DENVER- The Colorado Commission on Higher Education approved 21 proposals for Open Educational Resources (OER) projects that will produce high-quality teaching and learning materials at no cost to Colorado students and 10 professional development awards that will catalyze OER expertise at rural institutions of higher education.
“These grants will help save students hundreds of dollars on their textbooks, a major cost in higher education,” said Governor Polis. “I’m excited to see that we are also reaching rural colleges and universities—this will extend the reach of OER and make higher education more affordable and accessible for all.”
The OER grant program is in its sixth year. To date, grantees have collaborated to save Colorado students more than $42.1 million on textbook costs and transformed over 1,900 courses to no cost by creating, adapting and adopting free openly licensed educational resources at campuses across the state.
The Colorado OER Grant Program awards funds to public higher education institutions for zero textbook degree development, collaborative partnerships, small group projects, institutional general incentive funds, individual courses and professional development. The seventh-year cohort of OER grantees features 25 Colorado institutions and four collaborative projects involving multiple institutions. More than half of the $1 million in funding was awarded to zero textbook-cost degree development projects. Ten projects will develop “Z-Degrees” for students to complete their degree with zero textbook cost in disciplines from nursing to theater. Rural professional development awards will support travel to the state OER conference and the 2025 International Open Education Conference. View the list of awards.
“We must continue to set students up for success. We do this by providing the resources students need to access higher education and making it affordable,” said Dr. Angie Paccione, CDHE executive director. “Students need textbooks and they also need course plans and modules free of cost, and these OER grants help achieve that.”
Get Involved
In conjunction with CDHE, the OER Council hosts events and other professional development opportunities to help others learn about the open education movement in Colorado. During Open Education Week 2025 from March 4-8, campuses across Colorado hold interactive webinars, trainings, award faculty using OER and more.
CDHE will host its annual statewide OER conference in Greeley on Friday, May 30 at the University of Northern Colorado. The conference provides instructors, librarians, and administrators with professional development to advance open education across the state. The 2025 conference theme is “Mapping the Open Road: Navigating the Future of OER.” Registration for the 2025 OER Conference is free and opens in March.
Championed by the Colorado General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee in 2018, H.B. 18-1331 established the grant program and charged Colorado’s OER Council with advising the Department on aspects of the initiative. The grant program was expanded for five additional years with S.B. 21-215. To learn more about the program, including the impacts and reach of the grants, read the 2024 report Transforming Education Practices through Open Educational Resources.
About the Colorado OER Council
The OER Council is a nationally recognized advisory group created by statute that lends expert opinion in the areas of academics, library sciences, and other aspects integral to open education development. The council works closely in an advisory capacity to CDHE staff.
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