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Libraries & Cultural Resources

Research Guides

Open Educational Resources (OER)

This guide provides information and resources to help support you learn about OER, find and evaluate existing OER, adopt OER, and create OER projects.

University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants

Teaching and Learning Grants Program: OER Area of Focus

Grants in teaching and learning are offered through the University of Calgary each year through funding by the Provost's Office. The Teaching and Learning Grants Program has three structural funding streams with nine different areas of focus available across the streams, including a newer area of focus for the adaptation and creation of Open Educational Resources (OER).

Open Educational Resources (OER) are openly licensed teaching and learning resources available freely for others to use, adapt, and share.

Thanks goes to UCalgary's Students' Union who have provided SU Quality Money for the Open Educational Resources (OER) grant area of focus.

Contents:

  1. Grant Funding Streams and the OER Area of Focus
  2. UCalgary Services for Finding OER
  3. UCalgary Services for OER Creation, Hosting, and Preservation
  4. University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants and OER: Past Recipients

Grant Funding Streams and the OER Area of Focus

To support different types of projects, the University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants program offers three structural streams:

  • Development and Innovation (D&I) grants
  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) grants
  • Educational Leadership (EdL) grants

Details about each stream along with potential project examples and exemplars for the Open Educational Resources (OER) area of focus are listed below to assist applicants in finding the best suited stream for their proposed OER project. Applicants may also find that their OER project aligns with one or more of the other available areas of focus.

Development and Innovation (D&I) Stream

https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/grants/apply

This grant stream supports teaching and learning projects to develop something new or innovate something already in place in an academic course or program. The scope may vary from individual activities to entire programs, such as the creation of a new resource, the implementation of a new practice, or the (re)design of activities, courses, or programs. Development and Innovation Grants are two-year grants and can be individual or collaborative. Recipients will share their work with relevant campus audiences to benefit the practice and understanding of others.

Examples of how this grant stream may be used:

  • Adaptation of an existing OER for use in an educational setting
  • Creation of a brand new OER for use in an educational setting
  • Developing or improving a teaching approach focused on OER-enabled pedagogy
    • OER-enabled pedagogy is "the set of teaching and learning practices that are only possible or practical in the context of the 5R permissions that are characteristic of OER" (Wiley & Hilton, 2018, p. 135). Students engage as creators or co-creators of Open Educational Resources with a focus on "renewable assignments."
  • Developing a course-based or student-run open access educational or research journal

Examples of D&I Related Projects:

  • Energy Education (UCalgary)
    • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
    • Team members: Jason Donev, Jacqueline Williams (RA)
    • About: Our project is an encyclopedia that is growing to cover the entire energy sector. This encyclopedia has replaced the traditional textbook for PHYS 371, and is used in other courses on campus. Visit energyeducation.ca for more information about the project. 
  • UCalgary Chemistry Textbook (UCalgary)
    • Team members: Drs. Erin Sullivan, Amanda Musgrove (UCalgary) & Erika Merschrod (MUN) along with many student team members.
    • About: This adapted OER is open textbook contains content from OpenStax Chemsitry 2e and was developed using UCalgary Blogs.
  • Open Logic Project and forall x: Calgary (UCalgary)
    • Team members: Richard Zach (Instigator), Andrew Arana, Jeremy Avigad, Tim Button, Walter Dean, Gillian Russel, Nicole Wyatt, Audrey Yap, Aldo Antonelli, Samara Burns (SA), Dana Hagg (SA), and Zesen Qian (SA)
    • About: The Open Logic Text is an open-source, modular, collaboratively authored collection of teaching materials for formal (meta)logic and formal methods, starting at an intermediate level (i.e., after an introductory formal logic course). It is aimed at a non-mathematical audience (in particular, students of philosophy and computer science), but is completely rigorous.... The project remains under continuous development, and we plan to improve and add to the coverage.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Stream

https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/grants/apply

This grant stream draws upon discipline-based expertise to develop a scholarly project anchored by a meaningful question about student learning and the activities intended to facilitate that learning in an academic course or program. The SoTL grant, which can be individual or collaborative, is designed to answer that question by making relevant student learning visible and then systematically analyzing this evidence. These projects are three-year grants and aim to improve student learning by strengthening the practice of teaching through development of a new teaching approach or improving upon an existing teaching practice. To benefit the practice and understanding of others, SoTL grant recipients will share their work with relevant campus audiences and disseminate more broadly within relevant scholarly communities.

Examples of how this grant stream may be used:

  • Adaptation of an existing OER for use in an educational setting with an added evaluation or research component
  • Creation of a brand new OER for use in an educational setting with an added evaluation or research component
  • Developing or improving a teaching approach focused around OER-enabled or open pedagogy with an added evaluation or research component
    • OER-enabled pedagogy is "the set of teaching and learning practices that are only possible or practical in the context of the 5R permissions that are characteristic of OER" (Wiley & Hilton, 2018, p. 135). Students engage as creators or co-creators of Open Educational Resources with a focus on "renewable assignments."

Examples of SoTL-Related Projects:

Educational Leadership (EdL) Stream

https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/grants/apply

This grant stream supports the development of the recipient's educational leadership capacity through the implementation of strategic teaching and learning initiatives that include the development of professional learning opportunities to help other academic staff/educators strengthen their teaching and learning practice in academic courses or programs. Fundable projects may involve a range of contexts and activities, not just those that occur in the classroom. Educational Leadership grants are three-year grants and are individual or collaborative. This grant is intended to have an impact beyond the scope of an individual academic course and recipients will share their work with relevant campus audiences and disseminate more broadly within relevant scholarly communities.

Examples of how this grant stream may be used:

  • Initiating institutional change through an institutional transdisciplinary initiative focused on one or more aspects of Open Education or Open Educational Resources
  • Expand upon or start programming or advocacy around utilizing Open Educational Resources
  • Develop a educational program or initiative supporting students and educators made available as an Open Educational Resource

Examples of EdL-Related Projects:

UCalgary Services for Finding OER

Libraries and Cultural Resources offers two OER Adoption Services that grant applicants can use to find OER they could adapt and build upon in their proposed OER project.

OER by Discipline Guide: University of Calgary

https://doi.org/10.55016/OEA/UCoer3

Visit the OER by Discipline Guide: UCalgary to locate potential OER in your discipline

Open Course Materials Matching Service (OCoMMS)

https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/guides/ocomms

The Open Course Materials Matching Service (OCoMMS) saves instructors time searching for OER as the OER Support Team will conduct the search for instructors to find potential OER that fit the course materials needs within a course. Following our search, we will provide a curated list of potential OER for instructors to evaluate as the subject expert for potential adoption into their course. This service can be used for established courses, as well as, new courses and programs.

 

Visit the Open Course Materials Matching Service (OCoMMS) Guide to learn more.

 

 

UCalgary Services for OER Creation, Hosting, and Preservation

Libraries and Cultural Resources and the Taylor Institute offer a variety of services for creating, publishing, and hosting Open Educational Resources.

Supported by Libraries and Cultural Resources

Open Education Alberta | OER Publishing Service

Open Education Alberta is a no-fee provincial publishing service for Open Educational Resources (OER) offered by partnered post-secondary institutions across Alberta. Open Education Alberta uses the Pressbooks platform to support the development, hosting, and publication of openly licensed teaching and learning resources, such as open textbooks, lab manuals, open courses, toolkits, tutorials, and more. It offers a variety of plug-in options, multimedia integration, and other functionality to create interactive and engaging OER.

  • Suggested use for OER: to develop, host, and provide access to a digitally-based OER. Additional file format downloads are also made available (PDF, ePub).

PRISM | Institutional Repository

PRISM is UCalgary's institutional repository and is a digital archive of the intellectual output of the institutional community. Established and maintained by Libraries and Cultural Resources (LCR) to manage, preserve, and make available the academic works of faculty, students and research groups. The collection includes faculty publications and educational resources, masters and doctoral theses, and research output from across Southern Alberta.

  • Suggested use for OER: to host, provide access, and preserve downloadable files of an OER

Digital Collections

Digital Collections is a repository for building digital collections with support from library staff, faculty, students, and community partners to showcase unique collections of interest to Albertans, Canadians, researchers, and educators.

  • Suggested use for OER: to host, provide access, and preserve downloadable predominantly multimedia-based OER

Journal Hosting Service

Libraries and Cultural Resources supports journals through our Journal Hosting Service. We provide web hosting for journals through the Open Journal Systems (OJS), developed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP). This service is open to any open access peer-reviewed journals whose editor(s)-in-chief is affiliated with a Canadian post-secondary institution. PKP offers PKP School for those interested in learning how to use the OJS platform.

  • Suggested use for OER: to publish openly-licensed articles and other research outputs in course-based or student-run journals.

Web Archiving

Web Archiving Services and associated Web Archive Collections are managed by Digitization and Repository Services with the goal of preserving the research, teaching and learning and cultural websites created by UCalgary Students, Faculty, and Staff. LCR's Web Archiving Service is offered using the Archive-It

PRISM Data | Institutional Data Repository

PRISM Data is the University of Calgary's institutional repository for research data. It provides digital archiving and sharing of research data from researchers.

  • Suggested use for OER: to host, provide access, and preserve downloadable data associated with an OER

Omeka S

Omeka S is a simple web publishing system that is used by hundreds of archives, historical societies, libraries, museums, and individual researchers and teachers to create searchable websites for digital collections. At the University of Calgary, Omeka S is used by students and faculty to tell stories about library or university collections, or academic works created by students themselves. Using Omeka S provides the opportunity for experiential learning beyond the classroom and the university community. "Omeka" (pronounced oh-MEH-ka) is a Swahili word meaning "to display or lay out wares." Omeka was developed by the Roy Rosezweig Center for History and New Media beginning in 2006.  Omeka is a non-profit project; its funding comes from a variety of US agencies and foundations.

  • Suggested use for OER: to develop, host, and provide access to digital collections created by faculty, students, or in collaboration together.

Supported by the Taylor Institute

UCalgary Blogs

UCalgary Blogs is a collaborative publishing platform for use by the University of Calgary community, UCalgary Blogs is offered by the Taylor Institute Educational Development Unit as part of its efforts to extend effective blended and online learning on campus. UCalgary Blogs, based in WordPress open source software, can be used to create a personal blog, an official site, a course site, an ePortfolio, and more! (Adapted from the UCalgary Blogs Home Page).

  • Suggested use for OER: to develop, host, and provide access to an website-based OER created by faculty, students, or in collaboration together.

YuJa | Video Platform

YuJa is the university’s video hosting/content management system. It can be used as a stand-alone tool and also within your D2L course. YuJa allows you to upload and share your videos, create screen captures via a free desktop software and caption your content. The YuJa Enterprise Video Platform is an all-in-one video experience to securely create, manage, discover, collaborate, and live stream video content across any device, at any time (Taken from the UCalgary eLearn Yuja page).

  • Suggested use for OER: to develop and host video-based OER created by faculty, students, or in collaboration together.

University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants for OER: Past Recipients

The University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants Program has compiled a list of all past recipients from its start in 2014 to the present. The OER area of focus was first awarded in 2022.

2023 Teaching and Learning Grant Recipients for OER Area of Focus

By Learners for Learners: Level-Appropriate Children's Literature for Bilingual German Primary Education

  • Principal Investigator: Roswita Aleida Helene Dressler
  • Funding: Development and Innovation

The Cultural-Learning Portfolio: Experiential Learning and Reflection in the Language Classroom

  • Principal Investigator: Angela George
  • Funding: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Development of a multi-course open-access chemistry textbook

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Amanda Musgrove, PhD
  • Funding: Development and Innovation

Designing Open Educational Resources for Students to Engage as Biodiversity Scientists

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Jana Vamosi, PhD
  • Funding: Development and Innovation

How can a citizen-led organization be engaged in the co-production of post-secondary education?

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Jo-Louise Huq, PhD
  • Funding: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - Individual

Learning in Places – (OER)

  • Principal Investigator: Dr. Alice De Koning, PhD
  • Funding: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Verbal De-escalation in Virtual Simulation

  • Principal Investigator: Michelle Cullen
  • Funding: Development and Innovation

2022 Teaching and Learning Grant Recipients for OER Area of Focus

Using Reflection and Feedback for Improving the Student Writing Experience in Science

  • Investigator: Dr. Nicole Sandblom; PhD
  • Funding: Development and Innovation - Individual Stream

Development of Video-Based Simulation Case Studies for Anatomy and Physiology

  • Investigator: Dr. Carol A. Gibbons Kroeker, PhD
  • Funding: Development and Innovation - Individual Stream

Developing Asynchronous Arabic Learning Materials: A Sustainable Resource for Beginners' Arabic

  • Investigator: Dr. Rachel Friedman, PhD
  • Funding: Development and Innovation - Individual Stream

Animal Kinship Project

  • Investigator: Dr. Craig Ginn; PhD
  • Funding: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - Individual Stream

An Anti-Oppressive Teaching and Learning Toolbox

  • Team members: Dr. Dave Anderson, PhD, Dr. Kiara Mikita, PhD, and Kenna Kelly-Turner
  • Funding: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - Collaborative Stream

Integrating Research Training via the Development of a Social Work Journal Transforming Social Work – Developing a New Social Work Journal: Fostering Student Training and Mentorship in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning through Academic Journal Publishing

  • Team members: Dr. Julie Drolet, PhD, Hilary Nelson, Dr. Christine Walsh, PhD, Julie Mann-Johnson, Dr. Jaki Shankar, PhD, and Dr. Jeannette Waegemakers Schiff, PhD
  • Funding: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - Collaborative Stream
  • Resource: Transformative Social Work journal

Previous UCalgary Awarded Grants Resulting in OER

The efficacy of experiential learning through peer feedback in graduate education programs

BTMA 601: Business Technology Management

  • Team members: Sharaz Khan, Alexandra Edie (RA)
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER adoption project

CHEM 209: General Chemistry for Engineers

  • Team members: Nicole Sandblom, Vivian Mozol, Amanda Musgrove Richer, Brian Gilbert (RA), Jack Jarvis (RA), and Linh Ly (RA)
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER adoption project

CORE 209: Disability in Theory and Everyday Life

  • Team members: Joanna Rankin, Rebecca Brady (RA), Sarosh Sawani (RA)
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER adoption project

ENGO 343: Fundamentals of Surveying

  • Team members: Elena Rangelova, Dr. Iliana Tsalis (RA)
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER adoption project

MDSC 351: Honours Cell & Molecular Biology

  • Team members: Mayi Arcellana-Panlilio, Chimone Dalton (RA)
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER adoption project

MGST 741: Business Process Improvement and Creative Problem Solving

  • Team members: Maria Stoletova, Devon Cornelisse (RA), Julie Pham (RA), and Aaron Nasser (RA)
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER adoption project - MGST 741 OER [PDF]

PHYS 371: Introduction to Energy

  • Team members: Jason Donev, Jacqueline Williams (RA)
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER creation project: Energy Education

PSYC 451: Cognitive Development

  • Team members: Kathleen Hughes, Devon Currie (RA), Laura Hernandez (RA), Clara Lee (RA), and Mehnaz Rafi (RA)
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER creation project

SPAN 203: Beginners' Spanish II

  • Team members: Elizabeth Montes Garcés, Michael Dabrowski, Fresia Sánchez, Berenice Cancino (RA), Nicole Puccinelli (RA), and Carlo Roble (RA).
  • Funding: Open Educational Resources Pilot Project, 2017
  • About: OER adoption project with previous project creating the OER - Beginner Spanish OER

VETM 442: An Introduction to Veterinary Clinical Pathology 

Libraries & Cultural Resources