OER Grant Program

Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant Program

Monash University Library offers grants to Monash educators to replace commercial or restrictively licensed textbooks with Open Educational Resources (OERs).

The aim of this funding program is to support projects that promote student equity, diversity and inclusion, and enhance student success by removing barriers that restrict access to learning materials. Here's how you can support students with Open Educational Resources.

Piloted in 2025, this program offers two categories of grants, Adopt and Create.

Category 1: Adopt

Open Educational Resources (OER) Adopt Program Grants

What is OER adoption?

OER adoption refers to replacing commercial textbooks on reading lists with openly licensed, free-to-read texts.

For this grant, adoption projects include:

Replacing prescribed or required commercial textbooks on unit reading lists with openly licensed textbooks or other openly licensed material. This may be staged across one or more teaching periods.
Replacing prescribed or required chapters within commercial textbooks with chapters within openly licensed textbooks or other openly licensed material.
The open materials would need to be free for students to access and read without signing up for a platform.

Grants of $1,000 are available for Monash academics to assign OERs in units and courses in place of costly commercial or restrictively licensed texts. The grant program will support lecturers to investigate, evaluate and incorporate OERs into units of study and report on this work.

Applications are sought for project ideas from Monash academic staff interested in using OERs or other open access scholarly materials in their teaching. There may be an opportunity for academics to publish an article on this work in an educational research journal. Adopt projects also have the potential to lead to subsequent Adapt projects.

How to apply

Expressions of interest for Adopt program grants remain open throughout the year.

To apply, fill out our Expression of Interest form.

We recommend that you discuss your proposal with a Librarian prior to submission.

Book a meeting or email Librarians@monash.edu.

The Library can help you locate high-quality OERs to consider for your EOI and provide training for adding openly licensed resources to new or existing Leganto reading lists.
- Applicants must be Monash University contract or ongoing academic staff employed on an Australian campus. As part of this work includes evaluation, contract staff must be able to participate in the evaluation at the end of the teaching period.
- Applicants must have the approval of their Faculty, School or Departmental Director of Education or equivalent.
The OER/s to be adopted for the unit or courses:
- Will be used by first year students or in any core unit/s
- Will replace a commercial print textbook or a restrictively-licensed electronic text on a reading list
The grant can be used to support this process through employment to assist in the selection, evaluation and adoption of the texts, and to make adjustments to unit teaching materials.
- Proposals must have a realistic plan to complete the project, including the text(s) to be removed.
- Proposals must include the details of what work the applicant(s) will do to select and evaluate the texts and incorporate them into teaching.
- The OERs should be added to a Leganto reading list for the unit.
- Grant recipients will work with the Library to evaluate the success of the process at the end of the teaching/exam period. Student and educator feedback will need to be gathered.
- The OER/s should be on the Leganto reading list for the unit for the next teaching period.
- The commercial textbook should be removed within the next two teaching periods.
Please contact kay.tucker@monash.edu with any questions.

Successful OER Adoption proposals

Successful grant proposals will be announced as they are awarded.

June 2025

Dr Hendrika Duivenvoorden and Dr Danielle Rhodes
School of Biological Sciences, Science, and School of Biomedical Science, MHNS
Project: a staged approach to replacing the current prescribed textbook with OERs for MCB2011 Molecular Biology of the Cell. Student feedback will be obtained at each stage.

Category 2: Create

Create or adapt an OER textbook

What is OER creation or adaptation?

Grants are available for Monash academics to produce an openly licensed textbook by creating an original text or adapting (modifying) an existing openly licensed text.

Create an original open textbook
‘Create’ projects provide an opportunity for Monash academics to author an original openly licensed textbook that aligns with their course, unit or teaching practices. This includes creating a new edition of an openly licensed work.
Adapt an existing openly licensed textbook to create a new OER
‘Adapt’ projects provide an opportunity for Monash academics to produce a new open textbook by modifying existing openly licensed texts. This could include combining content from two or more open textbooks, adding or removing chapters, or editing content to include diverse or local perspectives.
Check the Creative Commons Adapter’s Licence Chart when investigating an adaptation, or seek advice from the Library.

For the purpose of this EOI grant program, adaptation projects are defined as producing a new text by one of the following methods:

Combining (remixing) two or more existing openly licensed texts, as well as making minor or major edits to the text.
Remixing two or more openly licensed texts and adding significant new content (e.g., a new chapter).
Adding significant new content to an existing openly licensed work.

Note that the awarding of grants is dependent on the Library’s capacity to support the development of the project.

How to apply

If you have an idea for creating or adapting an OER, please view the Support, Eligibility, and Selection criteria sections below. We recommend that you contact your Faculty's Library Business Partner for an initial discussion.

When you are ready, send us your Expression of Interest form and we will contact you for a meeting.

The Library will provide:
- project management (in conjunction with the lead author/s)
- liaison with the Office of General Counsel for a publishing contract
- copyright advice
- organisation of peer review and copyediting (funds are held back from Library grant monies)
- organisation of Indigenous peer review or cultural safety reviews (funds may need to be held back from Library grant monies)
- Support for citing and referencing
- Creative Commons attribution advice, support and resources
- Pressbooks publishing platform training and troubleshooting
- Pressbooks specialist formatting
- cover design advice
- accessibility advice and support
- final quality check
- Applicants must be Monash University ongoing academic staff at an Australian campus (co-authors or contributors can be professional staff, industry partners or academics from other Australian and international institutions).
- Applicants must provide written Faculty or departmental support that includes permission to transfer copyright ownership to the authors.
- Authors are required to license their work with a Creative Commons licence.
- The content of the proposed book is aligned with your course or unit, or supports your teaching practices.
- The content of the proposed book includes diverse perspectives (e.g., Indigenous perspectives, people of colour, LGBTQIA, people with disabilities, and non-Western perspectives).
- There is a clear rationale for the book and a proposed Table of Contents.
- Copyright implications have been considered.
- An outline of how you intend to use the grant money.
- Proposals for books from 30,000 to 80,000 words are preferred, due to cost considerations and completion timelines.
Projects typically take up to 18 months. They include planning, drafting, designing, reviewing and publishing (see CAUL's OER Publishing Workflow). We will discuss the timelines with you if your EOI is successful.
Please contact kay.tucker@monash.edu with any questions.

Successful OER Creation proposals

Previous grants awarded:

Health Data in Practice
Led by Professor Basia Diug from the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Southern Spheres: An Introduction to Earth's Dynamic Systems in Australia and Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
Led by Dr Sophia Tsang from the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Faculty of Science
Financial Statement Analysis and Business Valuation
Led by Assoc Professor Mukesh Garg, Dr Dhayani Kirubaharan, Dr Sandip Dhole, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Business and Economics