Supported through the Academic Technology Committee, the Office of the Provost, and the William H. Hannon Library, the LMU Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative (OATI) grant:
In 2021-2022, the OATI grant will recognize up to ten faculty (or project teams) with awards ranging from $1000 to $10,000 based on the scope and scale of the project proposed, the cost-savings, the number of students impacted, and potential “shareability” of the revised syllabus and/or resource created. Individual and team submissions are encouraged.
The application deadline for the 2021-2022 OATI grant is 5pm on February 9. 2021. Download complete application guidelines and forms here.
Continuing tenure-line and contingent faculty teaching in all undergraduate and graduate level departments and programs are eligible for grant funding. Contingent faculty are eligible to apply as a co-lead or partner with a tenure-line faculty member.
Faculty can apply:
Eligible courses include:
These material types are ineligible for grant funding:
Grant applicants shall adhere to the following requirements:
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.
Library or other University-licensed Resources
The term "library or other university-licensed resources" refers to any digital content that the William H. Hannon Library or another unit at LMU (for example, ITS or an individual academic department) purchases or subscribes to, such as e-books, LinkedIn Learning, or MATLAB that are freely accessible for current LMU students. All eligible resources must also be licensed and accessible by multiple simultaneous users. Grant applications that propose the use of library or other university licensed resources will save students money by making use of materials in which the university has already invested. While licensed materials are free for the end-user, they are not open. Moreover, because each resource has its own license and terms of access established by the copyright holder, not every licensed resource will be suitable for course adoption. Librarians can help faculty determine what is permissible.
Freely Available Resources
Many materials available on the internet for free (e.g., TedX, YouTube, museum resources, etc.) are not open by definition due to copyright or other restrictions. But so long as they are free and accessible for students, they are eligible alternatives to commercial products for the purposes of this grant.
Low-Cost Resources
Materials available for students for less than $40 total per course, per semester. Although priority will go to applicants that completely eliminate textbook fees, applications that commit to reducing the textbook cost for students but still have minimal costs incurred for essential materials may still be eligible for funding. (Note: low-cost materials must also be readily accessible. If a book is inexpensive but out-of-print, this can still present a significant barrier to students who are required to read it.)