Apply for a Mini-Grant

Background

The Miller Open Education Mini-Grant Program, inspired by the Miller Faculty Fellowship Program, was created to promote the growing number of instructors utilizing Open Educational Resources (OER) at Iowa State University. Similar to the Miller Faculty Fellowship Program, these grants aim to support faculty development through the use of new and innovative resources in the classroom. This mini-grant program is co-sponsored by the Iowa State University Library, the Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT), and the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost (SVPP).

The goal of the Open Education Mini-Grant Program is to encourage instructional innovation at Iowa State by providing instructors with the time and resources they need to redesign their courses around the use of OER. Examples of OER currently in use at Iowa State can be seen in the profiles of our Iowa State University OER Trailblazers.

How to apply

The call for proposals for the mainline Miller Open Education Mini-Grant Program has closed. Applicants will hear back on the status of their proposal by the end of May 2024. Those interested in pursuing alternate funding opportunities may be interested in our new funding track (below).

NEW Funding Track: OER for the SDGs [Call Extended!]

This year, we are offering an alternate funding track for authors who want to develop original OER that align to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Grants of up to $5,000 are available.

This track has a separate review process, rubric, and application form from the mainline Mini-Grants. It is intended specifically for original publications which will be published by the ISU Digital Press. To prepare your proposal:

Download and review the OER for the SDGs Grant Proposal Guidelines (DOCX).
Prepare your proposal.
Submit your completed Proposal Form to the OER for the SDGs Cybox dropbox by 11:59pm on April 26th, 2024.
If you have questions at any point during this process, contact Abbey Elder (aelder@iastate.edu) for support.
Applicants will be notified about their proposal’s status by June 1, 2024.

Eligibility

To be considered for this grant, proposals must meet the following criteria:

Submitted by one or more Iowa State University employees with teaching responsibilities.
The proposal includes the intent to use an Open Educational Resource in a credit-bearing course.
Instructors may only submit one (1) proposal per academic year.
The PI(s) agree to the expectations listed below.

This grant may NOT be used for:

The adaptation or creation of a resource for commercial publication.
The adaptation or creation of educational resources without the accompaniment of a Creative Commons license.
The release of a resource under a Creative Commons license that includes a "No Derivatives" provision.

Expectations

All grant recipients must:

Attend an orientation workshop to meet other grant recipients and discuss the timeline expected for awarded projects.
Complete projects and use resources in a credit-bearing course within 2 years from the award date (i.e. May 2026).
Implement and assess the OER’s impact on students.
Submit your Mini-Grant Final Report [DOC] by the deadline outlined in your proposal.
Showcase the outcomes of the project on the Iowa State University OER Trailblazers website.

For adaptation/creation projects:

Publish completed OER under a Creative Commons license that allows modification.
Publish OER created through a grant in an open, editable format. Text-based OER created through the grant must be published through the Iowa State University Digital Press.¹

Award levels

The award levels outlined below provide guidance for applicants on the amount of funding that may be approved for different types of proposals.

Award Level	Award Range	Expectations
Level 1	$500 - $1,000	Locate, evaluate, and adopt an existing Open Educational Resource for your course(s). Grant recipients must also complete and submit a review of the OER to be adopted using the Open Textbook Library Review Criteria.
Level 2	$1,000 - $3,500	Adapt, update, or combine existing Open Educational Resources into a new resource.
Level 3	Up to $5,000	Create an original Open Educational Resource for your course.
Level 4	Up to $5,000	Integrate open pedagogy into a course to support student learning. Grant recipients must also work with support staff to develop your open pedagogy course design around best practices for inclusion, representation, and freedom of student expression.

Note: The funds from this grant may be spent on any item that the PI deems necessary. This can include personal awards and compensation. All expenses should be clearly articulated and justified in the budget section of the proposal and must align with the project's objectives.

Additional support 

Each awarded mini-grant recipient will receive ongoing support for efforts with project management, locating resources, and accomplishing review, design, and production work, as needed.  

Review criteria

The proposals will be reviewed by a subcommittee made up of representatives from the Open & Affordable Education Committee, CELT, the University Library, and faculty.

Download the Mini-Grant Review Rubric

Download the OER for the SDGs Review Rubric

Mini-grant recipients may receive permission to publish their text-based projects elsewhere if they have sufficient reason for doing so. For example, Statistics OER with a heavy emphasis on code may be better served by Jupyter Notebooks than the ISU Digital Press' software.