Colorado is leading the way in Open Educational Resources (OER) adoption, which has been shown to foster innovation, reduce costs and boost student success.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely available online teaching and learning materials accessible to students, instructors and self-learners. OER textbooks and other learning resources are openly licensed, typically under a Creative Commons License, with the ability for instructors and students to freely retain copies, re-use, revise, remix and share. OER are free, no-cost materials. OER offers provides materials the first day of class, access into the future after the course ends, and the most affordable cost for students of $0.
OER Grant Program
The Colorado OER Grant Program funds the adoption and development of open educational resources at institutions across the state. The OER grant program launched in 2018 with three years of funding from H.B. 18-1331, and then the program was expanded an additional five years through S.B. 21-215. The OER adopted, adapted, or created in the first four cycles of the grant program has saved Colorado students an estimated $31.5 million in textbook costs. Learn more about the impact of the Colorado OER Grant Program in the Colorado Rises: Transforming Education Practices through Open Educational Resources 2023 Report.
The next OER grant Request for Proposals will be released in April 2024 for the seventh cycle of grant funding that will award $1 million in OER grant projects.
Annual Colorado OER Conference
The 2024 Colorado OER Conference will be held on Friday, May 17 at the Auraria Campus in Denver. At the 2024 conference attendees will explore open pedagogical practices, their impact and relationship to OER, and strategies for their implementation. Learn more on the 2024 conference website and register for the conference until May 1.
- Cohort 6 Grantees
Awards totaling $1,000,000 for the sixth year of OER grant awards were approved by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education on March 1, 2024. Nearly half of the funding was awarded to grant projects that will develop zero textbook cost "z-degrees." View the latest list of OER Grantees or see awarded projects by grant type below.
Z-degree OER Grants 2024/25 Project Title
Institution
Funding
Making it Stick II: Building on CNCC’s OER Adoption Efforts to Enhance OER Utilization, Longevity, and complete AA degree Colorado Northwestern Community College $74,000 Open Roadrunners Year 6: Transformative Educational Advancements through Open Educational Resources and Zero Textbook Cost Degrees Metropolitan State University $100,000 Peak Learning: Elevating MBA Education through Open Educational Resources (OERs) Western Colorado University $28,000 Early Childhood Education Zero Textbook Cost Project Arapahoe Community College $18,957 Generation and Expansion of OER Major Coursework Z-Degree, Business for Creative Industries, BAS Degree Program Front Range Community College $31,500 Aims CC OER 6 Major Coursework Z-Degree Aims Community College $13,320 Mathematics and Data Science Z-degrees at CU Denver University of Colorado Denver $68,671 Staging Success: A ZTC degree pathway for RRCC Theatre Studies Red Rocks Community College $45,000 OER Textbook Adoption for a More Inclusive Business Law Program Western Colorado University $9,000 Lowering Textbook Costs for Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Collaborative Project between the University of Colorado College of Nursing and Fort Lewis College University of Colorado Anschutz, Fort Lewis College $100,000 Collaborative OER Grants 2024/25 Project Title
Institution
Funding
Collaborative OER Mathematics Textbooks University of Northern Colorado, Fort Lewis College, Metro State University $51,916 Development of the Colorado OER Anatomy Hub University of Colorado Anschutz / Collaborators: University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Denver, Colorado College, Colorado State University, Aurora Science and Tech High School $65,410 Colorado Community College System OER Course Development Mini Grants Colorado Community College System $45,563 Small Group OER Grant 2024/25 Project Title
Institution
Funding OER Expansion in Nursing Curricula at Arapahoe Community College Arapahoe Community College $13,220 General Incentive OER Grants 2024/25 Project Title
Institution
Funding
Cultivating Open Education: Sustaining Momentum for OER/ZTC Integration at UNC University of Northern Colorado $29,995 Open Mines: Deploying Open Educational Resource (OER) Development at Colorado School of Mines Colorado School of Mines $30,000 General Education OER at CCA: Building the Foundation of Z-Program Pathways Community College of Aurora $30,000 Incentivizing OER Adoption at ACC Arapahoe Community College $29,300 Pikes Peak State College OER Initiative Pikes Peak State College $21,375 Adams State Online Open Educational Resources (OER) Course Development Incentive Program Adams State University $29,990 Putting students at the center through OER Fort Lewis College $20,263 MSU Denver Open Roadrunners: OER incentives for widespread OER adoption in 2024-25 Metropolitan State University $30,000 CSU Pueblo, A DOER Campus by 2028: Z-Degrees For The Win Colorado State University Pueblo $30,000 More CMU MORE (Colorado Mesa University Maverick Open Resource Educators) Colorado Mesa University $74,520 Individual OER Grants 2024/25 Project Title
Institution
Funding
Statics: A Student-Centered Approach Colorado School of Mines $5,000 Bridging Music Technology Educational Gap: Revision and Expansion of O.E.R. Zero-Cost Textbook and Teaching Website for “Digital Music Techniques MUSC4820/MSRA5820” University of Colorado Denver $5,000 - Previous OER Grantees
2022-23 Grantee Cohort #5
The Colorado Department of Higher Education awarded its fourth round of grant awards. Awards totaling $960,018 were approved by the CCHE in March of 2023. The 2024 Report will be available October 2024.
2021-22 Grantee Cohort #4
The Colorado Department of Higher Education awarded its fourth round of grant awards. Awards totaling $968,803 were approved by the CCHE in March of 2022. Read more in the 2023 OER Report.
2020-21 Grantee Cohort #3
The Colorado Department of Higher Education awarded its third round of grant awards. Awards totaling $875,000 were approved by the CCHE in March of 2021. Read more in the 2022 OER Report.
2019-20 Grantee Cohort #2
$1 million was awarded for 35 different Open Education grantees, from individual faculty initiatives to institutional and inter-institutional projects in February 2020. Read more in the 2021 OER Report.
2018-19 Cohort #1
The Colorado Department of Higher Education awarded nearly $550,000 to power 20 groundbreaking OER Grantees that reflect the diversity of OER innovation. Read about the first cohort of grantees in the 2019 OER Report and 2020 OER Report.
- Colorado OER Council
2023-24 Colorado Open Education Resources Council
In the 2017 session, the Colorado legislature passed and the Governor signed Senate Bill 17-258, which creates the Open Educational Resources Council. This statewide body is charged to develop a plan for resources to benefit college and K-12 students throughout Colorado.
Name Institution Jen Mayer, Chair University of Northern Colorado
jennifer.mayer@unco.eduKatherine Brown, Vice Chair Colorado State University Pueblo
katherine.brown@csupueblo.eduSam Collier Student Representative, CU Boulder
sam.collier@colorado.eduMitch Cota Arapahoe Community College mitch.cota@arapahoe.edu Rebecka Cranwell Northeastern Junior College rebecka.cranwell@njc.edu Jennifer DeBoer Western Colorado University jdeboer@western.edu Jonathan Dyhr Metro State University Denver jdyhr@msudenver.edu Sherry Jones Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design sherryjones.edtech@gmail.com Michael Levine-Clark Adams State University michael.levine-clark@du.edu Mark Manzanares Adams State University
markmanzanares@adams.eduLeslie Reynolds University of Colorado Boulder
leslie.reynolds@colorado.eduNicholas Swails Colorado Northwestern Community College Nicholas.Swails@cncc.edu Jacqueline Tomrdle Pikes Peak State College jacqueline.tomrdle@pikespeak.edu State Designees Charissa Brammer Colorado State Library brammer_c@cde.state.co.us Mallorie Klemk Colorado Department of Education klemm_m@cde.state.co.us Chealsye Bowley Colorado Department of Higher Education chealsye.bowley@dhe.state.co.us - OER Council Meeting
OER Council meetings are held on the second Friday of the month from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM on Zoom. Council meetings are open to the public and can be joined with the following link: https://highered-colorado-gov.zoom.us/j/84779664385?pwd=eXdVbTByVUk2NGJ3L3Mrd1JWVndxUT09
The agenda and notes from the August 2023 to June 2024 OER Council meetings are available here. The OER Council does not meet in July.