The George Washington University Libraries & Academic Innovation (LAI) requests applications for its Adapting Course Materials for Equity Faculty Grant. This program awards stipends to GW faculty who want to adopt and adapt open or zero-cost course materials.
Purpose
GW currently estimates that books and supplies cost full-time students $1,450 or more per student per year. These costs can be a significant barrier to student success, shaping everything from what majors are chosen to whether or not degrees are completed. Using high quality open and affordable educational resources can improve equitable access to course materials and support student success, but faculty may face barriers to adopting alternatives to commercial textbooks, including lack of adequate time or support to find quality open and affordable materials and modify their course. The Adapting Course Materials for Equity Faculty Grant program seeks to provide support (financial and pedagogical) to faculty who redesign or develop courses using open or zero-cost course materials. The program also seeks to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion by prioritizing applications that increase culturally inclusive course content and diverse perspectives.
Awards
The program will award faculty stipends determined initially by whether the proposal is to (1) adopt or (2) adapt or create the course materials and then the selection committee deliberates and selects the awardees.
Adopt
Adopt proposals will involve replacing required, commercial textbooks/course materials with open educational resources or zero-cost course materials. Proposals to adopt involve no or little work to edit existing materials.
- Examples:
- A professor who has taught a statistics course using a commercially published statistics textbook transitions to using an open statistics textbook from the Open Textbook Library without modifying the content of the open textbook.
- A professor who has taught a philosophy course using a commercially published philosophy textbook transitions to using journal articles available through the GW Library and/or other freely available digital materials.
Maximum Award: $500
Adapt or Create
Proposals to adapt will involve adapting existing open educational resources or creating new open educational resources in order to replace required, commercial textbooks/course materials.
Create proposals will involve creating open educational resources in order to replace required, commercial textbooks/course materials.
- Examples:
- A professor creates openly licensed ancillary learning materials (e.g., online learning modules, lab manuals, slide decks, assessments) for use with an open psychology textbook currently assigned in a psychology course.
- A professor revises an existing open history textbook to enhance coverage of the history of underrepresented groups and uses the new version in a history course.
Minimum Award: $1000
The amount of an award within these two categories is determined by a selection committee and based on factors including, but not limited to, cost savings to students; enhancements to student learning; and contributions to inclusive teaching practices and materials. Please see the 2026 rubric.
To learn about previously funded projects, visit Adapting Course Materials for Equity Faculty Grant Recipients.
Other Support for Grant Recipients
Grant recipients will receive guidance from LAI staff on topics such as (1) finding and evaluating open and zero-cost course materials; (2) understanding open licensing; and (3) meeting digital accessibility requirements. LAI will offer training sessions and each recipient will have a dedicated partner from LAI or one of the other campus libraries to provide guidance throughout the duration of the project.
Eligibility & Requirements
- All GW faculty are eligible to apply.
- Open or zero-cost materials must be used in a credit-bearing course taught between Fall 2026 and Fall 2027 (i.e., Fall 2026, Spring 2027, Summer 2027, Fall 2027).
- Only complete applications submitted by the extended deadline on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at 11:59pm, will be considered.
- Any content created as part of this program must be openly licensed and made accessible to the public through an online OER repository, by nature of being web based, or GW ScholarSpace.
- Any content created as part of this program must meet GW Accessibility Guidelines.
- In addition to implementing the proposal and using the open or zero-cost materials in a course by Fall 2027, grant recipients will be required to complete and participate in the following:
- Complete all necessary agreements, reports, surveys, and other requests for information by established deadlines.
- Attend a kickoff meeting in late Spring 2026.
- Meet at least once with a project partner (e.g., a librarian specializing in open educational resources or a particular discipline).
- Conduct an assessment (formal or informal) to determine the impact of the new materials on student satisfaction or learning and share the results with LAI.
- Appear in promotional materials for the grant program (e.g., a profile on the grant program webpage).
- Engage in one event or activity to promote open and affordable educational resources.
Application Process
To be considered, GW faculty must submit a complete application online by the deadline. Successful applicants will be notified during Spring 2026, and will need to accept or decline the award within two weeks of selection.
Payment
Projects implemented in Fall 2026 will be disbursed after the kickoff meeting in Summer 2026.
Payment for projects implemented in later semesters will be disbursed Spring 2027.
2026 Application Questions
Adapting Course Materials for Equity Faculty Grant Application
* Indicates required question
Applicant
- First Name*
- Last Name*
- Email Address (@gwu.edu)*
- Phone Number(s)*
- GWID (Note: The GWID is needed to disperse stipends to successful applicants.)*
- School/Division(e.g., CCAS) (Note: LAI employees are not eligible for ACME grants.)*
- Primary Department/Program (e.g., Sociology)*
- GW Title/Designation (select the best option)*
- Professor
- Associate Professor
- Assistant Professor
- Lecturer
- Other:
9. Status (Note: ACME grants are distributed through GW payroll services. You must be paid through GW to receive grant funds.)*
- Full-time
- Part-time
- Adjunct
- Other:
10. How did you hear about this grant? Select all that apply.*
- LAI Faculty Matters Newsletter
- Social Media
- Email from a librarian or other LAI staff member
- Email from department or colleague
- GW Infomail
- Library website
- Digital sign in the library or other campus building
- Other:
11. Are there other faculty members with whom you will collaborate on this project?*
- No
- Yes
Co-Applicants (if applicable)
12. Please provide the full name, title, department, GW email address, and GWID for any faculty member(s) who are co-applicants for this project.
Course Information
13. Course Name*
14. Course Number*
15. Is this a new or existing course?*
- New
- Existing
- Other:
16. Expected maximum enrollment (per semester)*
- 0-19
- 20-49
- 50-99
- 100-149
- 150+
17. When (semester/year) will you teach the course using the new materials adopted or developed during this project?*
18. Attach a copy of your course syllabus (if available) or a brief description of the course. If the file size is over 100 MB, email it to open@gwu.edu with the following subject line: [APPLICANT NAME] Grant Application.
Project Description
19. For which type of grant are you applying?*
- Adopt
- Adapt or Create
20. Project description (500 words or less)*
21. Project goals (500 words or less)*
22. What is the estimated project timeline and estimated date of completion?*
- Early Spring 2022: Attend a kickoff meeting and conduct an assessment to determine the impact of the new materials on student learning
Late Spring 2022: Hire the research assistant and start working with GW Libraries & Academic Innovation (GWLAI) on the series of online learning modules
June-July 2022: Open-access textbook website design meetings and working with LAI to ensure copyright compliance
August 2022: Completion and beta-testing of the online modules
Fall 2022: Deployment of the online modules in my ENG 3440W course.
Late Fall 2022: Engage in events associated with GW Digital Humanities Institute and the group GW Coders (led by Prof. Ryan Watkins) to promote open educational resources.
(example courtesy of Alexa Joubin, 2022 recipient)
23. How will this project promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching and learning?*
24. Please explain how this project is or will be made accessible, e.g. images have alt-text, videos will have captioning.
25. Please describe the potential financial savings to students as a result of this project.*
Example: I currently require a textbook that costs $100. The typical enrollment for this course is 100 students per semester. By adopting a free, open textbook as part of this project, I will save students at GW $10,000 per semester. I expect to teach this course once each academic year.
26. How do you anticipate this project positively impacting students, in addition to reducing the cost of course materials?*
27. How would you gather feedback about the students’ experiences using the materials?*
Example of student experiences: student’s experience with OER readings, student’s experiences with organization of OER vs. organization of textbook, navigation of OER vs. navigation of e-books
28. Do you anticipate wanting support from LAI with any of the following? Please check all that may apply.*
Note: Pedagogical support is part of the grant award and requesting assistance in these areas does not negatively impact an application.
Finding open educational resources (OER)
Finding materials available through the library
Copyright and licensing
Digital accessibility
Hosting support for materials adapted/created
Aligning course materials with learning goals and objectives
No support needed
Other:
29. What challenges do you anticipate facing?
Grant Requirements
Grants awarded under this program are subject to the following requirements:
Open or zero-cost materials must be used in a credit-bearing course taught between Fall 2026 and Fall 2027 (i.e., Fall 2026 Spring 2027, Summer 2027, Fall 2027)
Any content created as part of this program must be openly licensed and made accessible to the public through either an online OER repository or GW ScholarSpace
Any materials created or adapted must include an assigned open license label ex. a newly created Math homework problem set must be assigned a Creative Commons- CC-BY license.
Any content created as part of this program must meet GW Accessibility Guidelines
Recipients must complete all necessary agreements, reports, surveys, and other requests for information by established deadlines
Recipients must attend a kickoff meeting in late Spring 2026
Recipients must meet at least once with a project partner (e.g., a librarian specializing in open educational resources or a particular discipline)
Recipients must conduct an assessment (formal or informal) to determine the impact of the new materials on student satisfaction or learning and share the results with LAI
Recipients agree to appear in promotional materials for the grant program (e.g., a profile on the grant program webpage)
Recipients agree to engage in one event or activity to promote open and affordable educational resources
