Maricopa Millions OER Course Development Grants - no longer funding!

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Full Course Development Grants -- Phase 12

Overview

The Maricopa Millions OER project began in 2013 with the purpose of incentivizing faculty to adopt/adapt open educational resources in order to save students money while assuring immediate and permanent access to course materials.  Since then, over twenty full courses have been developed (many of which are available on Canvas Commons by using the search tag "MMOER").  We estimate that faculty decisions to use low-cost/no-cost course materials over the first six years of the project have saved our students upwards of $12 million. 

The "traditional" Maricopa Millions grant award involves three semesters-- one for training in OER, one for developing course content, and one for piloting the materials.

The final product will be OER course materials that can be easily adopted and modified by other faculty (including adjuncts) teaching that course.  Course materials may include textbooks, images, videos, lecture materials, assessments, grading rubrics, etc. Open course materials must be digital in format, and made freely available over the web. The open course materials may be original content, or may be a compilation of openly licensed materials; MCCCD library subscriptions can also be used. All originally developed course materials funded through this initiative must be licensed with a Creative Commons attribution license (CC-BY) and shared within MCCCD as well as externally through Canvas Commons, MOER, and/or another public platform. Course material “development” funded through this project will be conducted by teams of faculty (ideally three, each from a different MCCCD college) with experience teaching the proposed course. During the development phase of this program, grantees will be meeting regularly with a team of people who will be able to answer questions, and provide training and support.

Funding

Faculty participating in this project will be funded 4 load hours ($935/load hour x 4 = $3740) for their time training in OER and then developing and piloting materials. Each team will be funded up to a maximum of $11,220. Teams comprised of more than three members will be considered, but the funding cap will remain at $11,220.

Grant funds are to be used to compensate faculty for their work identifying, reviewing, customizing, and developing openly licensed resources. The final product will be OER course materials that can be easily adopted and modified by other faculty (including adjuncts) teaching that course.

Grantees (individuals in the team of three faculty) will receive $935 upon completion of training, $1870 upon the submission of the completed OER course, and $935 upon the completion of the pilot instruction and content revision.

Grantees also agree to participate in a research study to evaluate the project.

Proposals will be selected based on their quality, level of college support, and course selection as well as extent of multi-college collaboration. Funding decisions will also be made to achieve a broad cross-section of high enrollment courses from the greatest number of MCCCD colleges.

Adjunct faculty: If you decide to be part of a proposal, you will need to partner with residential faculty.

Project Timeline (Phase 12)

Participants may elect one of two timelines for this project.

Option 1 -- Training, Course Development, and Piloting over 2 Terms

Summer 2020: Grantees participate in self-directed and group training; Development of OER course materials; monthly update reports due on 1st of each month; All training and complete course materials submitted for review by first day of fall accountability.

Fall 2020: Piloting of OER courses in live classes; Revised course materials (if necessary) published by last day of accountability.

Option 2 -- Training, Course Development, and Piloting over 3 Terms

Summer 2020: Grantees participate in self-directed and group training.

Fall 2020: Development of OER course materials; monthly update reports due on 1st of each month; Complete course materials submitted for review by last day of accountability.

Spring 2021: Piloting of OER courses in live classes; Revised course materials (if necessary) published by last day of accountability.

Deliverables

Deliverables

Grantees will adopt and/or develop open educational resources to incorporate as the only required material in their high-enrollment course.  The one exception is that MCCCD library subscriptions can also be used.

  •     Adopted materials must be of satisfactory quality and scope to meet all course objectives.
  •     The OER adopted for the course must be the only required course materials.
  •     All materials developed and adopted must be free or “low cost” (<$40) and openly licensed or utilize content from a MCCCD library database.
  •     Any original materials created with grant funds must be licensed with a CC-BY license.
  •     Any openly licensed materials adopted for this project should be licensed appropriately (i.e. no copyright violations).
  •     Materials with the exception of quizzes and tests will be made available through the Maricopa Millions OER website, Canvas Commons, MOER, and/or other public platforms.
  •     Materials should be able to utilize assistive technologies, and should contain options for visually and hearing impaired students for ADA compliance.
  •     When appropriate, faculty should provide students with the option of purchasing a low cost print version of their OER materials.
  •     Total supplementary course costs for “low cost” course materials (i.e online homework programs, suggested texts) should not exceed the “low cost” price point (<$40) determined by the OER Steering Committee.
  •     Grantees agree to pilot the grant deliverables in a minimum of one (1) section of the course (3 sections per 3 person team) during the final semester of the grant timeline.
  •     Grantees are encouraged to demonstrate their OER courses at district events to facilitate adoption of the materials.

Proposal Review and Evaluation

Each proposal will be reviewed and evaluated by the Maricopa OER Steering Committee.

See the Scoring Rubric Links to an external site. for information about what the application contains and how it will be evaluated.

If you have any questions about Maricopa Millions grants, please contact Matthew Bloom (matthew.bloom@scottsdalecc.edu).