Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Alternative Textbook Grant?

The Alternative Textbook Grant is an initiative of OU Libraries. Its primary goal is to compensate instructors for the work required to abandon costly, traditional course materials in favor of free and open course materials. The primary metric of success for this initiative is a reduction in what students spend on course materials.  The grant, which was started in 2014, accepts applications annually opening its call for applications in January of each year.

How much funding will successful applicants receive?

OU Libraries does not award more than $2,500 per successful application; some colleges supplement this amount for their participating faculty.  For 2023, The Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences has committed to provide additional funds for grantees from the College.

What can the funding be spent on?

Alternative Textbook Grant funding is intended to be supplemental income and there are no restrictions on how they can be used. Some grantees have used the award money for creative purposes including:

• Time of student assistant to help with OER adoption
• Airfare and boarding for a recipient's colleague to visit OU and collaboratively develop an OER
• Wages for a graduate student who produces an OER under the supervision of the awardee
• The purchase of a classroom set of electronic tablets
• Paying a third party for editing or other services

Can I see a what questions are on the grant application?

Yes, you can download a Word document version of the application.

Do I need to submit a budget with my application?

No! Since you may spend the money however you wish, there is no need to submit a planned budget for how you will use the funding. You are welcome to include your ideas in your application, if you choose.

I'm not faculty, can I apply for a grant?

Any applicants who do not have faculty status (graduate teaching assistants, staff, etc.) may apply for the grant with a letter of support from their department chair, associate dean, or equivalent. An example of a support letter can be found HERE.

Who else has received an Alternative Textbook Grant?

You can see a list of all previous grant recipients HERE.

Where can I find already existing OER?

A great place to start is the Open Education Network’s Open Textbook Library. This library contains over 1000 college level textbooks that are openly licensed. Another good resource to browse is OER Commons, which has openly licensed resources for all education levels and in formats outside of full textbooks. There are also two OER search engines you can use, Mason Metafinder and OASIS. These tools search multiple libraries of open content simultaneously.

What about copyright?

OER authors retain full copyright of the resources they create. In order to be considered OER a resource must have an open license. We require that all grant recipients license their original content under a Creative Commons (CC) or other open license that allows for derivatives. Please see our Copyright and Licensing guide for more information.

How do I register my work with a Creative Commons license?

You don't. To apply the terms of a CC license to a work, simply choose a license using this wizard and insert its icon and its declaration into your work where you would typically include "All Rights Reserved" or "©". You'll find an example declaration at the bottom of this page.

Where can I learn more about OER?

Please see our Open Educational Resources guide for more information about OER.