Open Educational Resources (OER) Faculty Incentive Program at SIUE
Open Educational Resources (OER) are designed and published to be free to use, easily accessible, and available for students from the first day of the semester, which matches SIUE student expectations, as they are used to having access to all of their required textbooks at the outset of each semester.
The OER movement has been building since the late 20th century on principles of access and sustainability for students and educators. In the past decade, with rapidly rising textbook and digital courseware costs as well as rising college costs being passed along to individual students, OER has become an essential tool for keeping college affordable.
SIUE is dedicated to being affordable for every student including commuter students, first-generation college students and “non-traditional” students. Adopting OER, where the appropriate course materials exist, is in keeping with our mission to be student-centered, collaborative, and open to diverse ideas.
A key advantage of OER is that educators can remix digital textbooks from multiple sources to craft topic-specific or course-specific works. All OER materials are published under some version of a Creative Commons license, which “enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format.” The term "reusers" in the previous sentence is peculiar, but it hints at the ethos of the OER movement. Adopters of OER are not buying and selling knowledge texts. They are reusing freely licensed materials, including textbooks, software, course syllabi, and so on to suit the needs of those they are working to educate.
SIUE faculty at any level can apply for an OER stipend to adopt, remix, or create OER materials to replace existing texts in their courses. Adoption is the most common selection. Faculty can also receive support from the OER committee and SIUE’s OER librarian in locating, reviewing and adopting appropriate OER materials.
Incentive Tiers
The OER incentive program has tiers related to the scope of work involved in each type of OER effort:
- Adopt: Course adoption of existing OER course materials. Stipend depends on the number of faculty participating and number of sections covered. Per faculty awards range between $500 - $1,000.
- Remix: Curation and adaptation of multiple OER materials for a single course. Often involves developing a new title of remixed OER content that can be published at no cost to faculty. Per faculty awards range between $1,000 - $2,000.
- Create: Creation and publication of original, or mostly original, OER textbook or digital course materials. Involves the development of new OER materials. Inclusion of remixed content is allowed, but the text should be greater than 50% new to qualify for the "Create" incentive. Support for publication costs is available through the Graduate School. OER Committee advice is available throughout the process.
The adoption of a textbook should involve all faculty who teach or are likely to teach a course. The OER Incentive Committee requires a signature from the faculty’s department chair indicating that they have discussed the implications of OER implementation.
Note that the usual three-year adoption period maintained by Textbook Service to keep the costs of hard copy textbooks down does not apply when adopting OER materials. In other words, faculty making the switch from existing textbooks and/or courseware to OER materials need not wait for the current textbook adoption cycle to be up.
Faculty interested in applying for an OER grant should fill out this form.
You will be asked for the following information:
- Your name, email and course number
- Type of OER you have planned (adopting a text or courseware, remixing a text, or creating new OER)
- Others responsible for delivering this course, i.e. if the course is regularly taught by more than one faculty member they should be listed whether or not they are participating in OER review, adoption, or remixing, etc. It does not disqualify a project if non-participating faculty also teach the course, but that information is needed.
- Current textbook and/or courseware information
- Scope of project
- Adopt: Explanation of OER materials planned for adoption, their source and copyright info
- Remix: Information about source materials and plans for modification and distribution of remixed content
- Create: Indication of a plan for drafting OER that includes mostly new content as well as willingness to work with the OER Committee to publish the new text or other OER, including peer review. Creation may include courseware or course modules, but awards are based on various factors including quality of proposal, savings to students, OER goals addressed, strategies for OER upkeep, and more.
- Timeframe of your proposal (not a detailed grant timeline but a question about when OER might be implemented)
- Which OER goals your project addresses (Accessibility, Affordability, Diverse Voices, Other)
In the process of developing a proposal, faculty should educate themselves about Open Educational Resources. Any SIUE faculty is invited to contact the OER committee for information and mentoring. Reach out to oersupport@siue.edu.
Those who apply for OER grants will be asked to acknowledge that funding for the Faculty OER Incentive Program is limited and subject to availability and approval by the OER review committee. Once you complete an application, you should hear a response in no more than 30 days during the regular academic year.
Examples of Successful Implementation
More about OER
Some examples of OER materials in use at SIUE include OER textbooks, OER course modules paired with traditional textbooks, OER software solutions that have replaced costly digital courseware packages, and combinations of selections from multiple OER resources. With OER adoptions, it is common for faculty to select materials from multiple OER sources to create custom resources, depending on their course syllabus and student responses to materials.
Faculty are encouraged to consult with SIUE’s OER committee at any stage for guidance on developing an OER faculty incentive proposal. These meetings can be arranged in person or on Zoom. The email address oersupport@siue.edu reaches key OER committee members simultaneously.
OER creation is a more involved process than adoption, of course. Several SIUE faculty members have received grants, both internal and external, to develop OER textbooks and other course materials. They are available to share their experiences with interested colleagues. Additional information regarding OER can be found on SIUE's LibGuide.
