Campus Entities Most Active in Efforts Advancing OER:

• Academic Department
• Academic Division
• Faculty Senate or Union
• Library
• Other Student Group(s)
• Senior Administration

Library Departments Active in Efforts Advancing OER:

• Administration
• Subject Liaisons

Academic Subjects With Greatest OER Traction:

• Literature and linguistics
• Political sciences and civics
• Psychology

Mechanisms to Support OER Included in the Following:

• Course/Curriculum Design/Redesign
• Library Services
• New Faculty Orientation

In February 2016, Rutgers President Robert Barchi endorsed a recommendation from the University Senate Student Affairs Committee and created an open textbook initiative award program. The OAT Program provides incentive awards to faculty and instructors who want to transition to open and affordable materials. Rutgers University Libraries manage and fund the OAT program and work with faculty to identify a free, low-cost, or open alternatives.

The OAT program is open to any faculty (full-time or part-time) teaching courses at Rutgers University–Camden, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Rutgers University–Newark, or Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. After two rounds, the project has provided 59 awards and brought an estimated savings of over $2.1 million to 11,387 Rutgers students.

Program Type:

• Award Program

Duration: 09/2016 - Present

Program Webpage: https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/open-textbooks

Scope: Affordable course content, including cost-free course content and OER

Primary OER Strategy: OER Adoption

Secondary OER Strategies: OER Adaptation, OER Awareness, OER Curation, OER Pedagogy, OER Publication, OER Review/Assessment, OER Research

Unit Housing the Program:

Library

Program Partners:

• Academic Department
• Faculty Senate or Union
• Other Student Group(s)
• Senior Administration

Source of Program Funding:

• Institution’s IT budget
• Library departmental budget
• President, Chancellor, or Provost’s budget
• Other: Donor Support

Funding from Library Departments:

• Administration

Total Program Funding to Date: $ 56,000

Total Student Savings to Date: $ 2,129,441

Incentives Offered by the Program:

• Financial incentives (grants, stipends)
• Instructional design assistance
• Technical assistance
• Letter of commendation

Conditions: Recipients are encouraged to openly license and freely share resources created or adapted

Total amount of incentive grants awarded to date: $ 56,000

Total number of incentive grants awarded to date: 59

Typical amount of each grant: $ 1,000