The University of Northern Iowa's Rod Library is pleased to announce a funding opportunity for the adoption, customization and/or creation of Open Educational Resources (OER). This program is open to UNI instructors proposing projects as individuals or teams of up to three.

The UNI Textbook Equity Mini-Grant Program was recently created via one-time funding from the Provost's Office as well as financial and administrative support from the Rod Library Dean's Office. The program will support the adoption and development of sustainable, affordable course content at UNI through OER, which the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) defines as teaching, learning and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers and licensed for open use. 

There are four types of awards available through this program:

• A: Course Redesign/Adoption Project. Selected participants will redesign one or more courses to transition from a commercial textbook to existing Open Educational Resources (OER). Up to $750 per participant.
• B: Ancillary Project. Selected participants will develop original presentation slides, test banks and/or other ancillary materials to accompany an existing open textbook to enable its adoption in a course for the first time. Up to $750 per participant.
• C: Remix/Adaptation Project. Selected participants will adapt an openly-licensed text by combining and editing portions from one or more existing openly-licensed texts. Up to $1000 per participant.
• D: Original Textbook Project. Selected participants will create a new open textbook, lab book, or handbook that will serve as the core text for a course. A significant majority of the content must be original. Up to $2000 per participant.

In addition to financial awards to compensate for instructor time and labor, funded applicants will receive training on OER basics and authorship. All materials created as part of this program will be published with support from Rod Library and will be freely shared as well as licensed for reuse.

Full call for proposals and details can be found here.

Questions about the grant program should be sent to Textbook Equity Librarian, Anne Marie Gruber.

Contact:

Ann Marie Gruber, textbook equity librarian, (319) 273-3711, anne.gruber@uni.edu