Grant Program Description
The Office of the Provost and Provost’s Standing Committee on Open Educational Resources (OER) invite proposals from Pitt faculty and instructors for projects to adapt, adopt, or author OER to be used in Pitt course(s).
OER are high-quality curricular materials such as textbooks, lab notebooks, videos, quizzes, or other ancillary items that are freely accessible to faculty and students. OER are unique in that they grant copyright permissions for use and adaptation, free of charge. This means that the content is available to other faculty and students to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. Typically, the only requirement is that attribution must be made to the original creator/author.
Information about OER, including where to locate peer-reviewed resources, can be found in the ULS Course & Subject Guide on Open Educational Resources. You can also learn more about recently funded grants on the Open Education Resources Grants page.
Assistant Provost Nancy Tannery was the inaugural chair of the Provost’s Standing Committee on OER. She was a passionate advocate for OER and addressing student textbook financial burden at Pitt. This grant is funded by the Office of the Provost at Pitt.
Grant Proposal Instructions
Eligibility
Pitt faculty and instructors (tenure or appointment stream; full or part time/adjunct; including visiting) on all Pitt campuses may apply. Graduate student instructors with a faculty member as co-applicant are also eligible.
Range of Proposals
Proposals must fall into one of the following categories:
- Adopt an existing open textbook and/or other OER course components such as homework assignments, lab manuals, or other supplementary materials
- Adapt an existing open textbook and/or other OER course components such as homework assignments, lab manuals, or other supplementary materials – and re-distribute them under an open license
- Author textbooks or other brand new open supplementary course materials (problem sets, supplementary videos, activities, study materials, etc.) – and distribute them under an open license
Proposed Budget
Applicants may request up to $5,000 total, either as a team or as an individual.
Applicants proposing to author a textbook covering the entirety of a semester-long course usually benefit from applying for the full amount of funding; applicants proposing to tackle a smaller project may find it reasonable to apply for a smaller amount, depending on project details.
Budget proposals must not contain:
- Funding for travel to professional conferences
Support for Proposal Development and OER Development
Support during grant proposal development
We encourage you to seek support for grant proposal development from the University Center for Teaching and Learning (Teaching Center), the University Library System (ULS), and the Health Sciences Library System (HSLS). Expertise from the Teaching Center focuses on inclusive teaching design, curricular integration, and assessment; support from the libraries will focus on identifying sources and examples of OER materials in addition to serving as a resource for creative commons licensing assistance.
For resources about inclusive teaching design, including digital accessibility, see these pages by the Teaching Center:
If you would like to meet with someone from the Teaching Center prior to submitting your application, please fill out a Pre-Consultation Survey form.
For resources on licensing and identifying examples, see the OER Essentials and Finding OER libguides.
If you would like to meet with someone from the libraries (ULS or HSLS) prior to submitting your application, please email ULS-OER@pitt.edu.
Support for funded projects
Award recipients who have not already done so are encouraged to meet with a representative of either the Teaching Center or the libraries for an initial project consult.
Regular Zoom drop-in hours for OER project consultations will be provided for grant recipients over summer 2026, and consultations with the Teaching Center and the libraries will be available upon request during the duration of the grant period to assist with selecting, developing, publishing, and/or integrating your materials into your course.
Funded Project Requirements
Those who accept funding agree to the following:
- You must submit a final report upon completing this project.
- You must openly license the OER you create or adapt with a Creative Commons license and submit it to University of Pittsburgh Open Education Repository Group located in the OER Commons. You must include the link to your published resource in your final report.
- You must assess the success of your project within the course(s) identified in your application. As a part of this, a standard set of questions related to OER has been developed for your use – you may add them to your course OMET, use them as a student survey in a different platform, or seek student feedback in a different way. You will discuss the results of your assessment in your final report.
- You agree to be featured on the Office of the Provost OER webpage after the completion of your project, and may be asked to serve as a mentor for future participants and/or to provide educational or promotional support about the grant (interviews, articles, podcasts, etc.).
Application Requirements
Your complete grant proposal package will contain these three components:
- The completed application questions on Competition Space (aka InfoReady).
- Letter of Agreement, signed by yourself and your Department Chair;
- Proposed project budget spreadsheet.
Timeline
The proposal submission deadline is March 18, 2026.
Awardees will be notified no later than Monday April 27, 2026.
For funded projects:
Projects are expected to be completed and your OER implemented in a Pitt course, evaluated, and published as an OER (unless simply adopted) during the 2026-2027 academic year. Your final report will then be due in September 2027.
Evaluation Rubric
Your proposal will be evaluated using the following rubric; take this into account in assembling your proposal.
- Is the impact of the project (as described in the proposal) compelling? Consider the following questions in your answer:
- How many Pitt students will benefit during the upcoming academic year? What is the total student cost savings for the year?
- Is there impact beyond direct cost savings during the upcoming academic year?
- Does the proposal describe a feasible plan for sustainability? Did the applicant indicate that they will use the resource in future terms and/or will it be generalizable to other instructors/courses at the University?
- Has the applicant identified the type of project (adopt, adapt, or author), and explained rationale for the project type?
- AUTHOR: Has the applicant explained why existing OER resources are not suitable for adoption or adaptation?
- ADAPT: Has the applicant identified an existing appropriately-licensed OER?
- ADOPT: Has the applicant identified an existing appropriately-licensed OER?
- Is the proposal feasible within the timeframe provided? Is there an understandable plan for preparation and deployment?
- Is there an appropriate plan to assess the OER resource, course, and/or learning outcomes?
- Are the proposal goals, budget, and timeline aligned, appropriate, and understandably presented?
- Is there a description of inclusive teaching design plans provided, including but not limited to digital accessibility?
- Additional comments or concerns about the proposal