Each spring, the Iowa State University library, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, and the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost support the Miller Open Education Mini-Grant Program to encourage instructor innovation in adopting Open Educational Resources (OER). Iowa State University utilizes the SPARC definition of OER: “educational materials that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use.” An OER can be any type of teaching material used within a course, provided that it is free to access and openly licensed. This includes textbooks, lab notes, modules, assessments, videos, test banks, lecture slides, software, and more.
All staff members who teach a credit-bearing course are eligible to apply for a mini-grant either individually or as part of a team. Instructors can use this funding to locate and adopt appropriate OER for their courses, adapt and update existing OER, or create new course materials to share openly. Successful proposals can request funds ranging from $500 to $5,000, depending on the level of the project. Visit the OER website to learn more about these funding levels.
Submit proposals now for projects with a planned completion date in the 2020-2021 academic year. Proposals are due by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15, 2020.
A workshop for potential applicants will be held from 2:10 to 3:00 PM on Monday, April 6, in 2030 Morrill Hall. In this Q&A-style workshop, staff will guide participants through the application process with example proposals, provide a copy of the application rubric, and answer questions.
Contact
Abbey Elder, Open Access & Scholarly Communication Librarian, 150 Parks Library, 515-294-5753.