17 Mar
2025
Michelson 20MM Foundation – OER Spark
Grant Amount: Maximum Grant Amount: not specified
Information
The Michelson 20MM Foundation will begin accepting proposals to the Open Educational Resources Spark grants funding cycle on March 3.
OER Funding Cycle Focus Areas
California
- Support the implementation of California’s historic investment in the Zero Textbook Cost degree program in the California Community College (CCC) system with a focus on capacity building, professional development, and scaling OER marketing.
- Support the development of and/or the rollout of OER programs throughout the University of California (UC) system with a focus on capacity building, professional development, student advocacy, and OER marketing.
- Mobilize student and/or faculty participation in passing OER policies at the UC, CCC, and/or California State University (CSU) systems.
National
- Execute public education campaigns targeting media outlets with national, broad reaching readership to educate college and university administrators, policy makers, and the broader public on course material affordability issues within higher education, with a focus on California. Preference will be given to projects that target media outlets whose focus is beyond education.
- Research and public education around automatic textbook billing, with an emphasis on student experience and consumer protection for policy makers. We are particularly interested in research on the prevalence, types, and impact of automatic textbook billing that is occurring within the three California public higher education systems.
- Investigate how coursemarking and course material price transparency impact student behavior and/or student success. With multiple models of coursemarking, including zero textbook cost and ranges in low textbook costs, we are interested in understanding how students navigate these models and how it impacts the decisions they make.