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Washington State University
Washington State University Office of the Provost

Affordable Learning Grants for faculty

Funding development of high quality, no-cost digital course material in support of the President’s goals. In response to student concerns about course material costs, the Provost has identified pool of funds to support development of no-cost, high-quality, digital course materials. Grants are intended to support transitioning away from expensive commercial textbooks and instead explore new curricular strategies that employ the use of freely available digital course material of equivalent or higher quality. Additionally, grants are intended to support development of sharable materials or processes that reach beyond an individual course and faculty member.

Call for Proposals

WSU faculty are invited to apply for Affordable Learning Grants to offset the time and expense required to develop and/or implement high-quality freely available digital material in classes. (For example, material may include WSU library-licensed material students can access for free, instructor developed content, openly licensed content, etc.)In addition, all grant recipients will receive assistance from WSU Libraries and AOI staff in locating, adopting, modifying, and implementing new curricular strategies and zero cost course materials.

Deadline for Proposals

All current faculty members and instructors teaching courses at Washington State University are eligible to apply. The program has been suspended for 2021, but the Office of the Provost hopes to issue Affordable Learning Grants again in 2022.

Support

WSU Libraries and Academic Outreach and Innovation (AOI) staff will provide support to instructors who wish to replace costly commercial textbooks with high-quality, no-cost digital educational resources. Examples of support include:

  • 1:1 support in locating and either adapting or creating digital resources or a digital textbook.
  • Identifying tools and resources that support student engagement with the digital materials.
  • Building content in Pressbooks to create a digital open educational resource.
  • ADA accessibility consulting and compliance review.
  • Media development.
  • Invitations to workshops about finding, using and creating open materials.

Selection Criteria

Criteria for assessing proposals will include:

  • Potential cost savings for Washington State University students
  • Number of students impacted by the proposed project
  • Breadth of impact across the WSU system, by the proposed project
  • Sustainability of the course material, once developed (its potential for use in future courses)
  • Innovativeness of course materials and proposed pedagogical practice
  • Feasibility of completing the project prior to the start of the following fall semester.

Preference will go to:

  • Proposals for high enrollment gateway courses.
  • Proposals that include all sections, across all campuses
  • Proposals that demonstrate student involvement in creating, curating, or updating course materials. This criterion is not a requirement but will be looked on favorably by reviewers.

Awards and budget

Anticipated grant awards range from $1,500.00 for exploration and adoption of existing material to $4,500.00 for development of new materials. Outcomes and associated deliverables must be clearly articulated in the application. Funds are typically used for items such as support for faculty time, summer stipend, graduate student assistance, third party OER research, copyright purchase, etc.

The majority (75 percent) of the grant will be funded at the start of the fiscal year. The remaining funds (25 percent) will be granted at the end of the first semester in which the OER materials are used.

Note: Team proposals are encouraged. Please contact bvandevord@wsu.edu to discuss budgetary options.

Participant Commitments

Grant recipients should be willing to create, adopt, or adapt course content with the support of WSU Libraries and AOI. Support, which will be provided throughout the proposed project timeline, and instructors should be willing to communicate their needs and progress on a regular basis.

Grant recipients will attend 1-2 mandatory workshops that will cover the WSU OER policy, ADA and Copyright law.

Following implementation of materials, we ask that instructors and students complete an evaluation of the project and participate in showcase events. Grant recipients will also complete a detailed reflection documenting the work completed and impact, due to the Office of the Provost at the completion of the project.

For More Information

For more about open educational resources, see the Office of the Provost’s OER site and this OER guide. For questions or assistance with Affordable Learning Grant proposals, please contact oer@wsu.edu.

Links

The program is suspended for 2021, but the Office of the Provost hopes to fund it again in 2022.

Past grant recipient success stories

For questions about Affordable Learning Grants, or open education resources at WSU, email to oer@wsu.edu.