Thompson Rivers University – OER Development Grant

The OER Development Grant (OERDG) program at TRU provides funding and staff support to TRUFA and TRUOLFA members who wish to integrate open educational resources (OER) into their TRU courses. This direct support can be used by faculty to adopt, adapt, create, and/or integrate OER as primary materials within their TRU courses.

The purpose of this initiative is:

• To support faculty to integrate OER into their courses (through course release or other financial support/incentive)
• To build capacity at TRU for creating and adapting open textbooks and other OER that are up to date and appropriate for TRU curricula
• To demonstrate TRU’s commitment to student needs as outlined in TRUSU’s Open Textbook Grants Program proposal.

This grant program has been generously funded by a 2018-2019 Strategic Initiative Fund (SIF) Grant, as a pilot project. It anticipates funding up to five (5) grants in the initial year of the program. An analysis of its outcomes will inform whether or not the program will be continued and if so how.

The project will be administered by the University Library, the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), and Open Learning.

Successful applicants may receive up to $6,500 to be used for course release or financial incentive to help faculty redesign a TRU course to use OER as their primary course material, and to help them adopt and/or adapt open textbooks and other OER for that purpose. An additional $500 may be available to support travel costs related to dissemination of results of their efforts.

Successful applicants are encouraged to work closely with faculty and staff from the University Library and CELT who will be available to assist recipients in locating, evaluating, and adapting high-quality open resources as an alternative to commercial course materials. Support staff in Open Learning are available to assist with digital formats, text editing, and layout needs.

See TRU Libraries – Open Educational Resources for more information.

For more information on TRU’s OERDG program and to see the list of 2018/2019 recipients, visit the Inside TRU blog. View TRU’s OER Development Grant Application Information.

 

2018 Recipients: Approved faculty and the new OERs

Bruno Cinel—Chemistry

• Approved resources: CHEM 1500 for campus students, CHEM 1503 for Open Learning students
• Project title: Integrating open educational resources into first year general chemistry: CHEM 1500 and OL

Christine Miller—University Preparation

• Approved resource: BIOL 0600
• Project title: Opening Up the Human Body (but not literally): An Open Textbook for ABE Human Biology

Crystal Huscroft—Geography

• Approved resource: GEOG 1000
• Project title: Earth System Science Open Textbook

Gloria Ramirez—Education

• Approved resources: EDUC 5010, EDUC 5011
• Project title: OERs for Research Methods in Education

Jamie Noakes and Shawn Read—Career and Experiential Learning Department

• Approved resource: CO-OP 1000
• Project title: Co-op 1000 and Co-op Work Term Textbook

Renée Anderson—Nursing

• Approved resources: NURS 2740, NURS 2840
• Project title: Clinical Procedures for Safer Patient Health Care…adapted for TRU School of Nursing BScN program

Shannon Smyrl—Communications and New Media

• Approved resources: CMNS 1290 for campus students, CMNS 1291 for Open Learning students
• Project title: Professional Writing Lessons