Open Educational Resources Learning Community Group's Pilot Mini grant, administered by the Elihu Burritt Library

Application Guidelines

Open: April 28, 2017

Deadline: June 11, 2017

Amount: $300

This Open Educational Resources Learning Community Group Pilot Mini Grant is available for a variety of projects that will further CCSU's open educational resources efforts. The grant will encourage increased affordability for core curricular materials for students and the library, for improved student success through increased accessibility and/or improvements in pedagogy that are facilitated by their adoption. The results of the grant project must and should be shareable with the CCSU community and the world, so that others may benefit from the work done under the grant. 

Projects Eligible for funding:

Projects eligible for this mini grant can include any of the following activities, for example: 

  • Textbook review of an openly licensed textbook - production of a shareable critical review that evaluates its potential to replace a more expensive, traditional textbook in whose field you are a subject matter expert.
  • Open access journal review - production of a shareable critical review in whose field you are a subject matter expert
  • Course conversion to an OER basis

  • "Re-mixing" an open textbook that you are committed to using in a course and/or producing active learning exercises to do so 

  • Assessment of a course recently converted to OERs

Evaluation Criteria – weighting factors for competitive grant application evaluation (your proposal doesn't need to fulfill all of these criteria):

  • Demonstrated understanding of OERs' definition (about licensing of the content, not the content's format, for example, which may include online and/or print materials) and (potential) value/impact for students' success explained through the grant proposal. See our research guide on open educational resources for more information.
  • Positive impact on CCSU students from a cost savings and/or curriculum quality standpoint (please explain)

  • The degree to which this project moves your course and/or department towards OER conversion (please explain) 

  • The potential impact (in terms of breadth and/or depth) of the work you are proposing. (please explain) Who may benefit from this project? 

  • The amount of work involved in the proposed project (please explain)

  • The degree to which your proposal increases collaboration between faculty members, departments, and/or campuses in the CSCU system.

  • Participation in the OERs LCG (& level of participation) - Bonus credit 

Applicant Eligibility:

  • You must be actively engaged in instructing a course or be under contract for future course instruction, and have a demonstrated record of prior instruction for CCSU (please explain your status and history)
  • You cannot work for the library

Proposed timeline: 

  • Application form and webpage live on 4/28/17
  • Application deadline: 6/11/17
  • Selection notification: 6/25/17
  • Grant fund disbursement by 6/30/17

  • Application review team: Library staff & Director 

    Final product should be turned in by December 23rd, 2017 end of Fall semester) 

All materials produced for the OER grants should be all or partially Creative Commons-licensed, in order to further the sharing of work done under the grant, in alignment with best practices in open educational efforts. Speak to a librarian to learn more about which CC license is appropriate for your work (we encourage maximum openness).

Apply Now!

If you have any questions, please contact Sharon Clapp, Digital Resources Librarian, at sclapp@ccsu.edu or 860-832-2059.
For more on OERs, please visit our research guide on Open Educational Resources!