In the summer of 2021, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and University of Northern Iowa libraries announced a joint funding opportunity for the creation of Open Educational Resources (OER). This program was open to 2-4 person teams of faculty, graduate students, and staff at any of the three Board of Regents State of Iowa public universities.
This grant provided awards to project teams hoping to create new open educational resources for their courses. In addition to financial awards, successful applicants received intensive training on OER creation and development. This training included an OER development “sprint” in October 2021, where grantees had the opportunity to work on their projects over an intensive two-day workshop. Grant recipients also received support for finding source material, using OER authoring tools, developing content, understanding open licensing, and OER project management before and after the workshop.
The Regents OER grant program was created with support from the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER Fund), which was established in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress in 2020.
- Call for Proposals [pdf]: This document includes more detailed information about the grant, preparing your proposal, and submitting it for review.
- Proposal template [Google Docs]: Here you will find the Regents OER Grant Program Proposal Template. You can download or make a copy of this template to prepare your proposal.
- Proposal Scoring Rubric [pdf]: These rubrics are what reviewers will use to evaluate each proposal. You may want to familiarize yourself with them before applying.
The list that follows includes the projects funded by this one-time grant opportunity:
Creating Open Resource Textbook for Methods of Teaching Early Literacy
PIs: Nandita Gurjar & Sohyun Meacham (UNI), & Constance Beecher (ISU)
Course(s) supported: LitEd3115 (UNI), LitEd3119 (UNI), EDUC377 (ISU)
Amount awarded: $22,500
Estimated student savings: $52,000 per year
Communication for College, Career, and Civic Life
PIs: Ryan McGeough, Kyle Rudick, Danielle McGeough, and Kathryn Golsan (UNI)
Course supported: COMM 1000
Award amount: $21,400
Estimated student savings: $82,000 per year
Elementary Science Methods I and II: Ancillary Project
PIs: Ted Neal, Jeff Nordine, & LaVerne Logan (UI)
Courses supported: EDTL3165 and EDTL3166
Award amount: $5,550
Estimated student savings: $5,356 per year (in addition to previous savings)
Elementary Spanish: An OER Textbook
PIs: Giovanni Zimotti, Rachel Klevar, Braeden Jones (UI), and Gabriela Olivares-Cuhat (UNI)
Courses supported: SPAN1001
Award amount: $25,560
Estimated student savings: $65,000 per year
Integrated Learning Resources for an Inclusive and Adaptive Undergraduate Music Theory and Musicianship Core Curriculum
PIs: Randall Harlow, Heather Peyton, Jonathan Schwabe, and Daniel Swilley (UNI)
Courses supported: 12 courses in School of Music core (Music Theory I-IV, Aural Training I-IV, and Sight Singing I-IV)
Award amount: $21,400
Estimated student savings: $33,640 per year