Affordable Learning Implementation Grants for Spring 2021

The Weinberg Memorial Library is pleased to offer $1,000 Affordable Learning Implementation Grants to successful full-time faculty applicants.

Affordable Learning aims to reduce the financial burden on students by eliminating expensive for-cost textbooks and course materials with no-cost or low-cost educational resources. OER stands for Open Educational Resources, which include online textbooks, media, and other materials that are available freely for use and can be remixed/reused for educational purposes. For our Affordable Learning Implementation Grants, formerly OER Implementation Grants, faculty may opt to use existing OER textbooks and open source software that is available online or may compile course materials from appropriately licensed e-books and journals that are open access or available through the Library to replace all, or some, of their for-cost course materials.

For a list of available OER and appropriately licensed Affordable Learning resources, visit the OER Research Guide. The Library’s OER Committee will be hosting an informational session over Zoom about the grants and available resources on October 28th from 11 am – noon if you are interested in learning more. Please email kelly.banyas@scranton.edu if you would like the Zoom meeting link.

The library will award up to two $1,000 Affordable Learning Implementation Grants for Spring 2021 courses. These grants are also made possible with additional funding from The University of Scranton’s Strategic Initiatives Funding.

For more information and the application form, visit the Affordable Learning Implementation Grants web page.

Celebrate Open Education Week! Join us for Coffee and OER Discussion

Coffee cupThe Library invites University of Scranton Faculty to join us Thursday, March 5th, at 10:00 am during Open Education Week (March 2-6) for coffee and a light breakfast in the Weinberg Memorial Library room 305 to discuss implementing Open Educational Resources (OER) in the classroom. The Library defines OER as any freely accessible or appropriately licensed, rigorous academic material that is a suitable replacement for expensive textbooks, readings, and other types of required course materials.

Discussion will include an introduction to OER, how to locate OER resources within the Library’s collection and online, and suggestions for how you can replace costly textbooks and other resources with OER. Librarians will also answer questions about OER and the Open Educational Resources Grant, available to full-time faculty and accepting applications until April 17th.

Click here to register by Friday, February 28th.

Faculty Workshop on Open Educational Resources (OER)

The library invites University of Scranton Faculty to join us for an Open Educational Resources (OER) Workshop on Wednesday, January 22nd, in the DeNaples Center room 405 from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. The Library’s OER Committee will introduce OER and its impacts, followed by guest speakers.

Kate Cummings, an Affordable Learning PA OER Specialist and the Library Director at Luzerne County Community College, will be speaking about her experience with OER, copyright, licensing, and her work with Affordable Learning PA.

Dr. Amy Simolo, Faculty Development Specialist, will discuss integrating OER as part of the course-design process and engaging students through using OER.

The presentations will be followed by an afternoon hands-on work session where the speakers and the Library’s OER Committee will be available to answer any questions and introduce participants to locating a variety of OER resources. Bring any ideas for current or future courses as well as any resources you may want to replace with OER.

Lunch will be provided. Click here to register by January 17th.

Open Educational Resources (OER) Coffee Break

Coffee cupThe Library invites University of Scranton Faculty to join us Friday, October 25th, at 2:00 pm during Open Access Week (Oct 21-25) for a coffee break in the Weinberg Memorial Library room 305 to discuss implementing Open Educational Resources (OER) in the classroom.

Discussion will include an introduction to OER, available resources located in and collected by the Library, and steps to support replacing costly textbooks and other resources with OER. Librarians will also answer questions about OER and the Open Educational Resources Grant, accepting applications until November 15th.

Click here to register by Wednesday, October 23rd.

OER Implementation Grants for 2020

The Weinberg Memorial Library is pleased to offer $1,000 OER Implementation Grants to successful full-time faculty applicants. These grants were made possible by University of Scranton Strategic Initiatives Funding.

What is OER?

OER stands for Open Educational Resources. We define OER as any freely accessible or appropriately licensed, rigorous academic material that is a suitable replacement for expensive textbooks, readings, or other types of required course materials. OER Implementation Grants incentivize full-time faculty to consider replacing all, or some, of their for-cost, required course materials with resources that are free for students.

Why is it important?

According to the College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges, undergraduates at private 4-year nonprofit universities spend an average of $1,240 per year on textbooks. Numerous studies suggest that the high cost of textbooks lead many students to forgo purchasing course texts, which can affect students’ participation and success within the course.

Awards

The library will award up to two $1,000 OER Implementation Grants for Spring 2020 courses. For more information, visit the OER Research Guide https://guides.library.scranton.edu/OER.