in the public domain and are not copyrighted” (BCcampus Self Publishing Guide). Examples of OER include open textbooks, lesson plans, quizzes and test banks, videos, animations, and simulations, class handouts, interactive activities and tools (apps, for instance), PowerPoint presentations.

 

What are open educational practices (OEP)?

Open educational practices, or open pedagogy, is “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” (BCcampus, What is Open Pedagogy?).

 

How will the grant funds be disbursed?

Grant funds will be disbursed to each grant recipient’s department.

This grant would not be possible without the hard work of the Open Education Working Group (consisting of members from the Centre for Teaching and Learning, the Student Union’s Office, the UBC Okanagan Bookstore,  BCcampus and the Office of the Provost).