Open educational resources (OER) are materials for teaching and learning that are made available to others for free or at a substantially lower cost than traditionally-published materials. Using creative commons licenses, authors around the nation have created and consolidated resources that are designed for students and professors as cost-free alternatives to conventional textbooks. Open educational resources are the future of education as an initiative to counteract the skyrocketing price of textbooks, as well as introduce a flexible, editable, and adaptable material.

NDSU Student Government has taken an initiative to implement, enhance, and sustain open educational resources and open access textbooks at North Dakota State University. The creation of the grant program was to accomplish the three goals as stated prior. By dispersing grants and gifts to professors for taking action and implementing these cost-effective materials, we believe we are at the forefront of the future of textbooks. We encourage all professors to apply to become a part of this educational movement.

In order to accomplish our goals, Student Government has created an award program to promote and support the implementation of open textbooks and other open educational resources. This award is to compensate faculty members for the effort to switch their material over to be based around the new open access material. We highly encourage all who are interested to apply for an award and play a role in implementing open educational resources.

Click here to Apply