Oct. 27, 2020, Austin, Texas – The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board today announced a request for applications (RFA) for the Open Educational Resources (OER) Course Development and Implementation Grant Program, supported by a portion of the $175 million allocations to the THECB from the Governor’s Emergency Educational Relief (GEER) Fund. The competitive grant program will enhance the quality of online course offerings and reduce the costs of educational materials for students at Texas public and independent institutions of higher education. Matching grants will support teams of faculty engaged in the development of new OER materials for online delivery and the redesign of courses using existing OER.
“I appreciate Governor Abbott and Texas legislators for entrusting us with these resources and supporting our efforts to increase accessibility and affordability while minimizing barriers to higher education for students across the state. These grants, along with our recently launched OERTX repository, will enable faculty across the state to access and collaborate with each other in the development of open online content, while also providing access for students to high-quality digital materials,” said Commissioner of Texas Higher Education Harrison Keller. “The Coordinating Board looks forward to partnering with these institutions to support their faculty in the development and adaptation of digital resources —all of which will be available at no charge to students.
THECB is establishing partnerships with three higher education institutions: OpenStax at Rice University, Dallas College, and the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin. These technical assistance partner institutions will provide guidance to OER Course Development and Implementation applicants and awardees, including the redesigning of Texas Core Curriculum courses, co-requisite remediation for Texas Core Curriculum Courses, and Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM) course inventory.
Two categories of grants are available under this RFA:
- Development Grants –matching grants of up to $25,000 to support faculty teams in developing new OER for online course delivery. Cross-institutional collaboration is required for development grants; and
- Implementation Grants –matching grants of up to $5,000 to support faculty or teams of faculty in the redesign of courses for online delivery using existing OER. Cross-institutional collaboration is encouraged for implementation grants.
Texas institutions may apply online. Contingent upon the amount of funding available, the THECB expects to present three rounds of grant awards under this RFA: Nov. 17, Dec. 15, 2020, and Jan. 11, 2021. Materials developed/utilized for the grant program will be housed in the Texas OER repository (OERTX).
THECB Mission Statement
The mission of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is to provide leadership and coordination for Texas higher education and to promote access, affordability, quality, success, and cost efficiency through 60x30TX, resulting in a globally competitive workforce that positions Texas as an international leader.
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