OER Initiative Launched — Call for Proposals Open

As part of Lafayette’s efforts to become more affordable and socioeconomically diverse, the Lafayette College Libraries and ITS are excited to announce our first call for proposals to the Lafayette Open Educational Resources and Affordability Initiative. This Initiative was developed with the assistance of an advisory committee made up of members from the Bookstore, Provost’s office, faculty, and students.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are “freely available, high quality learning materials that can be downloaded, edited, and shared to better serve all students” (David Wiley, 2017). The purpose of the Initiative is to support the adoption, adaptation, creation, or reuse of OERs or other low-cost alternatives to expensive commercial textbooks and course materials. The program supports faculty who want to make the transition to low-cost alternatives by providing grants and assistance for reworking course syllabi or creating new, free materials.

Proposals will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Any faculty member or instructor at Lafayette who is teaching an upcoming course is welcome to submit. Successful applicants may receive:

• Stipends which are intended to support the time needed to develop materials and/or make changes to a syllabus to adopt free or more affordable materials. Stipends can be for either investigation or implementation grants.
  • Investigation grants of up to $300 are awarded for proposals to investigate OER possibilities for a particular course.
  • Implementation grants of up to $1,000 are awarded for successful course changes resulting in the adoption of affordable materials.
• Collaboration with the Libraries and Learning and Research Technologies in identifying appropriate materials, understanding accessibility and copyright issues, and using technologies to make materials accessible.
• Additional funding for student hours to assist in identifying materials. It may be helpful to work with a student who has previously taken the course and is familiar with the content.

For more information about the goals of the Initiative, what to include in a proposal, or to submit an application, please visit:  https://library.lafayette.edu/oer/. Questions can be sent to Ben Jahre, Head of Electronic Resources, jahreb@lafayette.edu.