The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the 2019 High-impact OER Mini-Grant Program to strategically support Maryland public higher education institutions’ efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students through the incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice.  This year, the Mini-Grant Program will support projects in the following categories:

• Adopt/Adapt OER ($500 - $1,500): Targets OER adoption in a high enrollment course for which high-quality OER content already exists.
• Scale OER ($1,500 - $2,500): Targets projects with a vision, plan, and commitment to develop an OER pathway.
• NEW for 2019! Create OER ($1,500 - $2,500): Targets OER creation in a high-need discipline/meta-discipline to fill gaps in existing OER content.

Grants will be distributed by the end of FY18-19 for Spring 2019 project planning and development and Fall 2019 OER implementation.
 
To learn more about the Mini-Grant Program and application process, review the planning document and watch a recording of the informational webinar. 

Deadline extended!  To apply for a mini-grant, submit a proposal by 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, March 22, 2019 at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019MOSTminigrant.

2019 High-impact OER Mini-Grant Program Timeline

• February 1, 2019 - Call for proposals opens
• February 13, 2019 (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time) - Mini-grant informational webinar held
• March 22, 2019 (11:59 p.m. Eastern Time) - Deadline for all proposals
• April 5, 2019 - Grantees notified
• April 12, 2019 - Mini-grantee workshop (at University of Maryland Eastern Shore)
• April 27, 2019 - Mini-grantee workshop (at Garrett College)
• May 29, 2019 - Mini-grantee workshop (at Maritime Conference Center)
• May - July 2019 - Final OER preparation work
• August 2019 - Online training for adjuncts (if applicable)
• Fall 2019 - Teach course with OER

Eligibility Criteria
The High-impact OER Mini-Grant Program is open to Maryland public higher education institutions only.  To be eligible for a High-impact OER mini-grant, all proposed projects must:

• Replace traditional textbooks with learning resources that:
• Are openly licensed with a Creative Commons CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International License.
• Are fully accessible according to WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 Standards.
• Are openly and freely available outside their delivery platforms.
• Provide students with day-one access to their learning materials.
• Allow students to retain access to the OER content after the course is completed.
• Are continuously updated and maintained.
• Are easily discoverable.
• Explore how OER can support learning-centered pedagogies and continuous quality improvement.
• Ensure total course material costs do not exceed $40, with lower costs preferred.
• Include a letter of support from the department chair(s) or dean(s) for the project.

Below are additional eligibility criteria specific to each grant category.

Adopt/Adapt OER proposals (Awards of $500 - $1,500) must:

• Target OER adoption in a high enrollment course for which high-quality OER content already exists.  Such courses include but are not limited to:

• Commit to teaching at least one section of the proposed course using OER during the Fall 2019 semester. Adoption in more than one section is encouraged.

In addition, we will be looking for the following in Adopt/Adapt OER mini-grant proposals (preferred but not required):

• The potential to scale use of OER to most or all course sections over time. 
• A plan to sustain adoption over time.
• Some prior experience with OER.
• Collaboration that involves multiple instructors, instructional designers, librarians, and support staff.

Scale OER proposals (Awards of $1,500 - $2,500) must:

• Be led by someone with experience teaching with OER.
• Target projects with a vision, plan, and commitment to develop an OER pathway (e.g. across several general education courses, across several sequential courses in a department, Z-degree development, etc.).  All courses in the OER pathway do not need to be converted in Fall 2019 in order to be eligible for a grant.
• Provide detailed plans on how OER scaling, maintenance, and sustainability will occur.

In addition, we will be looking for the following in Scaling OER mini-grant proposals (preferred but not required):

• Includes OER adoption in multiple sections of courses during the Fall 2019 semester.
• Collaboration that involves multiple instructors, instructional designers, librarians, and support staff.

Create OER proposals (Awards of $1,500 - $2,500) must:

• Target OER creation in a high-need discipline/meta-discipline to fill gaps in existing OER content.
• Include a detailed plan on how OER will be created, scaled, maintained, and sustained over time.
• Secure the commitment of additional institutional resources (e.g. instructional designer, media specialist, librarian, etc.) for OER content production and maintenance over time.

In addition, we will be looking for the following in Create OER mini-grant proposals (preferred but not required):

• Includes cross-institutional collaboration with at least one 2- or 4-year higher education institution in Maryland.

Click here to learn about last year's program and previous mini-grantees.  If you have any questions about the program or the application, please reach out to us at most@usmd.edu.