Overview
The No Cost Materials Group encourages faculty members to participate in the redesign/refining of their course materials using no cost/low-cost alternatives (OER, course reserves, library resources, public domain materials etc.). To support this initiative, the RLB Library in collaboration with CELTT and Student Success and Support Services will offer ten (10) $1,000 grants to interested faculty. The awards will be announced in February 2025 with the expectation the redesigned course will run within the 2025-2026 academic year. Please note, grant recipients must attend a mandatory half day virtual workshop.
Eligibility Criteria
The grant is open to all faculty (including adjunct faculty).
Course must be an undergraduate course
Course is required to run during the 2025-2026 academic year.
Approval by Dean or Associate Dean and Program Director (if applicable).
Application Requirement
Complete submissions will include the following:
A current syllabus with notations showing what readings and activities would be changed
A brief narrative (1 page) describing your goals for refining your course content
Grant Requirements
Attendance at the mandatory half day virtual workshop on ways to find and use Open Educational Resources and other no cost materials. The time of this workshop will be arranged with the awardees for some time in February or early March. The first $500 of the award will be issued after the workshop.
A post-award assessment report will be due by May 31, 2025. This report should include the revised syllabus plus a reflection on how materials were selected and the impact you think these changes will have on the course. The final $500 of the grant will be issued upon review of the assessment report.
Due Date
Complete applications, with proposed syllabus and narrative, should be submitted in a single PDF file to Michael Shochet (mshochet@ubalt.edu) by February 14, 2025.
Review
The No Cost Materials Group will review the applications and respond by February 17.
Questions
We are happy to consult with you if you have questions about whether your course is appropriate for this grant opportunity. Contact Michael Shochet (mshochet@ubalt.edu) or Allison Jennings-Roche (ajenningsroche@ubalt.edu) to get more information or to ask questions.
Definitions
Course materials
Informational content that students are required to have for a class. Examples include:
Books
Articles
Book chapters
Readings
Multimedia content (audio and video)
NOTE: Lab fees are NOT considered course materials
No cost course materials
Low-cost course materials
“available to enrolled students”
Students must be able to access the course materials 24/7 while enrolled in the class. Ways this criterion can be met include
Use of instructor created materials
Use of creative commons licensed content such as Open Educational Resources
Use of readings that are available to students through RLB Library
Using materials that are placed on electronic reserves and are available to students through Canvas 24/7
The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative is seeking proposals for its Faculty OER Grant Program, which supports faculty efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students at Maryland’s postsecondary institutions through the incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice.
Available grants in 2024:
Download 2024 M.O.S.T. Faculty OER Grant Program Request for Proposals
The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative is seeking proposals for the Institutional OER Grant Program, which supports strategic institutional efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students at Maryland’s postsecondary institutions through more systemic incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice.
For 2024, selected institutions will be awarded $20,000 grants to support significant advances in OER adoption, scaling, and sustainability in support of student success. In addition, grantees will receive strategic planning and implementation support for their projects from M.O.S.T. in the form of consultations and regular monthly check-ins.
Institutions applying for these grants should be able to articulate a vision for how OER will help them achieve strategic goals, such as:
Applications should also explain how the campus will nurture and sustain this next-level work after the funding period ends.
Download 2024 M.O.S.T. Institutional OER Grant Program Request for Proposals
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Informational Webinar
An informational webinar about the 2023 M.O.S.T. OER Grant Opportunity was held on Monday, January 22, 2024.
If you have any questions about the program or the application, please reach out to most@usmd.edu.
The M.O.S.T. Faculty OER Mini-Grant Program is designed to strategically support faculty efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students at Maryland’s 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions through the incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice. The 2024 M.O.S.T. faculty mini-grants will provide recipients with unique opportunities to engage in communities of practice related to teaching with OER and the creation of OER in high-need areas. This year, 8 faculty grantees were selected from five 2- and 4-year Maryland public higher education institutions, with a potential impact on over 1,600 students in AY 2024-2025, and potential savings of over $37,500.
M.O.S.T. also awarded an Institutional OER Grant to Wor-Wic Community College to support strategic institutional efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students through more systemic incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice. This grant will support significant advances in OER adoption, scaling, and sustainability in support of student success institution-wide.
In addition to the fiscal awards, grantees will be provided with extensive professional development, technical support, and coaching to ensure that their projects successfully incorporate learning-centered pedagogies and continuous quality improvement.
Since launching in 2014, M.O.S.T. has supported 210 courses at 29 institutions across Maryland switched to OER, saving students $137 per course on average or approximately $22.9 million cumulatively, and serving nearly 160,000 students across Maryland.
Learn more about past grantees.
2024 Institutional OER Grant Recipient
2023 Faculty OER Mini-Grant Recipients
| Haitham Alkhateeb | University of Baltimore | MATH 111: College Algebra | Adopt/Adapt |
| Shauna Chapple | Stevenson University | NURS 434: Professional Seminar III | Adopt/Adapt |
| Derya Kulavuz-Onal | Salisbury University | ENGL 240: Introduction to the Study of Language | Adopt/Adapt |
| Negin Fouladi | University of Maryland, College Park | HLSA 740: Healthcare Strategic Planning and Marketing | Create/Revise/Publish |
| Mary Méndez Bonnell | Prince George's Community College | TED 2090: Communication for Educators | Create/Revise/Publish |
| Christine Schull | University of Maryland, College Park | FMSC 460: Violence in Families | Create/Revise/Publish |
| Amber Surmiller | University of Maryland Global Campus | United States History: 1865 to the Present | Create/Revise/Publish |
| Kolawole Ogunlana | Prince George's Community College | Programming Logic and Design | OLI STEM Courseware Grant |
Faculty, staff, and students who have created openly licensed instructional and learning materials are invited to propose sessions for the M.O.S.T. OER Creation Virtual Showcase, taking place via Zoom on Friday, May 5, 2023, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET. All individuals and teams that have OER works in progress or projects completed within the last 5 years are invited.
Submission Deadline: Friday, April 14, 2023, 11:59 p.m. ET
Presenters will have 10-15 minutes of presentation time followed by moderated Q&A, for a total of 20 minutes. See the Call for Proposals for more information.