Open Educational Resources

OER

Open Educational Resources

The Hewlett Foundation defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as:

“…teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.”

Why OER at UCCS?

Faculty who initially participated in the Open CU Initiative share their reasons for why they chose to implement OER in their courses.


Federal Open Textbook Initiative

The U.S. Department of Education is offering grants for multiple institutions to propose collaborative, large-scale OER projects through the Open Textbook Pilot Program. The call for proposals is expected to come out early spring.

Get a head start preparing an application for this program by working with Angie Dodson, Faculty Development Coordinator, and Susan Vandagriff, Scholarly Communications Librarian and Assistant Professor, who will assist in navigating the grant application process. Email Susan Vandagriff or Angie Dodson for more information.

Access the Open Textbook Pilot Program Workshop Series slide presentation for a sneak peak at the grant application preparation steps.


2024–2025 CDHE Open Educational Resources (OER) SUCCESS Program

The OER initiative continues at UCCS through the support of the UCCS Campus Store. The funding source has shifted from the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) because of the recent revision of its OER Request for Proposals (RFP) rules that specify that “institutions with automatic textbook billing programs, often referred to as inclusive access and equitable access programs, are not eligible for the grant type 4: general incentive fund during this cycle.” This has resulted in UCCS being ineligible to participate in Open CU and receive CDHE grant funding to support the OER SUCCESS Program at UCCS.

Because OER are a critical component of TAAP in keeping overall costs of course material lower for all UCCS students, the UCCS Campus Store is subsidizing the UCCS OER SUCCESS Program. This results in the continuous offering of stipends to faculty participating in the Program to increase awareness, adoption, and creation of OER on campus.

Target Courses

  • High enrollment
  • High DFW rate
  • High textbook cost
  • Concurrent enrollment courses for high school students
  • Courses with Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion or Social Justice themes, and courses aimed at the incorporation or creation of OER materials with this focus

Open Educational Resources (OER) SUCCESS Program
The OER initiative is an inclusive part of the OER SUCCESS program. Each section of the OER initiative is incorporated into one or more of the three levels or courses the OER SUCCESS program offers and includes:

  • OER Awareness/Review
    1 faculty member will earn the OER Re-user badge and a $500 stipend for locating, evaluating, and planning for OER implementation into a course or program.
  • Educator Adoption/Redesign
    1 faculty member will earn the OER Remixer badge and a $1,000 stipend for adopting OER in their courses, engaging in course redesign, evaluating the effectiveness of their OER pilots, and sharing their evaluation results.
  • Adaptation and Creation
    7 faculty members will earn the OER Redistributor badge plus a $2,000 stipend for adapting/creating OER, licensing the created OER, implementing the OER into a course, and evaluating its effectiveness.

Each OER adopter and creator is also asked to participate in a yearly panel discussion at either the UCCS Teaching & Learning Conference in January or in GIFT (Great Ideas for Teaching) Exchanges throughout the academic year to encourage others through their example.

 

2023-2024 CDHE OER Grant
2022–2023 CDHE OER Grant
2021-2022 CDHE OER Grant
2020-2021 CDHE OER Grant
2019-2020 CDHE OER Grant

OER Resources

UCCS OER Council

  • Chair: Susan Vandagriff [interim]
  • Faculty Representative: Raphael Sassower
  • Librarian: Empty at Present
  • Instructional Designer: Angie Dodson
  • OIT: Harper Johnson
  • Accessibility: Leyna Bencomo
  • Bookstore: Paul Deniston
  • Faculty Resource Center: Dave Anderson
  • Extended Studies: Empty at Present
  • Compass Curriculum: Phillip Haisley
  • Legal: Tia Luber
  • Writing Across the Curriculum: Kacey Ross
  • Academic Affairs/Undergraduate Education: Susan Taylor
  • Undergraduate Student: Empty at Present
  • Graduate Student: Empty at Present

Last updated June 12, 2024
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