Thanks to EKU Board of Regents Innovation Grant Funding, the Faculty Senate Open Textbook Committee is able to award up to $25,000 of Textbook Incentive Grants for the first cycle to be awarded during the 2020-2021 Academic Year.

Please note that only the following are eligible for this grant:

• EKU instructors, including faculty, adjunct faculty, and lecturers  
• EKU instructors who will be teaching a course in the the Spring or Fall of 2021 and are currently assigning a traditional textbook for the course
• Departments or Programs at EKU

There are three grant categories:

(1) Adoption or adaptation of existing OERs (including textbooks, free course content, and/or EKU Libraries’ licensed information resources). Each successful applicant will receive a grant of $1,000.

(2) Creation of new open course content in a format (PDF file, Web site, multimedia material, etc.) deemed most appropriate for pedagogical purposes: Each successful applicant (individual faculty member or team) will receive a grant of $4,000.

(3) Departmental adoption or adaption of OERs across multiple sections of a course. Preference given to introductory, undergraduate supporting courses, and General Education courses with high enrollments. The department will receive $5,000.

Faculty Applicants

1. Average enrollment of class (higher is better)*
2. Current textbook cost
3. Strength of proposal narrative
4. Type of course - GenEd?
5. Project scalability - applicable to other courses/sections?
6. Gap in existing OER content necessitating new resource be developed.

Departmental Applicants

1. Average enrollment of class & number of sections (higher is better)
2. Current textbook cost
3. Strength of proposal narrative
4. Level of course (lower level preferred)

*If this is a new course that doesn’t have a history of enrollment, you are still encouraged to apply. Discuss anticipated enrollment in your narrative.

1. Professional Development

• Attend the OER Professional Learning Community (PLC)  ** or **
• Participate in an OER DEEP module in Fall 2020

2. Reports 

• Brief progress report due January 2021. (For reporting back to EKU Regents)
• After course has been taught, written evaluation of the experience of identifying or creating and using alternate course materials. Provide evidence of improved student learning outcomes, if any (For example, consider giving the same exams/quizzes before and after adopting OER and look for changes? This can also be used for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.)
• Present at UP Showcase Presentation or Pedagogicon following implementation to report outcomes.

3. Access

• Grantees must agree to deposit adapted or newly created materials  in the Open Textbook collection of EKU’s Encompass Digital Archive under a Creative Commons open access license. 

1. Training and professional development in the form of a PLC or DEEP course developed by EKU Libraries and the Faculty Senate Open Textbook Cte.

2. Technical support and guidance provided by EKU Libraries

3. Financial award provided by EKU Regents

August 1, 2020 - Grant application due

September 1, 2020 - Grant awardees announced

September - November, 2020 - Participate in PLC or DEEP Course

***Tentative schedule:

• September 21 – Introduction & share each other’s plans
• October 5 – Discuss readings  
• October 19 – Where to find (platforms, evaluating, using library content) & how to evaluate
• November 2 – Panel of faculty already using OERs
• November 16 – Wrap up discussion / questions / review of reporting requirements

Remainder of semester through January – work individually, consult with facilitators as needed

Spring or Fall 2021 - Adopted/adapted course implementation

Spring 2022 or later - Newly created course material implementation

Questions about the Alternative Textbook Grant should be directed to Kelly Smith (kelly.smith2 at eku.edu).