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Open Educational Resources (OER)

An everevolving guide to assist faculty in finding and using OER

About the Mini-Grants

Texas Wesleyan University has been awarded a grant from the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a portion of this grant will be used for faculty and instructors implementing OER or other low cost, affordable materials into their courses.

Implementation will be in Fall 2026 and the award types, grant amount, and award requirements are listed below:

2026 OAR Grants
Award Type Amount Requirements
Adoption $1,000 Use an existing open resource (textbook, library licensed material, workbook, quiz, etc.) for a course with no editing and minimal course adaptation required.  
Modifying/Remixing $2,500 Adapt, update, combine, or improve existing OER to replace currently used course materials. OER will be added to the TXWES’s Pressbooks catalog and Pressbooks directory. 
Support Materials $1,000

Develop test bank questions, teaching support materials, quizzes, interactive learning aid, videos, or other support materials for existing OER or library licensed material. All support materials developed should be openly licensed.

This is a stackable option for faculty who would like to adopt or modify an OER Textbook and also create support materials.
Creation $4,000 Create an original Open Educational Resource through TXWES’s Pressbooks publishing to be used in a course. OER will be added to TXWES’s Pressbooks catalog and Pressbooks directory. 
GEC Discipline Redesign  up to $5,500

A collaborative effort amongst a department of faculty members who would like to standardize the material for a GEC course under their department’s purview. Course redesign can include adoption, modification/adaption, or creation of an OER textbook, but MUST include creation of ancillary materials for the course as part of the redesign process and can include other open educational practices like open pedagogy. Support materials must be openly licensed and shared with the OER Committee and uploaded to Canvas Commons. 

Award amounts will vary depending on whether faculty choose to adopt, adapt, or create their OER Textbook.

*These totals do not reflect FICA deduction.

Grant Eligibility

To be considered for a grant, proposals must:

  • We are currently only accepting applications for GEC courses at this time. 
  • Instructor at at TXWES. You do not have to be full time faculty or tenure track. 
  • Adding OER or affordable resources to a course for the first time or making significant changes to the current OER or affordable resources for a course. 
  • Creating ancillary materials for a course already using open or affordable resources

Grant Requirements

2025 Application Requirements

  • Complete and submit the application linked here by September 26, 2025..
  • Identify the OAR that you will use as a starting point. This guide provides many options on finding OER, or speak with your librarian for more information about additional affordable resources like library materials. Below are the options for implementation for this 2026 cohort:
    • Adoption
    • Modifying/Remixing
    • Support Materials
    • Creation
    • GEC Discipline Redesign
  • Describe your project plan including steps necessary to incorporate OAR into your course. This could include all or some of the following in addition to items not listed:
    • Syllabus revision
    • Creation of ancillary/support materials
    • Cursory timeline of completion
  • Provide a short narrative of assessment of your project plan including who will benefit from the OAR you've selected, what qualitative and quantitative data do you plan to use to assess the effectiveness of the OAR in your course, and what steps you intend to do ensure continued effectiveness or ways to reassess if effectiveness is not achieved.

Requirements for Grant Recipients

Grant recipients are required to:

  • Attend a Grant Recipient Meeting in October

  • Complete Memorandum of Understanding

  • Depending on award applying for, publish modified or created OER material to Texas Wesleyan University Pressbooks catalog and Pressbooks Directory or have supplemental materials held in TXWES OER Hub in Canvas and published to Canvas Commons.

  • Depending on award, work with CETL at various levels to ensure accessibility and quality assurance.

  • Submit a benchmark project assessment by May 2026 discussing project progress.

  • Incorporate OER Materials by Fall 2026

  • Continue to use resource(es) in course(es) and update as needed, providing updated data to OER Committee:

    • Adapt: minimum 2 years

    • Adopt: minimum 2 years

    • Creation: minimum 4 years

  • Submit a final project assessment in Spring 2028 and share on experiences that include student impact, student feedback, challenges, lessons learned, and future plans in using OAR.