Emergency OER Grants

As we navigate this widespread transition to online learning, many of us are authoring and adapting new materials to support our students.  To help incentivize faculty to openly share the most impressive of these projects, the Maricopa Millions team is now accepting proposals for emergency OER mini-grants (unfortunately, this is Maricopa faculty only).

We know that nobody right now has extra time for authoring long, complicated proposals, so we have simplified the process in order to expedite the submission, review, and award of these mini-grants.  The first round of proposals are due by the end of the day on April 9, 2020, and we make a decision about additional rounds in the coming weeks based on interest and availability of funding.

Here are some specific details about this grant opportunity:

• Grants will be awarded in two tiers: $350 (approximately 10 clock hours) and $700 (approximately 20 clock hours).  You will self-select in the proposal form.
• Awards will be paid out upon final review and publication of the material, no sooner than May 22, 2020.
• Applicants must be permanent, residential faculty in the Maricopa County Community College District.
• Materials that may qualify for these grants include collections of lecture videos, interactive online lab activities, homework problem sets (e.g. in MOER), or other modules or learning objects.  If you are not sure about whether or not your work qualifies, go ahead and submit a proposal anyway–the form is short and we will provide you with feedback if you are denied a grant for the first round.
• Please note that projects qualifying for consideration for these mini-grants will typically be of clear value beyond your individual classroom and would likely be of some use to others across the district and beyond.  Dated/branded materials such as class announcements will not be considered.
• Only projects / materials developed during the Spring 2020 COVID-19 shutdown (between March 16 and May 22) may be considered for these emergency grants.
• The deliverable(s) for this grant will be published as OER, so they must be able to be licensed under Creative Commons (meaning that they are either your own intellectual property or derivative of existing open content).  Content that is adapted or reused from existing resources must be properly attributed.
• Details about publishing these materials will follow.
• Grant recipients will be required to arrange for one or more content experts to review the materials before publication and payout of compensation.  The proposal form asks for a brief description of how the recipient plans to make that happen.

Evaluation Rubric for Emergency Grants

100 points total

25 points — The materials are / will be usable by others across the district and beyond (e.g. they are not section-specific)

25 points — The materials are / will be licensable under Creative Commons

25 points — The materials are substantial enough to justify compensation according to the chosen tier (either $350 or $700)

25 points — The proposed process for the required final peer review of the material is sufficient

OER Mentoring Program

To support faculty during this emergency, the Maricopa Millions OER project is now facilitating a mentoring program by which faculty and staff who are new to open education may connect with experienced OER practitioners and makers.

Mentorships are open-ended and largely up to the mentor and mentee to define.  Overall, mentors should make themselves available to their mentees to answer the occasional question or engage in discussion about best practices related to developing and using open resources.

Benefits for Mentees

• Expand your knowledge of OER
• Learn from an experienced practitioner / maker
• Have a point of contact for when you come across a question related to an OER project

Benefits for Mentors

• Learn about new ideas and projects across the district
• Share your wisdom and expertise
• Earn the Maricopa Millions “OER Mentor” badge (super cool!)

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Location: Phoenix, Arizona, United States
More Information: https://learn.maricopa.edu/courses/811971/pages/emergency-oer-mini-grants and https://learn.maricopa.edu/courses/811971/pages/oer-mentoring-program?module_item_id=16951375