Open Educational Resources (OER) are openly licensed educational materials that can be adapted and modified to address the needs of the user, including accessibility compliance.
In response to current campus needs, the WOU OER Stipend Program has been re‑envisioned for Winter 2026 term to focus on accessibility work required to meet Title II ADA, following the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard, deadline April 24, 2026. As an extension of the existing OER Program, this OER and Accessibility Mini‑award supports WOU employees, with teaching responsibilities, in making course materials accessible for existing or future no‑cost courses by facilitating the transition to OER.
All tenure track and non tenure track faculty who are teaching or will teach a no-cost course are invited to apply for this competitive $500 award,which is administered by the WOU Textbook Affordability Committee and Hamersly Library & Academic Innovation.
If you have questions or want to talk about the award contact WOUs Open Education Librarian (allent@wou.edu)! Please schedule a meeting, to discuss the Mini-award and OER opportunities.
Attend an one-on-one meeting with OE Librarian
Attend 2 Professional Development Trainings: Accessibility Training (may include WOU’s mandatory training), and/or OER training.
Applicants will perform an accessibility check and update relevant materials to adhear to the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard. In addition to submitting a report of any updates made to resources, and next steps.
Teach the course as a no-cost course for 2 terms and report the course as a no-cost course to the registrar’s office
The following is the proposed timeline of actions and requirements of the Mini-Award:
The links below will help you apply for a Mini-Award Application Form:
[Link to Mini-award, Fillable form]
Use this link to go to the Mini-Award Application. The form takes about 10-15 minutes to fill out. Before filling out the form we recommend reviewing the google Doc below.
[Link to the Mini-award, Google Doc]
Use this link to go to the application questions in a Google Doc. You can use it to answer the questions before filling out the application.
Members of the Textbook Affordability Committee and employees of the Hamersly Library and Academic Innovation will serve as committee reviewers.
For a greater understanding for how the applications will be reviewed see [Link to a copy of the form used by the Award Review] committee].
The awardees will use a provided Accessibility Checklist to review course materials. Then share a short report of any updates made to resources, and any next steps that will be taken. Review the Action Items of Awardees for more information.
Awardees are invited to share documents that highlight the types updates made, for the purpose of future training.
Perform an Accessibility Check for all relevant course materials, to comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard, for example, syllabuses, class activities, powerpoints, presentations, required readings, course software, videos and audio etc.
Fix materials that can be edited.
For self created, and openly licensed materials, with modification permissions, applicants will update resources, for accessibility compliance [CC License]
Provide next steps for materials that can not be edited.
For copyrighted content, and non-modifiable materials, applicants will provide next steps and/ or find accessible no-cost/OER alternatives.
What are the type of course materials eligible for the award?
Can I apply with more then one course?
Yes, you can apply for more then one course. Applicants will need to submit an application for each course.
How long will it take me will it take to complete the project?
The amount of time for this project will depend on the amount and type of materials that are involved in the project. Your not in this alone there are content experts who can support the work. Th
Can two or more instructors apply for an award for the same course?
Yes, instructors teaching the same course in different sections can apply for the grant together, if using the same resources for different sections.
Can I apply for an award if I've received an award previously?
Yes. The Mini-award is specifically designed to support existing no-cost courses and as such many of the previous OER Grant awardees are elegable for
What licensing am I required to use if I create an OER?
You are required to share all your work under a Creative Commons license, which you'll choose toward the end of completing your project.
We recommend using Creative Commons licenses without the Non-Derivitative permissions (CC BY-ND, and CC BY-NC-ND), to align with open educational resources component for remixing resources.
By using a Creative Commons license, you retain copyright ownership, while at the same time giving others permission to use the work.
For a brief presentation on adding open licenses to your content, please see Open Licenses Step by Step.
What resources will be available to me as I work on this project?
Several units are here to help you with your project:
Available Resources:
Awardees will be provided with an accessibility checklist
Report draft to fill in about updated and next steps.
Library (Lainie Allen; Open Education Librarian503-838-8193)
OER discovery and curation
Copyright and fair use questions
Creative Commons License
Accessibility issues (e.g., making materials accessible, troubleshooting)
Publishing/placing materials online
Center for Teaching and Learning (838-9300)
Universal design for learning
Instructional design services
Culturally responsive teaching
Canvas support (838-9300
The OER team will act as consultants and provide resources to support mini-grant awardees as they work to fufill the requirements of the award.
If the applicant(s) choose to adopt OER materials for their courses the OE Librarian will provide consultations to support the search for resources. As the content expert the awardees are responsible for the evaluation, selection and implementation of the resources, to their courses.
For support, questions and next steps contact:
Lainie Allen, Open Educaiton Librarian, Allent@wou.edu
Ask WOU Library