Call for Applications: OER Grants | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Jennifer Peters, Seneca Libraries and the Teaching & Learning Centre

in the December 2020 issue

Seneca is pleased to announce another round of Open Educational Resources (OER) Grants to encourage the adaptation, enhancement, and adoption of open textbooks.

If you are interested in applying for this grant, please contact your Chair. The application deadline is 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 15, 2020.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact oer@senecacollege.ca. Below are more details about the OER Grant.

Grant Details

• Up to two grants of up to one course release for the winter and summer 2021 semesters are available to Schools or Programs to aid their faculty working on the adaptation and enhancement of an existing open text, leading to the adoption of the text into a course for either fall 2021 or winter 2022 and beyond.
• Schools or Programs are expected to supply any additional resources required for the project, including but not limited to graphic design support, technical communications, and technical support.
• Adaptation of an open text could include creating updated content or examples, revising a text to better suit the context of Seneca students, as well as developing multimedia, active learning modules, etc., to complement an existing open textbook.
• High-enrolment courses will be prioritized.
• If the OER is used in a course that is offered in multiple programs, and/or in both day and evening/weekend programs, faculty and course administrators representing each program area should be consulted before beginning the adaptation, as well as throughout the process.
• The proposed revisions to the open textbook OER must be completed by September 3, 2021.

Objectives of the Grant Program

• To assist School and Programs to support their faculty members in the revision, enhancement, and adoption of open textbooks and other OER materials.
• To increase the use of open textbooks, educational content, and OER at Seneca and reduce textbook and class material costs.

Eligibility
All current Schools or Programs at Seneca may apply for these grants.

Please note: Creation of ancillary materials, including slides, test banks, simulations, etc., are not feasible within the grant resources and time frame. It is important that you are aware of the limitations and consider this in your selection of course(s) and explore alternate ways some of these extra features could be provided.

Requirements for Applications

• A School or Program will identify a potentially viable project in their area, including:
  • the textbook or open educational resources that will be used as the starting point in the project. Good places to start a search include the eCampus Open Textbook Library, Open Textbook Library, BCcampus, OER Commons, and Open Oregon Resources. For assistance with beginning a search, contact your liaison librarian.
  • the supports available for their project’s needs, such as librarians, accessibility services, technical support for online options, and peer reviewers. An adaptation project requires a lot of support, so strengthen the application by lining this up in advance.

OER proposals will be evaluated using a rubric that balances the following criteria:

• A plan outlining the ways in which the text will be revised/enhanced/updated
• How the text will support achieving the learning outcomes of the course
• Inclusiveness (accessibility, equity, differentiated content)
• Supports creative teaching and assessment strategies
• Feasibility of project as proposed

Guidelines for Applicants
We are asking the Chairs to identify the priorities for their School/Program and to contact colleague Chairs to ensure alignment, reasonableness of the project, and support for final adoption. Given the limited number of grants, it is important that the priorities come from the Chairs.

Complete the application form by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. Proposals must be submitted by Chairs via this link prior to the deadline.

Selection Process
Proposals will be evaluated according to a rubric based on the criteria noted above. The Selection Committee is comprised of members of Seneca’s OER committee including Jennifer Peters, Amy Lin, Daniel Fok, and Laurel Schollen, among others.

Reporting and Deliverables
A final report and links to materials created must be submitted to the Seneca OER Grant Committee by September 3, 2021. Upon completion of the project, a presentation must be made at a future Teaching & Learning Centre event by the faculty and/or course administrators leading the project.

Faculty will be interviewed at the end of the project for feedback and a follow-up interview will be done after in-class pilots.

Acknowledgment and Licensing
All materials created via these grants must be licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license and indicate that they were funded by a Seneca Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant.

View the December 2020 issue of the Academic Newsletter.