Author: Cailean Cooney (Page 1 of 5)

The application period is now open and will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, May 15th.

We’re offering two info sessions via zoom on Friday, April 17th and May 1st; both from 2-3 pm.

• April 17th Online Info Session – Register to join
• May 1st Online Info Session – Register to join

Overview

The Library seeks applicants for the 2026-27 Open Educational Resources (OER) Fellowship, which brings together faculty across the college working in a community of practice model as each participant develops a course-specific OER. Launched in 2015, this funded program runs in conjunction with the CUNY-wide OER initiative managed at the system-level by our partners at CUNY Central’s Office of Library Services (OLS). The initiative “seeks to incentivize and empower faculty to support their students by reducing the cost of their course materials to zero and creating, adapting, and adopting Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP).”

We invite proposals from faculty new to or returning to the City Tech OER Fellowship. Proposals that incorporate active learning methods, take a student-centered approach, and address underrepresented and multidisciplinary subject areas are encouraged. 

Before Applying

Types of OER projects that are well-suited to the OER Fellowship Program:

• Zero-cost OER for a course that previously required a paid textbook (this may include first-time experimental pilots to assign OER in place of paid course materials).
• Zero-cost OER for a course with a recommended text that does not require paid materials.
• Zero-cost ancillary/supplemental OER (e.g., study guides, review modules, lessons, discussion questions, class activities, lecture outlines, and/or writing assignments).

Faculty interested in potential authorship of OER involving multiple authors/collaborators, or interested in proposing a project that would span beyond one academic year to complete, should contact Cailean Cooney to explore whether the College’s OER Team can support your project. 

Similarly, faculty interested in substantive revision and extension of OER that have previously received funding should contact Cailean Cooney prior to submitting an application.

Eligibility 

1. Full-time faculty that coordinate or regularly teach at least one section of a course, and have consulted with course/discipline coordinator AND department chair about the proposed OER project.
2. Part-time faculty on 1-3 year re-appointments, with the approval of course/discipline coordinator AND department chair to move forward with the proposed OER project.

Fellowship Participation and Requirements

1. Active participation in an intentional community of practice with college peers: mandatory participation in 7 synchronous meetings held on Fridays from 10 AM – 12 PM during the academic year via zoom (3 in fall; 4 in spring).
2. Active participation in asynchronous discussion and activities conducted on the Fellowship cohort’s OpenLab site.
3. Learning materials created with funding from this project must be assigned a Creative Commons license (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA). This includes materials authored from scratch, adaptations of CC licensed materials, and curated compilations. Fellows are also eligible to include existing materials that are public domain, library digital resources, or freely available to link to without violating copyright.
4. Accessibility: Materials adopted, adapted, or created as a result of this grant must meet university-wide accessibility standards.
5. Finished projects must be shared publicly via an OpenLab site or other CUNY supported public platform (Pressbooks, Manifold). If the materials are document-based, they must be submitted to CUNY’s institutional repository, CUNY Academic Works.
6. Projects must be completed during the 2026-2027 academic year with a deadline of June 15, 2027.

Funding Information

Faculty compensation will include project work and faculty development training. Faculty will be paid for participating in 14 hours of professional development meetings (at adjunct hourly NTA rate). In addition to this, faculty stipends for OER projects may range from $1,300 – $6,000, depending on scope of work, also calculated at the non-teaching adjunct hourly rate.

Support offered by the OER Team

• Help finding openly licensed, public domain materials, and library subscribed digital resources to use
• Help understanding and applying Creative Commons licenses
• Guidance regarding copyright and fair use
• Help assembling an organized and accessible OER
• Help transferring materials onto an open platform

Key Dates

Applicants selected for the OER Fellowship will conduct work from September 2026 through June 2027. Fellows are expected to implement the OER the next time they are scheduled to teach the course. 

• Fellowship application opens for submissions: April 14, 2026 
• Online info sessions (register in advance): April 17 & May 1, 2026 at 2-3pm
• Fellowship application due date: May 15, 2026
• Notice of application decisions emailed: Early June 2026
• Fall 2026:
  • September: Fellows finalize project scope 
  • Fellows complete working draft of sample educational material 
  • Fellows participate in 3 synchronous Fellowship cohort meetings 
  • Fellows incorporate best practices for licensing, attribution, and accessibility into their OER 
  • Fellows contribute to asynchronous discussion and activities via the cohort Fellowship OpenLab site
• Spring 2027:
  • Fellows participate in 4 synchronous Fellowship cohort meetings
  • Fellows contribute to asynchronous discussion and activities via the cohort Fellowship OpenLab site
  • Fellows produce OER and finalize platform selection
• June 2027:
  • Fellows complete and submit OER for review by OER Team
  • Fellows address feedback from OER Team
  • Fellows payments are processed

Application Details

Apply online by Friday, May 15th, 2026. 

Examples of primary course materials created by colleagues through the OER Fellowship:

• Introduction to Data Science course materials by Prof. Elizabeth Milonas of Computer Systems Technology
• Communication Design Theory OER course materials by Prof. Jenna Spevack of Communication Design
• Genetics Laboratory Manual by Prof. Christopher Blair, Biological Sciences

• Medical Metrics for Health Facilities textbook by Prof. Sitaji Gurung, Health Sciences
• Infant and Child Development: From Conception Through Late Childhood textbook by Profs. Maria Pagano and Marie Parnes, Psychology, Social Sciences

Please contact Prof. Cailean Cooney, OER Librarian ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu or Prof. Junior Tidal, Chief Librarian jtidal@citytech.cuny.edu with questions.

More information: Open Educational Resources at City Tech.

Dear City Tech Faculty,

The Library seeks applicants for the Open Educational Resources (OER) Fellowship. Begun in 2015, this funded program runs in conjunction with the CUNY-wide initiative funded by New York state to “engage faculty in the redesign of courses through the replacement of proprietary textbooks with open educational resources to reduce costs for students, accelerate their progress, and better connect curriculum and pedagogy to student learning outcomes.” Research conducted at City Tech and other institutions shows a correlation between assigning zero-cost OER and positive student outcomes: higher retention and comparable or better grades. 

We invite proposals from new and returning faculty to the OER Fellowship. Projects may be proposed at various stages of progress, such as substantive expansions and/or revisions of existing OER.

Goals for the OER initiative at City Tech:

• Provide students with long-term access to course learning materials (before, during, and after the course runs).
• Support active learning and effective online instruction.
• Help achieve curricular consistency across multiple course sections.
• Help achieve coherence between sequential courses in programs.
• Provide instructors with ready to use teaching resources that can assist with flexible teaching/learning modalities.

Considerations for applying to the OER Fellowship

Projects that incorporate active learning methods, take a student-centered approach, and address underrepresented and multidisciplinary subject areas are encouraged. 

Course selection:

We encourage prioritizing OER for courses that are gateway, high enrollment, part of a course sequence, required courses for a major or minor, pathways, etc., interdisciplinary in nature, course curriculum that is underrepresented, or inadequately represented by existing textbooks on the market.

Types of OER projects that may be funded:

• Zero-cost OER for a course that previously required a paid textbook (this may include first time experimental pilots to assign OER in place of paid course materials).
• Zero-cost OER for a course with a recommended text that does not require paid materials.
• Zero-cost OER for supplemental/ancillary teaching and learning materials (e.g., study guides, review modules, lessons, discussion questions, class activities, lecture outlines, writing assignments).
• Substantive updates to already assigned zero-cost OER (must be openly licensed materials authored by the applicant or another scholar).

Faculty Eligibility and OER Fellowship Requirements

Eligibility

1. Full-time faculty that coordinate or regularly teach at least one section of a course, and have consulted with course / discipline coordinator and department chair.
2. Part-time faculty on 1-3 year re-appointments, with the approval of course / discipline coordinator and department chair.

Fellowship Requirements

• Active participation in an intentional community of practice among college peers. Fellows will participate in seven mandatory synchronous zoom meetings held on Fridays throughout the year (3 in fall; 4 in spring).
• Learning materials created/compiled through this project must be Creative Commons licensed (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA), public domain, library digital resources, or freely available to link to without violating copyright.
• Finished projects must be shared publicly via an OpenLab site or other CUNY supported public platform (Pressbooks, Manifold).
• Project work must be completed during the 2025-2026 academic year. All participants must complete their projects by June 15, 2026. 

Funding Information

Faculty compensation will include project work and faculty development training. Faculty will be paid for participating in 14 hours of professional development meetings (at adjunct hourly NTA rate). In addition to this, faculty stipends for OER projects typically range from $1,300 – $5,000, depending on scope of work, and are also calculated at the average non-teaching adjunct hourly rate.

Apply online by Thursday, September 18th, 2025. 

Faculty interested in proposing projects that may be outside the scope of this opportunity are encouraged to get in contact with Cailean Cooney promptly to explore whether the OER initiative can support your work this academic year. 

Other questions or things you’d like to discuss? Please get in touch with OER Librarian, Cailean Cooney (ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu) or Chief Librarian, Junior Tidal (jtidal@citytech.cuny.edu). 

Visit our website at Open Educational Resources at City Tech.

Download a PDF version of this call.

Dear City Tech Faculty,

The Library seeks applicants for the Open Educational Resources (OER) Fellowship. Begun in 2015, this funded program runs in conjunction with the CUNY-wide initiative funded by New York state to “engage faculty in the redesign of courses through the replacement of proprietary textbooks with open educational resources to reduce costs for students, accelerate their progress, and better connect curriculum and pedagogy to student learning outcomes.” Research conducted at City Tech and other institutions shows a correlation between assigning zero-cost OER and positive student outcomes: higher retention and comparable or better grades. 

We invite proposals from faculty new and returning to the OER Fellowship. Projects may be proposed at various stages of progress, such as substantive expansions and/or revisions of existing OER.

Goals for the OER initiative at City Tech:

• Provide students with long-term access to course learning materials (before, during, and after the course runs).
• Support active learning and effective online instruction.
• Help achieve curricular consistency across multiple course sections.
• Help achieve coherence between sequential courses in programs.
• Provide instructors with ready to use teaching resources that can assist with flexible teaching/learning modalities.

Considerations for applying to the OER Fellowship

Projects that incorporate active learning methods, take a student-centered approach, and address underrepresented and multidisciplinary subject areas are encouraged. 

Course selection:

We encourage prioritizing OER for courses that are gateway, high enrollment, part of a course sequence, required courses for a major or minor, pathways, etc., interdisciplinary in nature, course curriculum that is underrepresented, or inadequately represented by existing textbooks on the market.

Types of OER projects that may be funded:

• Zero-cost OER for a course that previously required a paid textbook (this may include first time experimental pilots to assign OER in place of paid course materials).
• Zero-cost OER for a course with a recommended text that does not require paid materials.
• Zero-cost OER for supplemental/ancillary teaching and learning materials (e.g., study guides, review modules, lessons, discussion questions, class activities, lecture outlines, writing assignments).
• Substantive updates to already assigned zero-cost OER (must be openly licensed materials authored by the applicant or another scholar).

Faculty Eligibility and OER Fellowship Requirements

Eligibility

1. Full-time faculty that coordinate or regularly teach at least one section of a course, and have consulted with course / discipline coordinator and department chair.
2. Part-time faculty on 1-3 year re-appointments, with the approval of course / discipline coordinator and department chair.

Requirements

• Active participation in an intentional community of practice among college peers. Fellows will participate in seven mandatory synchronous zoom meetings held on Fridays throughout the year (3 in fall; 4 in spring).
• Learning materials created/compiled through this project must be Creative Commons licensed (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA), public domain, library digital resources, or freely available to link to without violating copyright
• Finished projects must be shared publicly via an OpenLab site or other CUNY supported public platform (Pressbooks, Manifold)
• Project work must be completed during the 2023-2024 academic year. All participants must complete their projects by June 15, 2024. 

Funding Information

Faculty compensation will include project work and faculty development training. Faculty will be paid for participating in 14 hours of professional development meetings (at adjunct hourly NTA rate). In addition to this, faculty stipends for OER projects typically range from $1,300 – $5,000, depending on scope of work, and are also calculated at the average non-teaching adjunct hourly rate.

Apply online by Tuesday, September 12th, 2023. 

Faculty interested in proposing projects that may be outside the scope of this opportunity are encouraged to get in contact with Cailean Cooney promptly to explore whether the OER initiative can support your work this academic year. 

Other questions or things you’d like to discuss? Please get in touch with OER Librarian, Cailean Cooney (ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu) or Interim Chief Librarian, Anne Leonard (aleonard@citytech.cuny.edu). 

Check out our website at Open Educational Resources at City Tech.

View and download a PDF version of this call.