Sara Benson Awarded with OER Incentive Grant Funding

Sara Benson, Copyright Librarian in the Department of Scholarly Communication & Publishing, has received a $10,000 grant from the Office of the Provost as well as a $3,000 grant from the Illinois Student Government to support OER Incentive Grants for Faculty. Also sponsored by the University of Illinois Library, the OER Incentive Grant Funding aims to circumvent the high cost of textbooks, which can affect undergraduate students’ academic success and outcomes. Thus, the grant allows teaching faculty to use or create alternative lower-cost educational materials and resources.

In response to this award, recipient Sara Benson shares, “This funding, when combined with seed funding from the University Library, will permit the OER Incentive Committee to provide grants to faculty to adopt, adapt, or create open educational resources. These resources, in the form of paywall and copyright-restriction free textbooks, will help students to alleviate some of the stress of paying for their educational opportunities. The grant deadline is March 11, 2022, one week following the Faculty Retreat. We hope to fund OER adoption or conversion for large undergraduate courses to positively impact the most number of students as possible.”

For faculty who are interested in this grant, proposals can be made through three different tiers, which are detailed in the Open Educational Resources Incentive Program: Faculty OER Incentive Program.

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