Brock University’s Academic Plan pledges to support the creation, adaptation, and adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER). As part of this commitment and with the financial support of the Brock University Students’ Union, the Office of the Provost has established an OER Grant program. This program recognizes the labour involved in making the pedagogical adjustments necessary to replace commercial textbooks with OER. In doing so, the academic freedom of faculty members to determine what are appropriate required course materials is reaffirmed.
Adoption Grant
The OER Adoption Grant program provides grants of $500 to individual faculty members (or $1,500 for teams of faculty from a department) who wish to displace the cost of commercial textbooks with the ongoing adoption of OER for a given course.
1. Adoption of one or more Open Educational Resource(s) (OER) to displace the cost of a commercial textbook in a course. An eligible OER is defined by the following:
-
- resides in the public domain (i.e., is free of copyright), OR
- under copyright that includes an open (e.g., Creative Commons) license.
Examples of ineligible materials include: instructor notes/slides in Brightspace, online resources protected under copyright (e.g., websites, news articles, government reports, images, etc.), or library materials (journal articles, book chapters, etc.). If you are unsure if what you are adopting is an OER or not, please consult with the Library’s OER Guide, watch our OER Foundations workshop recording, or connect with the library for a consultation.
2. Sharing your experience with OER adoption, such as by completing a brief survey, providing a photo and testimonial, and participating in a related campus event
Awarded funds may be used towards a variety of eligible expenses such as books, membership dues for professional societies, travel associated with academic conferences, student assistantships, hardware or software procurement, etc. All expenses must comply with relevant university policies, including the Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expense Policy and the Procurement Policy. Funds cannot be transferred to another account.
The OER Adoption Grant program is open to all Brock University faculty (including those with a limited term faculty appointment or instructional limited term faculty appointment) and who intend to adopt OER for one or more of their courses on an ongoing basis.
Both undergraduate and graduate-level courses are eligible.
The OER Adoption Grant will be adjudicated by the members of the Open Education Working Group, a body which makes recommendations to the Provost. Questions about the administration of the grant can be directed to the working group chair, Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani.
The University Library and Centre for Pedagogical Innovation are available to support your application through the selection and adoption process. You may reach out to either area at anytime as you consider your application. If you indicate in your application that you require support with your OER selection or adoption, you may be contacted by an individual from the Library or CPI in advance of the grant adjudication.
Adaptation Grant
The OER Adaptation Grant program is designed to support the substantive adaptation of open educational resources (e.g., open textbooks) in order to make these suitable for adoption at Brock University. The OER Adaptation Grant program provides grants of up to $6000 to faculty members. This includes $2000 in funding for the educator(s) and up to $4000 in project funding.
Brock University’s OER Adaptation Grant program draws inspiration from similar programs offered by Atlantic OER and Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
- Publication of the adapted OER as follows:
- In an open, editable format (e.g., Pressbooks)
- With the appropriate Creative Commons license (as determined by the license carried by the OER that is adapted and/or remixed)
- Ensuring that all of the content that is adapted or remixed is either already openly licensed or is your own intellectual property to which you are assigning an open license
- With a copy of the adapted OER uploaded to the Brock University Digital Repository
- Meeting the accessibility criteria in Appendix A: Checklist for Accessibility in the BCcampus Accessibility Toolkit
- Acknowledging the support received from the OER Adaptation Grant program in the OER (e.g., front matter of an open textbook)
- The inclusion of plans to re-use the adapted OER in courses in subsequent semesters
- Regular reporting on your OER adoptions so that these data may be included in the institutional OER data dashboard
- Sharing your experience with OER adaptation, such as by completing a brief survey, providing a photo and testimonial, and participating in a related campus event
- Compliance with all relevant university policies associated with the use of OER grant funds, including the Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expense Policy and the Procurement Policy
- Projects must commence in the fiscal year during which the grant is awarded
Awarded funds may be used towards a variety of eligible expenses such as books, membership dues for professional societies, travel associated with academic conferences, student assistantships, contracts with persons with specialized expertise/skill sets not available at Brock University, hardware or software procurement, etc. All expenses must comply with relevant university policies, including the Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expense Policy and the Procurement Policy. Funds cannot be transferred to another account. The application for an OER Adaptation Grant includes a section for the proposed budget for project funding along with the justification of the proposed expenses.
It is important to note that applicants will be responsible for any eligible expenses that exceed the awarded amount of the grant. Any awarded funds that remain unspent after 2 years of the award will be returned to the OER Grant fund to support future awards.
The OER Adaptation Grant program is open to all Brock University faculty (including those with a limited term faculty appointment or instructional limited term faculty appointment) and who intend to adapt and adopt OER for one or more of their courses on an ongoing basis.
Both undergraduate and graduate-level courses are eligible.
The OER Adaptation Grant will be adjudicated by the members of the Open Education Working Group, a body which makes recommendations to the Provost. Questions about the administration of the grant can be directed to the working group chair, Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani.
Applications will be evaluated on the basis of their anticipated impact on the student experience (including the number of anticipated faculty adopters and number of students who will benefit), the scale and significance of the proposed adaptation, the plans to meet the requirements listed below, the justification of the planned expenses, and the overall quality of the application. Applications may be funded in whole or in part, depending on in-kind supports available within the university and the justification provided for project funding expenses.
The University Library and Centre for Pedagogical Innovation are available to support your application through the selection, adaptation, and adoption process. This includes orientation and training with using common OER platforms such as eCampusOntario’s instance of Pressbooks. You may reach out to either area at any time as you consider your application. If you indicate in your application that you require support with your OER selection, adaptation, or adoption, you may be contacted by an individual from the Library or CPI in advance of the grant adjudication.