CARLI Member OER Initiative - Questions and Answers

Question: Is this a grant program?

Answer: The CARLI Member OER Initiative is not a grant program. CARLI will provide financial support to members via a purchase order for the successful applicants.

Questions: Is there a cost associated with using the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license?

Answer: No, there is no cost associated with adding a Creative Commons license to resources.

Question: The CARLI Member OER Initiative webpage states that past and present OER Committee members may be part of the review process, does that mean that OER Committee members may not apply?

Answer: CARLI OER Committee members may apply. All reviewers must recuse themselves from reviewing any proposal in which they have a conflict of interest.

Question: Are there certain funding requirements to get full amount? OR is it if a member submits a level 3 they automatically get $30,000 (if they are eligible and submit necessary documents?)

Answer: There are no specific requirements for each funding level, other than what your institution needs. There is a place on the submission to identify the exact amount that you are requesting.

Question: If we created a program in which faculty received stipends to adopt OER, and they created ancillaries or adapted the OER, these would need to be shared publicly under CC BY 4.0 on the specified platforms?

Answer: Yes, they would need to have the CC-BY 4.0 license; they should be shared on the platforms that makes sense for the created materials; for example if your faculty create ancillaries, the Open Textbook Library accept textbooks

Question: One of the outcomes specifies the use of a CC BY 4.0 International license. Does this mean every creation must use this specific license, or is it permissible to use a more restrictive Creative Commons license, such as CC BY-SA?

Answer: No, this particular initiative requires the least restrictive license, which is CC-BY.

Question: How do you define an OER program?

Answer: An OER Program is considered to be a concerted effort or plan at your institution to promote OER awareness, adoption, adaption or creation, regardless of the stage of development. If you had something in the past, but perhaps the person who started the program has left and you would like to re-start a program then you could say no, you do not currently have a program. 

Question: What if the co-authors are not from CARLI institutions?

Answer: If co-authors are not from CARLI Members, if you are planning to compensate those authors, then you need to work with your institution to identify how that works.

Question: Any plans for Pressbooks?

Answer: At this point CARLI does not have an arrangement with Pressbooks for CARLI Members

Question: So if my institution uses Pressbooks, I don't have to put it in Libretexts, but I can house it in the Hub and Open Textbook Library?

Answer: Yes, you can add to those sites. You can always add to LibreTexts too, it is both a publishing platform and a repository!

Question: If you want to give out monetary awards to faculty OER champions, that is allowed, just not in the form of gift cards?  Or would you envision more like certificates?

Answer: Monetary awards should follow your institution's policies, but yes, we are excluding gift cards.

Question: Are there word limits for the application narrative or the budget narrative?

Answer: It looks like the default character limit for each field is 20,000 characters which is about 3000-4000 words. That should be more than enough for the purposes of this application.

Question: Is it right that we could not use any of this funding toward traditional textbook purchases for library users? As e-book or physical?

Answer: We specifically named it the CARLI Member OER Initiative to support open educational resources at your institution. So at this point, I wouldn't think that those types of activities would be excluded from this project.

Question: Will some proposals be partially funded (i.e., you might fund the proposed incentive program but not the educational workshops).

Answer: As with any funding program, there's always the possibility a proposal might be partially funded. You might get asked if you could complete your activities for less than the amount requested. If this happens, we would not micromanage your activities, we would leave it up to you to decide how the funds should ultimately be allocated. However, if you include items from the exclusion list in your budget, they will not be funded.

Question: What happens if things don't go to plan and we're unable to expend the full award?  For example, we have X dollars for faculty stipends, but are unable to recruit enough faculty to claim them all.

Answer: The initial payment will only be partially funding the project at 70% of the expected budget. With the project report, based off the activities you're able to meet, you could adjust the remaining invoice to reflect the underspending. If it goes beyond that point and you still have not spent down funds, we may have to ask for a refund, but we are hoping it will not get to that point.

Question: Could we do a multi-year initiative spending part of the awarded funds in year 1 (2026-2027) and some in year 2 (2027-2028) as long as the plan is to use them all by June 2028?

Answer: Yes! Keep in mind you will get 70% up front. You are not required to use that 70% immediately. Perhaps you only use 50% of the funds the send you, so you have 20% remaining to begin the second year and once you submit your report and second invoice you would receive the remaining 30%.

Question: Does CARLI have a preference between LibreTexts and Open Illinois Hub (OER Commons)?

Answer: No, they both have creation platforms as well as being repositories. LibreTexts, is more powerful, with more options in it for faculty members or any person remixing or creating an open textbook, but it does have a higher learning curve. We will offer periodic workshops on how to use these platforms.

Question: For possible publishing projects, does CARLI have any information on possible contractors for support on instructional design or copy editors?

Answer: Not currently, but this is something we can work on. We are aware that Southern Illinois University Press is putting together a list of services they can provide for OER projects. Feel free to ask colleagues for recommendations on the carli-oer@carli.illinois.edu list.

Question: Will preference be given to institutions that have NOT received OER grants/subgrants in the past?

Answer: This is not one of the requirements of this program. Institutions will not be penalized by having recevied grant funding in the past.

Question: Will this initiative continue in the future? Or will this be more like a one time opportunity?

Answer: We are unsure at this time.

Question: Can we list more than one person as director/co-director?

Answer: There is place in the application for one name, but in the narrative you can indicate all others working on your project, and you could indicate a co-director there.

Question: What are the requirements for the quarterly reports?

Answer: We have not yet completed the quarterly report form, but it will most likely include: spending to date, projects started or completed, set backs or successes. It will be shared with the purchase order agreements.

Question: Can any faculty be PI or do they have to be specifically "library staff?"

Answer: The PI/Project Director does need to be library staff.

Question: Where should invoices be sent after the Purchase order is issued?

Answer: Please send invoices for this program to CARLI Support. An invoice for 70% of the amount of funding can be sent after the Purchase Order is issued. The invoice for the remaining 30% of the funding can be sent after the project review statement has been approved by CARLI.

Question: I attended yesterday's OER Initiative session and saw all of the things the budget excludes. Should I assume if something wasn't listed, it is ok? Like providing catering for a "Lunch and Learn" session or snacks for a training session on campus as incentives to attend?

Answer: For the most part, yes, if something is not listed in the excluded list, you can assume it is covered. Catering for a "Lunch and Learn" would be covered, alcohol for said lunch would not be covered. We reserve the right to question expenses that seem unreasonable.

Question: If we were to get an account with ChatGPT to create alt text, or an account with Speechify or ElevenLabs for audiobook narration, would that be allowed?

Answer: Unfortunately those would be considered software and are not covered by the Initiative at this time. I know there is open source software that can be used ofr audiobook narration such as: Suno Bark, Valle-X, StyleTTS2, CoquiTTS - XTTS, Tortoise TTS.

Question:Who do I talk to at my institution about this, the sponsored program awards office (SPA) or someone else?

Answer: It will depend on your institution. If roles were reversed, the university would consider this a revenue generating contract and it would go through the business office not SPA, not all universities or colleges have that delineation of offices.