Each semester, the University Libraries and Global Campus offer monetary awards as incentives for faculty to reduce the cost of textbooks for their students by using Open Educational Resources. Applications are now being accepted for the spring 2018 semester and are due by April 4.
According to the Hewlett Foundation, “Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium — digital or otherwise — that reside in the public domain or have released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.”
A $3,000 award is available to faculty who adopt open access course materials by incorporating previously published open access materials into their classes, thereby eliminating the need for students to purchase textbooks or other course materials.
A new, $4,500 award is now available to faculty who adapt open access course materials by choosing existing Open Educational Resources and significantly altering them to update the material or to fit the needs of the course.
A $7,500 award is available to faculty who create open access course materials. At least 75 percent of the course content must be original, with the remaining 25 percent or less being adopted open access materials.
Selection of award recipients will be based on the overall quality of the application and the feasibility of the completion timeline. For full details or to download the application form, visit the OER webpage. Questions should be sent to oer@uark.edu.
“Open Educational Resources can play a small but valuable role in helping combat the ever-increasing cost of attending college,” said Elaine Thornton, distance education librarian. “They also offer both faculty and students the opportunity to engage with course materials in new ways as creators, adopters and users. The University Libraries welcomes the opportunity to work with teaching faculty interested in adopting, adapting, or creating OER.”
Nine faculty have received OER Awards since the incentive program began in 2017: Daniel Barth, Julio Gea-Banacloche, Patricia Herzog, Garry McDonald, Adam Rex Pope, Luis Restrepo, Zhenghui Sha, Michael Thomsen and Jingzian Wu.