Affordable Course Materials Grants
Through generous financial support from the Provost, the library is piloting an Affordable Course Materials Grant Program that provides funding and hands-on support for faculty to adopt, adapt, or create zero-cost course materials for an existing or new course. Course materials may include textbooks as well as any other materials used for teaching, such as videos, slide decks, podcasts, or other supplementary materials.
Program Goals:
- Reduce the costs of required course materials for MTSU students
- Encourage and support the use of open educational resources (OER) by MTSU instructors
- Empower instructors to adopt, adapt, and create course materials that meet their pedagogical needs
Award Levels:
- Level One: Up to $1,000 to locate, evaluate, & adopt an existing open or free educational resource for a course
- Level Two: Up to $2,000 to adapt, update, or combine existing open resources into a new resource
- Level Three: Up to $4,000 to create a new openly licensed resource for a course
Project Support:
The following project support will be available to awardees:
- Assistance in locating existing open materials for adoption or customization
- Access to the Pressbooks publishing platform
- Consultations on publishing workflows and best practices, copyright, and open licensing
Grant Timeline:
Application deadline: October 31, 2024
Applicants notified: November 21, 2024
Independent work time & consultations provided: Spring 2025 - Fall 2025
New course materials implemented: Spring 2026 (or earlier)
Eligibility:
- All full-time, benefits-eligible faculty, tenure-line or instructional, with continuing appointment through the grant period, are eligible to apply.
- Postdocs or adjunct faculty who are interested in participating in the program may apply with an eligible faculty sponsor, and GTAs who are an instructor of record in a course are eligible to participate on team projects as long as the work is approved by the graduate office.
- Teams, departments, and programs are encouraged to collaborate to develop unified adoption of materials for multiple sections of courses.
Requirements:
- Attend at least three check-ins with the Student Success & Open Education Librarian over the course of the project.
- If creating a new resource, use only grantee-authored, Creative Commons licensed, or public domain works in your project.
- Complete the project within one year and make the most appropriate version of the work available in JEWL Scholar under a Creative Commons license that allows for derivatives. Authors will retain ownership of their intellectual property.
- Use the selected or created material for at least two semesters and designate your course as a Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) course for students in Pipeline.
- Submit a short project evaluation (1-2 pages) reflecting on the experience of implementing OER and the outcomes of use, when known.
How to Apply:
Submit an application using the online form and include a proposal (approximately 2 pages) addressing the following:
- Project description: Give a brief description of the project, including the need/relevance of the project, a timeline, support required, and any platform preferences for publishing and hosting your project (for example, Pressbooks, OER Commons, JEWL Scholar, etc.).
- Cost savings & impact: Detail how the project will reduce student learning costs and its potential impact on student learning. Preference will be given to projects that create extensive cost savings for students.
- Sustainability: Describe your plan for sustaining and updating the materials beyond initial use.
- Departmental Commitment: Discuss how your department will support you on this project and whether it is an individual or team project.
Evaluation of Proposals:
An interdisciplinary committee will evaluate applications according to the following criteria: cost savings and impact, feasibility, sustainability, and departmental commitment.
Questions?
If you have any questions about these grants, please contact Ginelle Baskin, Student Success & Open Education Librarian at Ginelle.Baskin@mtsu.edu.
