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). 

Examples of OER currently in use at Iowa State can be seen in the profiles of our Iowa State University OER Trailblazers.

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.

1. Level 1 (Adopt): $1,000 to locate, evaluate, and adopt an OER into a credit-bearing course.
2. Level 2 (Adapt): $1,500–$4,000 to adapt, update, or combine existing OER into a new resource.
3. Level 3 (Create): Up to $10,000 to create original OER.
4. Level 4 (Open Pedagogy): Up to $5,000 to integrate open pedagogy into a course.

Approved projects will be allotted funding depending on the scale of the work. The funds from this grant may be spent on any item that the PI deems necessary (e.g. paying for student assistants, editing, or graphic design support).

Additional Support

In addition to funding, grantees will receive support from the Open Education Services Librarian; this support will be tailored to the project's needs and may include any of the following: 

• Planning support and regular meetings to review progress on the grant project
• Copyright consultations on using existing materials and licensing new ones
• Guidance on project formatting and development to meet Digital Press guidelines
• Help locating existing open content to adopt, adapt, or remix as part of the project
• Referrals to other support staff in the library and across campus depending on the needs of the project