UCLA Library Affordable Course Materials Initiative

This new initiative incentivizes instructors to use low-cost or free alternatives to expensive course materials; these can include open-access scholarly resources, Library-licensed and owned resources, and learning objects and texts that faculty create themselves. A total of $10,000 will be offered for the 2013-14 academic year: five awards of $1,000 each for instructors teaching courses with enrollments of fewer than two hundred students and two awards of $2,500 each for instructors teaching courses with enrollment of more than two hundred students.

These modest yet significant sums are meant to offer an incentive for the time it will take instructors to identify new resources, adjust syllabi, and modify assignments and can also be used to cover any actual expenses incurred by the instructor. Each applicant must be the instructor of record, and the courses must be for enrolled students (i.e., not UCLA Extension courses); the courses can be at the undergraduate or graduate level.

The initiative has been endorsed by the Office of the UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and the UCLA Academic Senate.

Application Process

Though the application period has closed for courses to be taught during the Fall Quarter 2013, applications are still being accepted for courses to be taught during the winter and spring quarters in 2014. Further information on the application process and links to the application form are available online.