October 4, 2023
Forty-eight responses were received in response to the OERI’s informal survey that was intended to collect approaches to compensating OER work. If you have other information or resources you would like to share, please let the OERI know. Thanks to all who shared. The responses below represent the diversity across the colleges with respect to this topic.
What information regarding compensation for OER development would you like to share? Responses and clarifications from OERI are provided in parentheses. Related responses have been combined
- Reassigned time – Reassigned time, not money should be provided for development of OER / I’d like to find out how we can apply for a course reduction to work on OER materials. (Ideally, this is an option that is integrated into your local process.) / While we are offering stipends using the ZTC Grants, faculty have expressed a preference for reassigned time instead.
- Verbally sharing with faculty interested in ZTC monies that the going rate for creation of OER is a maximum of $30,000, which was the maximum rate established by ASCCC OERI. Also encouraging faculty to think of as outcome, not process. In other words, it not just hours worked, but work product completed. (OERI note – the ZTC legislation references $20,000 for OER curation. When establishing a dollar amount for a specific product, be sure to also consider your “pay rate” for ancillaries that facilitate adoption.)
- I have some questions especially since everyone is working on the ZTC fund, such as 1) What fraction (%) of the ZTC fund goes into the OER development / faculty award program? 2) How do colleges curb the # of applications per tier each semester to maximize the benefit of the funding? 3) I have seen ancillaries put into tier 2 (remixing) or tier 3 (creation), what does the OERI think? (All of these are local determinations – as is the tiered structure that is referenced. As the legislation does prioritize OER, sustainability, and maximizing benefit, modifying and curating existing OER should be considered before engaging in new creation. As the goal is to maximize the benefit to students, development of ancillaries that increase adoption is appropriate.)
- Sample stipend structure – scroll to “ZTC Stipend Categories”.
- With the first round of funding from CARES in 2022, my college created a ZTC taskforce. A librarian and/or OER Liaison were required to be on this taskforce. Taskforce members received stipends, and I received an extra stipend for creating an OER self-paced training in OER. This year looks similar, as 2023 ZTC taskforce members receive stipends again. However, in the future, there might be disagreements with the administration regarding compensation. For protection, progress, and sustainability, I would recommend that formal documentation allow for the continuance of stipends for OER/ZTC work. Colleges similar to mine do not have the ZTC/OER/Textbook Affordability budget and will only take advantage when it is required by the state or with specified monies.
- At our college, we give a $1200 stipend to faculty who complete a 3-week training and change their course to ZTC. However, in some disciplines, this stipend is just not enough to pay for all the time faculty has to put in to transition to ZTC.
- Our college is in the process of determining compensation for OER development under the CO’s ZTC Program Grant. Our cross-constituency ZTC Planning Workgroup will address the topic of compensation for OER development as well as compensation for a faculty coordinator to oversee our ZTC Program Grant progress at our next meeting.
- We run a stipend program for faculty that covers professional development, research, and adoption/adaption/authoring. It’s $5,000 per course, but we’ve done different levels based on the amount of work as we try to be nonduplicative. For instance, our math department is doing some coding for the textbook in Canvas, which is above and beyond, so they are getting funded for more workload.
- At my college, I have found that the main focus is OER – and now ZTC degrees for transfer – which omits CTE too often. The stipend amounts provided to curate and write textbooks is unrealistic.
- Our approach was a tiered approach. We paid $1K for adopting, $2.5K for adapting, and $5K for creating. We based these numbers off of studies that showed, roughly, how many hours, on average, it takes to adopt, adapt, or create an OER.
- Canada’s ZTC Adopter Program was developed and patterned after Skyline College’s program. That being said, both of our programs are in the process of reassessing these totals, particularly the remix category. There are some remixes that are more involved than others, and we want to recognize that work.
- Creating OER isn’t inexpensive and it can be tons of work. Read more about this at:
- This set of guidelines has helped guide conversations and planning with current ZTC pathway grant planning.
- Due to the district approaching OER solely from a faculty teaching perspective, we ran all OER compensation through our Union-District Workload Committee similar to any IR&D efforts as non-teaching units on the assignment sheet. And while that simplified things from a fiscal perspective, it limited the amount of Faculty who could participate in OER creation due to the long lead time of committee approval, right of assignment and awarding of calls for full-time Faculty. Adjuncts are sometimes (un)intentionally left out of this process as they need to be teaching in the semester they are awarded as well as the semester they are doing the work which might not be compatible with their individual contract. We are hoping to build out a steering committee to work within the UDWC system and approach OER with a more tiered approach that can include more Faculty participation (to include adjuncts and adoption not just creation).
- Currently we are using ZTC implementation funds to give faculty stipends. We are also working on revising a few OER LTPA options. Stipend application.
- We have paid a quarterly stipend ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 for an OER Faculty Coordinator since 2017. The OERL position is folded into this role. For Spring 23, we added another position – ZTC Project Lead and Trainer for $5000 to help with the Implementation grant. The ZTC Lead and OER Coordinator will continue in their roles for Fall 23.
- Two-tiered system at the moment: OER Exploration ($300) roughly 6 hours of time where instructors search for, identify, and evaluate any OER or ancillary materials found for their subject. Our other is a cohort where instructors select a course to find OER for and fully adopt it for that course, it’s a semester long cohort ($1000).
- Skyline ZTC Early Adopters – 3 funding categories, ranging from $300 – $5,000.
- Nobody has tried developing their own OER at our college, so I’m not sure how they would be compensated if they did.
- We have received small grants from our college (Student Success and Equity) and large grants from the CCCCO to compensate faculty for OER development. Payment is calculated by hours worked multiplied by non-classroom hourly rate (which varies based on one’s Step/Class). We are not allowed to pay stipends (our union prohibits such payments).
- We have a form that faculty can submit when they attend webinar/workshops/training/ or any other OER-related activities. They submit the form to receive their stipend. We are also developing another form to allow faculty put forward their proposal for developing/adopting/adapting/remixing/ and other related works and request stipend for their work
- These are the ranges of compensation we granted faculty during our last grant cycle using HEERF funds. Content creation: Chapters within an existing textbook ($3,500-$10,500). Content creation: Supplemental Materials ($750-3,500). Content creation: Textbook ($7,000-21,000). Review Existing OER Materials ($1,000). ZTC/LTC training ($500).
- I have received compensation for all my classes that I have merged to using OER, and it was an incentive but ultimately I did this for the students, not for the compensation.
- The compensation depends on the amount of work needed to create the OER materials, so it varies significantly.
- In addition to receiving compensation from the ASCCC OERI for my liaison role, I also receive compensation (relating to OER) from: 1) 2022 Pandemic Emergency Funds to start a ZTC taskforce– this includes deciding how to distribute stipends and I got additional compensation for developing an OER training Canvas course 2)2023 Continuance of ZTC taskforce because of the 20K + 180K from the state. Unfortunately, the new administration seems to be against any form of compensation; and worried there will be a directive blocking stipends for faculty that would like to develop ZTC courses.
- We are going through process with our union and the administration on the approval process. We do not have any numbers now to share.
- No compensation for creating OER. / I think It’s important to find ways to compensate – either giving faculty a stipend or allowing them to replace a class with the work. In order for the work product to be of quality you must write research and edit which is a lengthy process.
- Our college uses grant money to compensate faculty that would like to turn a face-to-face (F2F) class into an asynchronous online course – and in doing so, they adopt an OER for the class. I changed one of my courses from F2F to asynchronous and adopted three OER for the class and I have had significant success. Previously, I could only fill one section of this class with 30 students. Now, I am able to offer it asynchronous with a free materials and two sections of the course fills each semester. I have doubled the number of students attending!
- Canada ZTC Adopter Program
- OER and Accessibility Training – Faculty members who are selected for an OER Award must complete the OER Training and Accessibility Training courses on Canvas. Faculty will receive a $500 stipend for successfully completing both courses: $300 for OER Basics and $200 for Accessibility. Successful completion of all training is a requirement prior to working on any category of the funding activities listed below. Faculty members who have already converted to zero and low-cost courses are still eligible to participate in the training. The goal is to develop a large community of OER and Accessibility-trained faculty members who may serve as mentors, both formally and informally, to their colleagues at CCC and across the district. Funding Categories
- My OER position is tied into a DE position. I am a sub-DE-Coordinator and with that comes a 0.5 release. Most of this release time is spent on OER, ZTC, and all the work it entails. I do not have an estimate of how long these funds will last.
- Compensation has been offered in the past through grant funding and levels of compensation has varied based on projects. Exact compensation amounts are unknown to me, but most likely between $1,500.00 to $3,000.00.
- Many individuals involved in OER development do so on a volunteer basis, driven by a passion for open education and a desire to contribute to the community. They may not receive monetary compensation but find value in the broader impact of their work. Now, it is each college’s chance to adopt the efforts of these individuals and reward them for their hard work to support our disproportionate and impacted students. The grant should be distributed to the faculty who will create or curate the OER materials and they will spend the time and effort to do so. The faculty will train to be fluent in creating OER material and learn about licenses and attributions. Then, they will create the required open resources to support the college students.
- The Ohlone Affordable Educational Resources Mini-Grant Program Proposal Draft
- We primarily utilized the $20,000 allocated in Phase 1 to provide compensation to Coastline faculty members who had initiated long-term projects involving the adaptation and remixing of materials for contributions to Coastline Commons within LibreTexts.
- Funded sabbatical proposal for OER work
- FHDA Board Presentation and Foothill Community College OER Adoption Support Program
This page last updated October 4, 2023.