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Office of IDEAS

Zero-Cost Course Materials

Applications for new ZCCM courses for Open Educational Resources (OER) are now closed for the 2023-24 cohort.  Stipends are available in support of AB 798 and in support of increasing student access to high-quality OER and reducing the cost of instructional materials for students. As part of our campus Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) program, this call for proposals has a limited number of stipends.  Priority will be given to courses that would create a zero cost general education pathway and/or a zero cost degree program.  Participation means faculty will commit to zero-cost course materials (ZCCM) and explore as well as creating and/or adopting the materials for Fall 2023.

OER Development Expectations: 

  • Remain current on the OER requirements 
  • Work with the ZCCM technical support team to complete the evaluation and approval of text(s) and course materials for accessibility and copyright
  • Complete a self-directed online OER Orientation 
  • Attend an on-campus training either Thursday, May 11th from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 pm; or Monday, May 22 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Additional work days will be offered during the summer

OER Initiative Faculty Deliverables: 

  • Provide bi-weekly written progress reports to the Office of IDEAS from May - August 2023
  • Develop an OER course in Canvas in alignment with the Fresno State OER policies/procedures, the university’s OER timeline, curriculum development, and applicable student learning outcomes
  • The ZCCM course must be designated as a ZCCM course to both scheduling and the bookstore by the Spring deadline and the course must be ready by August 15, 2023 for Fall 2023.
  • Publish OER Master Course Shell to Canvas Commons and original OER materials (if applicable) to MERLOT
  • Facilitate a group presentation along with other OER faculty at Open Access Week or Open Education week during the AY 2023-24
  • Ongoing participation in OER course assessment and evaluation

Deliverables will be received no later than the end of the semester approved.  Stipend to be paid once deliverables are received: $750-$5000 (based on stipend structure appendix below) 

Additional Notes:

  • All grant-related courses need approval by the AL$ Campus Coordinator and an MOU must be signed prior to development. 
  • Courses co-designed by faculty will be split completion stipends.
  • ZCCM technical support team members will be assigned and consist of the college AL$ faculty fellow, instructional designers, librarians, and student assistants. 
  • Departments who adopt ZCCM courses across multiple sections could be eligible for one time funding

ZCCM Professional Development Stipend 

  • Milestone 1- Needs Analysis (review materials, identify gaps, objectives of class) 
  • Milestone 2- Content Revision and Analysis; Adopt course materials with the ZCCM technical support team; submit tentative course map

$750 stipend for completing ZCCM Innovate requirements (Milestone 1-2)

  •  Milestone 3 - Active participation in the ZCCM Innovate synchronous and asynchronous activities to complete milestones 
  • Milestone 4- Assessment Items, Test Banks 
  • Milestone 5- Media Presentations, Universal Design for Learning, Quality Online Learning and Teaching (QLT) best practices
  • Milestone 6- ZCCM Technology Support team review/approval of the course map 

$1000 stipend for completing ZCCM requirements (Milestone 3-6)

  • Milestone 7- Content Presentation and Interaction Elements 
  • Milestone 8 - ZCCM Technical Support Team review (QLT instrument)
  • Milestone 9 - Creative Commons and shared course content with IDEAS
  • Milestone 10 - Upload to designated Chancellor’s Office site (Canvas Commons)

$750 stipend contract for completing grant requirements (Milestone 7-10) 

  • Milestone 11 - Create original OER content (funded projects will address identified gaps in currently available OER)
  • Milestone 12- License original OER content created with these funds as CC-BY or CC-BY-NC
  • Milestone 13 - Publish original OER content created with these funds to the MERLOT website (https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm)

$2500 stipend contract for completing grant requirements (Milestone 11-13)