Page 1 of 9

Linn-Benton Community College (OR) 

P116T210020

$712,829.00 (multi-year request)

Linn- Benton Community College, in consortium with several Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), 

Chemeketa Press, RMC Research, Pressbook, and a Workforce Advisory Board comprised of several 

entities, proposes to establish the Open Social Services Pathways for Criminal Justice and Human 

Development/Family Studies program. The applicant has identified the target population as faculty 

teaching high enrollment Criminal Justice (CJ) and Human Development/Family Studies (HDFS) courses, 

and the students of these faculty. A consortium of IHEs, subject matter experts, workforce stakeholders, 

and project partners will develop high-quality, accessible open educational resources (OER) with an 

equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) lens for high-enrollment courses in CJ and HDFS that lead to indemand occupations (Absolute Priority 1). The courses selected for development currently have few 

OER for faculty to choose from, so by creating and disseminating openly licensed course materials, this 

project addresses a gap in the existing marketplace, and offers a replicable model for other projects 

(Absolute Priority 2). This project will eliminate required textbook costs in 9 pathway courses and 

improve student achievement by providing access to higher quality learning materials than those 

available commercially (Absolute Priority 3). The project has three goals. Goal 1: Eliminate required 

textbook costs for selected CJ and HDFS high enrollment courses that contribute to open pathways or 

majors; as a result, over 2,700 students are expected to save approximately $340,000 during the grant 

period as a result. Goal 2: Improve student learning by increasing use of high-quality, accessible open 

textbooks and ancillary materials that include an EDI lens; as a result, end of course grades will increase 

by 5% overall, with increases of 10% for Pell recipients, 13% for non-white students, and 28% for parttime students as a result. In addition, DFW rates will decrease by 2% overall, 30% of students will report 

improvement in affective course outcomes, and 80% of faculty will report changes in their teaching 

practices. Goal 3: Ensure widespread awareness and adoption of the OER materials and the Open Social 

Services Pathways model of OER development in Oregon and nationally; as a result, each redesigned 

course will be adopted by one non-consortia IHE in Oregon before the end of the grant period, 

representing 15% of all course sections taught for the targeted courses. The consortium will address the 

Competitive Preference Priority through Pressbooks that will provide the digital creation and 

distribution platform for the project, including the capability to build accessible, interactive assessments 

that securely integrate with the Learning Management System gradebook. The consortium meets the 

invitational priority as the lead applicant institution, and 4 other consortia IHEs, are Minority Serving 

Institutions as defined in the Federal Register Notice Inviting Applications.
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Framingham State University (MA) 

P116T210026

$441,367.00 (multi-year request) 

Framingham State University, in consortium with Seven Massachusetts Institutions of Higher Education, 

along with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, form a consortium consisting of more 

than 29,000 diverse undergraduate students. The program Remixing Open Textbooks through an Equity 

Lens (ROTEL): Culturally Relevant Open Textbooks for High Enrollment General Education Courses and 

Career and Professional Courses at Six Public Massachusetts Colleges will test the hypothesis that 

underrepresented students will achieve higher academic outcomes if free, culturally relevant course 

materials that reflect their experience are utilized, which has not been studied. The Open Textbook 

Coordinating Council (OTCC), comprised of each Consortium member and hired staff experts, will meet 

monthly to provide professional development and guidance to interested faculty to create OER content. 

They will also meet regularly with an Industry Advisory Council comprised of members from the heath 

care, early education, and criminal justice sectors to review created content for relevancy to their needs. 

All faculty who receives money for content will be required to present information about OER within 

their discipline amongst the Consortium, and at conferences. Addressing gaps in the marketplace, and 

bringing solutions to scale, will be addressed by disseminating the project results to all 28 

Massachusetts undergraduate degree institutions. The OTCC will also write a journal article to help 

others replicate the project. Proposed activities include providing monetary incentives for faculty to 

create 36 new OER textbooks and 36 adaptions of existing textbooks using a diversity, equity, and 

inclusion lens, which will result in more than $1.6 Million per year in student savings. General education 

courses required by all participants will be targeted for their high enrollments, along with courses in 

health, education, and criminal justice, which are large employers in the Commonwealth. OTCC will 

track numerous performance measures, including numbers of courses, sections and faculty using new 

OER materials, student grades and satisfaction in those courses, and the average DEI score of the new 

material using a rubric based on OpenStax’s DEI framework. This project meets the Competitive 

Preference Priority by using technology-based strategies for personalized learning and continuous 

learning. OER content will be designed with self-directed and adaptive learning opportunities so 

students have personalized, individualized learning paths. We will create iterative OER, assess the 

efficacy of content and the need for supplemental materials to allow instructors to identify areas of 

need for continuous improvement. Content curated will include the digitization of all materials in 

abidance with Universal Design accessibility requirements. These openly licensed, culturally relevant 

textbooks will support existing traditional experiences to deepen student engagement. The Consortium 

includes three Hispanic-Serving Institutions, meeting the Invitational Priority.
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West Chester University of Pennsylvania (PA) 

P116T210027

$410,635.00 (multi-year request)

West Chester University of Pennsylvania, in consortium with Cheyney University (CU), Kutztown 

University KU), and Millersville University (MU), proposes to establish The Pennsylvania Alliance for 

Design of OPen Textbooks (PA-ADOPT). The consortium has identified the target population as Writing 

and STEM-H faculty members from all participating institutions that will be recruited and trained as 

faculty authors for open-e-textbook development, and as peer reviewers for open e-textbook 

evaluation; graduate students in the WCU English Department will be recruited and trained to serve as 

copyeditors for the new, open e-textbooks; and all undergraduates who take the targeted Writing, 

Biology, Chemistry, and Physics courses that will use the new, open E-textbooks, especially Pell eligible 

students and STEM-H (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Health Professions) majors. 

The goal of the PA-ADOPT project will be to create a collection of high-quality e-textbooks that are freely 

disseminated using the Principles of OER with the following objectives: (i) Training faculty throughout 

the four participating institutions to develop competencies needed to author open e-textbooks; (ii) 

Establishment of a new process for copyediting and peer-review in addition to regular technical review 

of the open e-textbooks; (iii) Establishment of a shared space across the PA-ADOPT institution for 

publishing and distributing the completed, open e-textbooks with a primary focus on student and faculty 

accessibility; and (iv) Establishment of a new process for project evaluation that includes continuous 

improvement of the e-textbooks based on input from faculty and students. The project will target highenrollment, Writing and foundational STEM-H courses as well as Advanced Biology courses. The aim of 

PA-ADOPT will be to decrease the cost of attendance for all students who take the courses listed above, 

especially Pell eligible students and STEM-H majors. We anticipate that the project will save our STEM-H 

majors approximately $400.00 per year. We also anticipate that by decreasing the burden of paying for 

some textbooks for our students, we will realize fewer drops, withdrawals, and failures in the targeted 

courses. The project will address the Competitive Preference Priority by developing and disseminating etextbooks that address the specific learning needs and interests of STEM-H majors. The process of etextbook designed through the lens of the Quality Matters pedagogy, technical review, copyediting, and 

peer review will make the e-textbooks developed through this project as accessible, readable, 

interactive, and user-friendly as possible. This application is from a consortium in which a Cheyney 

University, a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), is a member of the consortium, but not the lead 

applicant. Cheyney University, the first Historically Black College or University in the US, is an MSI.
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Clemson University (SC) 

P116T210023

$759,629.00 (multi-year request) 

Clemson University, in consortium with Trident Technical College, and Claflin University proposed to 

establish the Co-DREAM OER (Collaborative Development of Robotics Education and Advanced 

Manufacturing Open Educational Resources) program. The consortium has identified the target 

population as institutions of higher education that offer courses on robotics, mechatronics, and 

advanced manufacturing at the two-year technical college, undergraduate, and graduate levels in South 

Carolina and other parts of the nation that are experiencing significant growth in advanced 

manufacturing activities, as well as their faculty and students. The consortium institutions will develop 9 

open textbooks and ancillary materials for them, including online homework exercises and simulations 

for associate, bachelors, and masters track programs on the subjects of robotics, mechatronics, and 

advanced manufacturing over a three-year period. These textbooks fill an important gap in OER 

resources that can be used by large numbers of students from many institutions and produces materials 

that will benefit robotics in advanced manufacturing, an in-demand industry. They are Creative 

Commons licensed to ensure interoperability, designed to meet the needs of students from a variety of 

backgrounds, including those with disabilities, and will be actively promoted to other institutions of 

higher education by consortium members and their outreach partners. The above will fulfill Absolute 

Priority 1. The project will also include professional development for those seeking to use the works, 

fulfilling Absolute Priority 2. Educational research will be conducted after the completion of these works 

to assess their impact in ways such as student savings and academic performance, fulfilling Absolute 

Priority 3. These activities, in the immediate term will save students taking courses in the three subjects 

at Clemson, Trident and Claflin between $200,000-$450,000 each year. They fill a gap in the lack of OER 

materials on robotics, mechatronics, and advanced manufacturing and will help to better prepare the 

ever-increasing number of students enrolled in these subjects by offering them free, up-to-date, and 

suitable textbooks and innovative materials based on personal learning technologies. In the long term 

they can be used in other higher educational institutions in South Carolina, as well as in other industrial 

regions of the nation, saving tens to hundreds of thousands of students millions annually. This project 

will address the Competitive Preference Priority by developing online homework activities, which will 

provide students personalized learning in the form of allowing them to receive instant feedback for 

homework questions and allow instructors to monitor their learning progress. It will also include virtual 

reality activities that allow students to learn on their own and simulate workplace environments. Both 

these activities will be based on universal design. The consortium addresses the Invitational Priority as 

one of the consortium members, Claflin University, is a Historically Black University. The proposed 

textbooks and ancillary materials in the project will be developed to suit the needs of students and 

faculty in this institution and other minority serving institutions.
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Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (WA) 

P116T210007 

$679,453.00 (multi-year request)

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) in consortium with Highline 

College, South Seattle College, Yakima Valley College, Washington State Labor Council, Association of 

Washington Business and Workforce Education Coordinating and Training Board, proposes to establish 

the Open Textbooks for Washington Professional Technical Programs (Open ProfTech). Open Textbooks 

for Washington Professional Technical Programs (Open ProfTech) will bring together colleges, industry 

groups, and sector partners to develop seven new open textbooks in the highest in-demand professional 

technical programs. The target population is ProfTech students in 34 colleges across the state who are 

preparing for employment in specific industries. Washington’s colleges serve at least 40,000 

economically disadvantaged ProfTech students annually. These students will benefit from having access 

to open resource textbooks created by this project. Specifically, the project will create seven open 

textbooks in the high demand, high enrollment areas of manufacturing, allied health, criminal justice, 

early childhood education, welding, hospitality and automotive. At least three of these books will also 

be made available as audiobooks. This project will establish an Open Resource Repository for 

Washington ProfTech programs, and develop a practical and easy-to-follow manual that guides ProfTech 

faculty members in the open textbook authoring process, with a special emphasis on accessibility and 

universal design. By the end of the grant period, the total cost savings for students at the colleges 

implementing the new open textbooks will be at least $600,000. Once fully implemented statewide, the 

Open ProfTech project has the potential to save Washington’s ProfTech students a total of $3,000,000 

per year across the entire state. Open ProfTech meets the Competitive Preference Priority by improving 

instruction and student outcomes and personalizing learning experiences through two statewide 

mechanisms: MasteryPaths and Digital Badging. ProfTech meets the Invitational Priority. Washington 

State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) represents Washington’s 34 two-year 

degree-granting public institutions. Additionally, at least 11 system colleges are Minority Serving 

Institutions (MSI).
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Southwest Minnesota State University (MN) 

P116T210022

$978,332.00 (multi-year request)

Southwest Minnesota State University, in consortium with St. Cloud State University, Minnesota State 

University Mankato, Normandale Community College, Century College, St. Cloud Technical and 

Community College, and State colleges and universities system offices, proposes to establish the 

Opening Opportunities for Teacher Education program. As of 2018 Minnesota had 2,458 teaching 

assignments held by individuals with special permissions to teach in a licensed field where they did not 

possess the full qualifications to teach in that field. The teacher shortage is more deeply felt along racial 

lines. According to the 2019 Teacher Supply and Demand Report, only 2,745 (3.4%) active teachers 

were people of color in 2017-18. Some studies have suggested our nation’s teacher shortage could 

reach as much as 200,000 by 2025. Therefore, through this project the consortium’s target population 

will be students of colors in teaching programs, as well as the faculty within teacher preparation 

programs in Minnesota State institutions. The consortium is proposing this project to create open 

textbooks and open educational resources (OER) for six core teacher education courses aligned to 

national teaching standards. These courses include: Introduction to Education, Foundations of 

Instruction, Educational Technology, Introduction to Literacy, Introduction to Special Education, and 

Human Relations and Multicultural Education. With this project, the consortium further seeks to attract 

and retain students in teacher preparation programs, prepare all teachers to instruct students who are 

racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse, and support faculty within teacher preparation programs 

through training and professional development. This project has many anticipated results, including 

saving each teacher education student $500 per year on textbooks. It is anticipated that students across 

this consortium will save $540,000 - $750,000 collectively. If then scaled to all 19 teacher education 

programs within Minnesota State, savings could reach upwards of $2,250,000. Eliminating the cost of 

textbooks and lowering the overall cost of a teacher education degree will benefit all students, but in 

particular, it will benefit our most economically disadvantaged students by eliminating financial barriers, 

increasing access, and supporting retention. This project will further engage employers, workforce 

stakeholders and nonprofit or community organizations, disseminate information about the results to 

other Institutions of Higher Education (IHE’s), and promote and track the use of open textbooks in postsecondary courses. The ultimate outcome will be a diverse teacher pipeline that serves the needs of 

students and school districts across the state. The consortium meets the Competitive Preference Priority 

by using modular personalized learning. The consortium additionally meets the Invitational Priority as 

one of the consortium members, Century College, is a designated Asian American Native American 

Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).
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Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (IL) 

P116T210005

$1,085,414.00 (multi-year request)

The University of Illinois System Board of Trustees/CARLI (the Consortium of Academic and Research 

Libraries in Illinois, a unit of the System), in consortium with the Consortium of Academic and Research 

Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) member institutions (127 members total which includes 119 Institutions of 

Higher Education [IHE]); and the Illinois Community College Board, the Illinois Board of Higher 

Education, the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, several Illinois Library 

systems and associations, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Division of Disability 

Resources and Educational Services, proposes to establish the Illinois SCOERs (Support for Creation of 

Open Educational Resources) program to develop, improve, and expand open educational resources by 

focusing on “The Human Condition: Care, Development, and Lifespan.” This three-year, $2 million 

project proposal to the U.S. Department of Education Open Textbooks Pilot Program Grant will 

fundamentally change the OER landscape in Illinois. At a high level, the value of Illinois SCOERs can best 

be articulated by its motto: student success through OER awareness, implementation, growth, and 

adoption. Illinois SCOERs will provision the creation of a new holistic support model for OER creation 

and use in Illinois. The target population is Illinois college students taking introductory courses in the 

focus area of “The Human Condition: Care, Development, and Lifespan.” The proposed activities include 

OER textbook and ancillary materials creation, professional development for IHE faculty and staff, and 

the establishment of a statewide OER program. The anticipated results include the elimination of costs 

for high enrollment/high textbook cost classes in the focus area, further coalescing around shared OER 

goals and advocacy efforts from Illinois IHE, and improved student learning as evidenced by 

performance measure data collected. Illinois SCOERs meets the Competitive Preference Priority by using 

3D printing as a learning strategy for personalized learning and continuous improvement. Student 

learning outcomes positively impacted by this strategy include Intellectual Reasoning and Knowledge; 

Creative Inquiry and Discovery; Effective Leadership and Community Engagement; Social Awareness and 

Cultural Understanding; and Global Consciousness. Illinois SCOERs meets the Invitational Priority 

through the inclusion of several Minority Serving Institutions and Illinois community colleges.
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William Marsh Rice University (TX) 

P116T210024

$1,131,123.00 (multi-year request)

Williams Marsh Rice University, in consortium with OpenStax at William Marsh Rice University (lead 

institution), the Association of Colleges and University Educators, several institutions from the California 

Community College System, faculty from the Computer Science Accreditation Board, University System 

of Georgia, Google, HP, Intel, and zyBooks, proposes to establish the Consortium of Open Resource 

Educators (CORE). Over five years, CORE will impact approximately 487 institutions, 10,940 faculty, and 

1.7 million cumulative students, reaching 25% of the total student market for computer and data 

science courses across the nation. To meet the growing needs of computer and data science education 

across multiple disciplines, CORE will focus on courses that serve a wide array of majors while providing 

a nearly complete pathway toward a degree. Directly targeted majors/degree programs include 

computer science, computer engineering, data science, and management information systems. Courses 

in the program will also extend into business, engineering, health information tech, criminal justice, 

life/physical science, and social science. In order to meet the absolute priorities, CORE will build upon 

existing open educational resources and infrastructure to publish large-scale free and open education 

resources, consisting of three (3) interactive textbooks and three (3) robust ancillary packages that are 

integrated with technology to personalize learning and support teaching. Industry leaders will be 

involved to ensure that the developed content meets workforce needs. Additionally, CORE will include 

micro credentials and webinars to support effective teaching practices for faculty adopting the courses. 

CORE anticipates $140 million cumulative student savings over five years. This grant will fill remaining 

gaps in the open textbook marketplace, promoting completion in computer and data science degrees. 

This project will address the Competitive Preference Priority by using technology-based strategies for 

personalized learning and continuous improvement, including simulations, coding environments, 

simulated networks, and other tools for engagement and practice. Additionally, where appropriate, 

courses will be integrated with OpenStax adaptive learning technology, rooted in learning science 

research. This project includes a consortium with two (2) community colleges and four (4) minorityserving institutions. The CORE network will further extend this reach to 114 community colleges in the 

California Community College System and nine (9) additional HBCUs in the Apple HBCU Tech Hub.
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Yavapai County Community College District (AZ) 

P116T210013

$801,218.00 (multi-year request)

Yavapai County Community College District, in consortium with Arizona Western College, Eastern

Arizona College, Central Arizona College, Coconino Community College, Mohave Community College, 

and Northland Pioneer College; four instructional designers from consortium colleges; and 3 additional 

partners (Prescott Unified School District, Spectrum Healthcare, and Arizona Association for the 

Education of Young Children) proposes to establish the Open Textbooks for Rural Arizona program. The 

target population consists of students who enroll in coursework at one of seven rural community 

colleges throughout Arizona. On average, these rural areas have lower median incomes, higher poverty 

rates, and a higher proportion of minorities compared to urban residents. The proposed activities 

include, Absolute priority 1: Workgroups and meetings for consortium colleges to facilitate collaboration 

and professional development, Professional Development via use of Arizona Association for the 

Education of Young Children’s existing self-paced online Faculty OER Training Course, OER Repository to 

facilitate sharing and dissemination of OER content; Absolute Priority 2: Professional development for 

faculty related to OER, open pedagogy, etc., develop high-quality new OER textbooks and ancillary 

materials to address gaps in the existing marketplace, including inclusive, diverse, and/or culturally 

appropriate content, peer-review of new open access materials, share materials via OER Repository; 

Absolute Priority 3: Implement and expand the use of OER to save students money on textbooks, 

thereby reducing a key barrier to degree completion by decreasing the cost of education; and finally 

with the Competitive Preference Priority: Utilize existing features of Learning Management Systems 

(LMS) for personalized learning & continuous improvement. The anticipated results of the program will 

produce the OER content created by the consortium that will save students in targeted classes at least 

$2,000,000 per year, encouraging persistence through lowering the cost of attending college; at least 70 

OER textbooks and/or ancillary materials will be disseminated to the seven consortium colleges and 

made available for faculty through a centralized “Hub” on OERCommons.org; and at least 24 new OER 

textbooks and/or ancillary materials for at least 24 high impact/high enrollment courses will be available 

for colleges across the country. This project will address the Competitive Preference Priority through the 

use of the Learning Management Systems (LMS), which can monitor each student’s performance in a 

selected course. The LMS also enables instructors to customize the learning experience for individual 

students as needed. The consortium meets the Invitational Priority through the inclusion of two

consortium colleges which have a Hispanic-Serving Institutions designation, and one consortium college

has a Minority-Serving Institution designation.