Previous Funding & Professional Development Programs

VIVA Open Publishing Pilot: Nursing Textbook

 Pilot Project Description

In order to address the challenges of publishing high quality OER, as well as the extended timeline of bringing that work to classrooms, VIVA is working with Book Sprints to explore the use of a rapid publishing approach to develop OER. 

After reviewing expressions of interest from Virginia faculty, VIVA’s Grant Review Committee will select or assemble a team of 6-8 faculty members who commit to adapting and/or creating course material that will be openly licensed and made widely available. Teams will be multi-institutional, representing a minimum of three institutions, including a representative from at least one two-year and one four-year institution. 

 The assembled team will work with VIVA to identify currently available open material that can be adapted for the project and decide on a structure and pedagogical approach. Book Sprints will facilitate a five-day intensive retreat, where material will be written, reviewed, and adapted, and a designer and copy editor will be on hand to put that material into a Pressbooks format, unless disciplinary considerations demand an alternate platform. All participants must be available to participate for the entirety of the retreat, and the dates of the retreat will be determined once the team is assembled. 

Application Guidelines

Applicants are asked to complete a short form outlining (in brief) their experience with OER and projects of interest suitable for rapid publication. Applicants with additional team members in mind may indicate that on the form. All team members must fill out a separate form.  All participants must be affiliated with Virginia institutions. 

Additional materials, including but not limited to background information and experience, as well as departmental letters of support may be requested at a later date. 

Once selected, required activities will include: 

• Participation in two virtual planning meetings and creation of content as agreed upon within the team.
• Attend a five-day, in-person intensive publishing retreat in Summer 2022. 
• Any materials created must carry a Creative Commons license and be made accessible through the VIVA Open shared repository platform. 
• Participation in VIVA-related communications, including post-project surveys.

In addition, those chosen to pilot the materials in their classroom will be required to: 

• Complete a final project report, including provision of data on impact on student success. The report must include overall changes in Drop/Fail/Withdraw (DFW) rates and student performance (examples: grades, standardized tests, other learning outcomes assessments), if available.  
• Provide openly-licensed syllabi for associated courses to the VIVA Open syllabus bank 

WRLC Open Textbook Workshop & Stipend Opportunity

Join the WRLC Textbook Affordability Working Group for a brief introduction to open textbooks and a panel discussion featuring three faculty members who use them in their first-year, general education courses. Attendees will have the opportunity to earn a $200 stipend by posting a review of an open textbook!

VIVA Open Adopt Grants

VIVA Open Adopt Grants are designed to make textbooks and course materials free to students by empowering faculty with the resources and time they need to redesign their curricula using open and affordable resources.  VIVA Open Adopt Grants provide awards of $2,000 to individual instructors to support the time it takes to integrate existing open or no-cost materials into a syllabus, and to ensure that the results of those efforts are widely available to Virginia educators.

MU Faculty Development Course Redesign Stipend

The MU Faculty Development offers a Course Redesign Stipend, typically utilized by faculty over the summer, to support substantial course redesign work. Per AY 18-19, the committee considers replacing a commercial textbook with open and affordable resources to constitute such work.