Curricular Innovation through OER Grant Program

Description

The UT System Office of Academic Affairs is pleased to invite proposals for the Curricular Innovation through OER Grant Program. This two-year initiative supports UT System faculty, librarians, administrative leaders, researchers, and other practitioners in both academic and health institutions to engage with Open Educational Resources and Open Education as a vehicle for curricular innovation, teaching improvement, and deeper student learning and success.

Through the generosity of the UT System Chancellor and the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, a total of $250,000 is available and will be distributed over two years in the form of individual and collaborative grants to academic and health institutions.

Program Goals

The Curricular Innovation through OER Grant Program is designed to:

  • Seed and support projects that center students, their learning, and their successful matriculation into, persistence through, and completion of degree programs;
  • Contribute to removing curricular barriers to students; and
  • Reimagine and reinvigorate curricular pathways and domains through Open Education, including pedagogy, content, structure, and operations.

The grant program is further designed to build the coalition of OER and Open practitioners across UT academic and health institutions by:

  1. Positioning OER as:
    • A critical component of institutional student success work with strategies to improve educational attainment and outcomes, deepen learning, and remove financial and other barriers faced by students;
    • A form of curricular redesign and teaching invigoration to enhance faculty excellence, engagement and success in teaching, research, and service;
    • An enabler of creativity and agency over learning materials and infrastructure for educators; and
    • A means to build faculty networks and foster inter- and cross-disciplinary educational and research collaboration.
  2. Strategically aligning the UT System’s Momentum on OER work with collaborative UT System-institutional student success initiatives focused on student learning, teaching, and how students experience the curriculum that includes their financial, academic, and social well-being, including the Exemplary Student Pathways Project.

Areas of Support

Grant funds will support:

  1. OER Development & Enhancement: Support for creating, adopting, and modifying open textbooks and auxiliary materials (e.g., test banks, problem sets, worksheets, case studies), including the use of AI to improve teaching and learning.
  2. Open Pedagogy & Student Engagement: Projects that use open pedagogy to involve students as co-creators of knowledge, and that emphasize high-impact practices and experiential learning.
  3. Curriculum Integration & Redesign: Initiatives embedding OER and open practices into the redesign of gateway and core courses, academic programs, and majors to improve access, persistence, and learning outcomes.
  4. Institutionalization & Sustainability: Efforts to scale and sustain OER through policy, practice, and infrastructure innovations at the departmental, college, or institutional level.
  5. Research, Assessment & Infrastructure: Projects focused on:
    • Assessing OER impact on student learning and success using shared metrics.
    • Developing open infrastructure (e.g., platforms, data systems) to improve access and usability.
    • Advancing research on OER and Open Education practices.

This list is not exhaustive. UT institutional colleagues will have other projects aligned with the grant program goals and are encouraged to propose additional OER and Open innovations. Additional guidance can be found in the FAQ section on Strong Proposals, which also includes information on the UT System’s broader goals around curricular innovation, sustainability, requirements for finished projects, use of AI, Creative Commons licensing, and other requirements enumerated below.

Funds may be used to support time, student engagement, software/technology, project-related travel, and project-related convenings.

Collaborative proposals may be single or multi-institutional and must have at least two and no more than 5 people conducting the project.

Consult the FAQ for more additional guidance.

Program Guidelines

Who should apply?

UT System faculty, librarians, administrative leaders, researchers, and other practitioners are eligible to apply. Proposals are encouraged from various departments and units as well as faculty and staff, including cross-institutional collaboration. Both tenure and non-tenure stream faculty are eligible for funds and must be employed in the UT System for the duration of the grant project, as spelled out in the FAQ.

Funded projects will require a significant commitment of time from grantees, and applicants should ensure they are able to fulfill their commitments for the duration of the project.

Amount per Award Type:

Collaborative Grant Awards: $6,000 per person

Collaboration may include intra- and inter-institutional projects. As a rule, all grant recipients will receive $6,000, and collaborative award amounts will be based on the number of people doing the work. However, recognizing that the purpose of some collaborative grants will be to fund software, technology, convenings or other costs, the funds may be distributed differently and will be defined in grant agreements once awarded.

Up to five people may be part of collaborative proposals, and collaborative proposals need appropriate scope to warrant awards. For administrative purposes, collaborative proposals must designate a primary author.

Individual Grant Awards: $6,000

Awards of $6,000 will be granted to individuals for projects focused on adopting OER and adapting syllabi, learning materials, homework, assignments, etc., to meaningfully include OER. Priority will be given to individual applicants whose proposals focus on embedding open resources and practices into the redesign of core and gateway courses, high-impact practices and experiential learning; and academic programs and majors. In certain instances, an individual award may be given to an applicant to create an OER. In these instances, priority will be given to newly developed OER that fill an important gap or have the potential to impact a significant number of students.

Both collaborative and individual award proposals require letters of support from institutional libraries or designated leaders, and statements of acknowledgement from applicants’ home departments or units. More information can be found in the submission requirements section below and the FAQ. The FAQ also provides additional information about types of eligible expenses for grant funds.

Number of Awards in Year 1:

While the total of funds available in Year 1 is $125,000, the number of awards in each category will be determined based on the proposals received. This is a new grant program; the UT System will use the pilot year to evaluate project goals and best use of funds to be responsive to institutional needs in building momentum, capacity, and impact.

  • Each UT institution may submit up to four (4) proposals in total, including individual and collaborative proposals.
  • Because OER projects entail library support, the number and type of proposals should be determined by the library’s capacity to support the project. Please see the FAQ for additional guidance on working with your library.
  • While proposals are encouraged by all UT academic and health institutions, no institution is required to participate in this optional grant program.

Submission Requirements

Grant applicants should use the template provided to prepare and submit their proposals.

Proposals must include:
  • Grant Application Template:
    • A description of the project covering the following, as relevant to the scope and topic:
      • All proposals should answer the question, “why this proposal and why now?” This response should include a clear explication and rationale for how the project supports the grant program goals described above and why/how the applicant/s has/have the experience and capacity to successfully complete and implement the project.
      • For projects focused on course and/or academic program redesign, and teaching innovations to deepen student success:
        • The curricular component being addressed (i.e., existing or new course, pathway or sequence of courses, academic major or program).
        • Student focus, including the estimated number of students served each academic year through the proposed project and barrier(s) to be removed.
        • Identification of embedded high-impact practices, learning outcomes, and/or workforce-aligned skills, along with internal and external partners (as relevant).
        • How the project will improve teaching and learning.
      • For projects focused on Open research and/or infrastructure development:
        • Explanation of the research question to be addressed and/or the development of infrastructure to advance OER and Open engagement with a clear connection to curricular innovation broadly understood.
      • If a research project, a clear research question and how it will advance OER and Open engagement.
    • A brief plan for assessment and evaluation of the project’s impact, including expected outputs and/or outcomes.
    • A section outlining a plan for sustained use and updates to the OER, including a plan for how the OER will be used in the redesigned course or program.
    • A clear strategy for sharing outcomes and materials under an open license upon completion of the grant period (applicants should consult the FAQ and library staff for guidance, if needed).
    • Project timeline with milestones and deliverables.
      • This should include activities to be completed during the funding period as well as how and when the project deliverables will be implemented once the funding period is concluded.
    • A brief narrative providing justification for how funds will be used, covering stipends to grantees and others, supplies & expenses (including software, etc.), travel, other.
    • For Collaborative Awards: project partners and description of roles each partner will have, up to five people.
  • A brief letter indicating library support for the role the library will play in supporting the project. Multi-institutional projects should include letters from each participating institution.
  • A brief statement from the applicant’s department or unit acknowledging the required commitment to the project the applicant is making if funded. Multi-institutional projects should include statements from each applicants’ department or unit.

In preparing their proposals, grant applicants should review the FAQ which provides information on the submission requirements.

Requirements and Expectations for Funded Projects and Grantees

The UT System and institutions expect all funded projects and grantees to commit to the time, experience and expertise to ensure the project's successful completion of goals and requirements. In addition to a final report upon completion of the project, grantees are also required to:

  • Provide a one-page project description as they begin their work that can be shared publicly (guidance will be provided).
  • Participate in three virtual meetings, including a project launch, a mid-project check-in, and a final project debrief sharing successes and challenges.
  • Participants will also be invited to share their projects at a UT System OER convening to showcase their work.

Submission Process and Timeline

Institutions may submit up to four (4) proposals either for individual or collaborative awards (including collaboration both within the institution and with other institutions). Institutional leadership will determine their own processes but, in most cases, determination of which proposals are forwarded to UT System will be made by institutional library deans and/or directors in consultation with provosts and/or other campus leaders as appropriate, with final determination made by the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

A review committee led by the Office of Academic Affairs and including campus representatives will make the final selection of funded proposals using a rubric keyed to the submission requirements and template.

Due Dates

Proposals are due to institutional Library Deans or Directors on Friday, January 16, 2026, for internal review.

Proposals are due to the UT System on Friday, February 6, 2026, and should be sent to Dr. Rebecca Karoff, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, at rkaroff@utsystem.edu.

Funding Model

Funding will be allocated to grant recipients through service agreements between the UT System and institutional lead(s) in accordance with the proposed scope of work, budget, and funding narrative. Consult the FAQ for additional guidance.

Review Process

Proposals will be reviewed by a committee including institutional and UT System representatives.

Grants Announced

Recipients will receive notification by Wednesday, March 4, 2026.

Year 1 Timeline

December 3, 2025Call for Proposals distributed to UT academic and health institutions.
January 16, 2026Proposals due to institutional leadership and/or Library Dean or Director for internal review using the required template.
February 6, 2026Proposals due to UT System Office of Academic Affairs
February 9-March 5, 2026Review Committee selects projects.
March 6, 2026Applicants notified of funding decisions.
Late Spring-Summer 2026Expedited service agreements/MOUs with UT System and funding to participants as soon as feasible, with work to take place during Spring, Summer, and Fall 2026, for implementation in 2027.
August 31, 2027Final project reports due to UT System (template to be provided), including links to OERs and other project deliverables.
November 2027UT System showcase of institutional projects.

Please direct questions to Dr. Rebecca Karoff, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, at rkaroff@utsystem.edu.

Resources