(via Anne Craig, CARLI Senior Director)
As you may have already heard, CARLI and the University of Illinois System have been awarded a $1.08 million Open Textbooks Pilot Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
This new grant, which U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced in early June, will fund Illinois Support for Creation of Open Educational Resources (SCOERs), a program that will create and provide access to open textbooks and personalized learning tools for entry-level courses in high-demand health care and human development career paths.
While the details for the program are still being finalized – we expect more news soon – this is what our 127 members need to know about SCOERS and how it will many benefit many of our stakeholders:
- CARLI was chosen for this competitive grant with the support of Sen. Durbin and many of you – we are grateful to Sen. Durbin and his staff, and for the support so many of you expressed in the numerous letters that we were able to include in our application.
- This grant will support the creation of and open access to textbooks for a range of health care and human development-related subjects, among them health, health information management, nutrition, microbiology, immunobiology, genetics, laboratory skills, audiology, radiology, dental, child development, developmental psychology (and disorders), personality, nursing, sport, therapy (massage, physical, occupational), occupational safety, social work, counselling, speech/communication development and pathology, EMT training, human sexuality, social psychology and biochemistry.
- This will present an opportunity for students and faculty at our higher-education members to have open access to what otherwise would be costly textbooks, but also for faculty to author new textbooks for use through the program.
- Members will have the opportunity in the near future to apply for sub-awards from the grant through CARLI. Again, details on that process are still to come.
- CARLI is preparing administrative support for the project, including establishing a coordinator position and putting together the sub-award application. We are also revising our proposed plan as presented in our application, which sought $1.9 million.
- The money will be provided by the Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE).
Expect more information from CARLI on this exciting program soon. Check here for updates.
For more on the grant award, see Sen. Durbin’s news release.