OER vs ZTC
You will learn about OER in depth in Module 1: The what and why of OER. For now, it suffices to understand that OER refer to materials assigned an open license or in the public domain. While an OER course is the goal, some faculty might find the transition from proprietary textbooks to completely open materials overwhelming. To qualify for the CUNY OER Initiative award, we only ask that all your course materials are free to the students. That is, your course is Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC). You can make use of databases and eBooks licensed by the library as well as information on the open web. All the resources in the chart below, for examples, count as ZTC.
Stipend structure
The CUNY OER Initiative award only cover undergraduate courses that require readings/textbooks. In other word, courses such as thesis are not eligible.
Instructors who take the workshop and adopt a syllabus created by another faculty member will receive $500.
Instructors who develop their own OER courses will receive $600 when they have
- Completed the course conversion workshop, including posting to the discussion board following the course schedule;
- Met with an OER fellow to review their syllabus and an assignment sheet;
- Incorporated aspects of UDL and EDI into their course documents;
- Submitted their syllabus, assignment, or other approved OER material to CCNY's Academic Works.
Final completion of the workshop is contingent upon OER fellow approval.
Instructors will receive an additional $600 payment if they offer their course as an OER and is listed as such in CUNYfirst.
Faculty who participate in the OER Initiative will be paid as non-teaching adjuncts (NTA).
- Higher stipend amount can be proposed for lead faculty of large enrollment course (5 or more sections or 100 students). Please email us at oer@ccny.cuny.edu.
- There’s a stipend cap of $2000 per faculty.
We will start processing paperwork for stipend after you have completed all the requirements listed below.
Requirements
Requirements for developing a course
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1:1 consultation sessions with one of our OER fellows and/or your subject librarian virtually. While how you use that time is ultimately up to you, to get the most out of the support available to you, we recommend the following model:
Appointment 1 (30 minutes): Scheduled immediately after workshop completion, the first appointment covers:
- Introductions—getting to know a little bit about you, your course, goals, and needs
- Using course planning tools specific to OER and Backward Design
- Finding discipline specific OER materials
Appointment 2 (30 minutes): Scheduled either during the course design process or after its completion, the second appointment covers:- Finding additional discipline specific OER materials as needed
- Organizing your course syllabus/schedule
- Any other needs identified in appointment 1 (or between appointments)
OR
- Reviewing your syllabus for accessibility and OER requirements
- Reviewing the final steps for OER eligibility
An OER Fellow will reach out via email after successful completion of the workshop to schedule an appointment with you.
If you need additional appointments at any point, we are more than happy to help!
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Submit at least one approved course material that you have created for your course (e.g., syllabus, assignment, lecture notes, PPT slides, etc.) to CUNY Academic Works. Page 4 of this guide explains what each field means. Please also remember to assign a Creative Commons license to your document. Use this quick tool to choose the Creative Commons license.
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Update your course textbook info at CCNYbooks.com, by checking the option “course uses OER material” by following . This is to ensure that your class will show as ZTC in CUNYFirst.
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Fill out this commitment form to give us your course details.
English Composition faculty: In addition to items listed above, you need to create a course website at CUNY Academic Commons. Please email us your website URL so that we have a record of it.
Requirements for adopting a course
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Attend one consultation session with one of our OER fellows. An OER Fellow will reach out via email to schedule an appointment with you.
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Update your course textbook info at CCNYbooks.com, by checking the option “course uses OER material” by following . This is to ensure that your class will show as ZTC in CUNYFirst.
- Fill out this commitment form to give us your course details.
Paperwork & procedure
Once you have completed the requirements listed above, we will get system notification from our end. After we have confirmed all your submissions, we pass on your information to the Provost’s Office. They will start processing paperwork so that you can submit non-teaching adjunct (NTA) timesheet online.
We will contact you when it's ready for you to submit online timesheet. Once you submit the timesheet, it will be approved and routed to timekeeping and payroll for final processing. We will keep you updated along the way and provide you with an estimated pay date once timesheet is submitted.
Timesheet
The Provost’s Office compensates faculty who participated in the CUNY OER Initiative using NTA payroll. The NTA payrate may not be your current teaching rate. This is for payroll purposes and doesn’t reflect your actual FT/PT employment status or salary on campus.
After you have completed all the requirements to either adopt or develop your course(s) and everything has been reviewed, we will contact you through your CCNY faculty email when it's time to submit a NTA timesheet online. Further instructions will be given then.
Direct deposit or paper check
If you never set up direct deposit, your stipend in paper check will be available at the Bursar's Office. At this time, payroll is mailing out all paper checks and no pick up is required.
The OER stipend doesn't automatically get rolled into your regular teaching salary/paycheck deposit even if you normally receive your regular teaching paycheck through direct deposit. By default, you should expect OER paper check unless you have requested payroll to link all your "jobs/projects/income" on campus into a single payment.
If you want to have your jobs linked and receive a single direct deposit, you will need to make a request with payroll. This normally takes 1-2 pay periods before it goes into effect. After you have requested payroll to link all your jobs, future OER stipends will be added to direct deposit automatically if you work with us again.
CCNY OER Initiative workflow
FAQ
How do I know if I want to develop or adopt a course? What are the benefits of doing it either way?
The main benefit of adopting is that the legwork of finding the OER readings and designing the course has already been done for you, since others have found awesome OER readings for the courses already. You can still make tweaks to the syllabus to make it your own.
Developing is really for instructors who are either teaching a course as OER that has never been OER before or teaching a previously developed OER course in an entirely new manner with entirely new readings.
I’m a full-time faculty. Why do I get paid as non-teaching adjunct (NTA)?
The Provost’s Office compensates faculty who participated in the CUNY OER Initiative using NTA payroll. This is for payroll purposes and doesn’t reflect your FT/PT employment status on campus.
Are graduate courses eligible for stipend?
Graduate courses are not eligible for stipend. You may still choose to convert graduate course(s), but we won't be able to compensate your effort.
If I develop two (2) sections of a course (ENGL 21008) as ZTC, does that mean I’m eligible for $2000 stipend?
The stipend is calculated based on the number of courses, not sections. That means, you will get $1000 for developing a course.
I’m teaching a jumbo/large enrollment course. Do I get more stipend?
If you teach 5 or more sections or has 100 students, you are eligible for higher stipend amount. Note that we go by the official enrollment number in CUNYFIrst to determine if your course is considered a large-enrollment course. Please email us at oer@ccny.cuny.edu.
Will I get the stipend in direct deposits or paper checks?
If you never set up for direct deposit, your stipend in paper check will be available at the Bursar's Office. At this time, payroll is mailing out all paper checks and no pick up is required.
If you normally receive your regular teaching paycheck through direct deposit but never told payroll to link all your "jobs/projects/income" on campus into a single payment, by default you should expect OER paper check. OER stipend doesn't automatically get rolled in to your regular teaching salary/paycheck deposit, unless you have requested payroll to link all your incomes.
I prefer direct deposit than paper check. Can I sign up for direct deposit?
You need to contact payroll to link/group all your jobs/incomes on campus into a single direct deposit. This normally takes 1-2 pay periods before it goes into effect. After you have made a request at the payroll, future OER stipends will be added to direct deposit automatically if you work with us again.
Can you mail the stipend check to my home address?
We are not authorized to handle the physical check. You will need to contact the Bursar’s office to make this arrangement. At this time, payroll is mailing out all paper checks and no pick up on campus is required.
Attribution
This module was created by Julia Brown, Vivian Chan, Ching-Jung Chen, Julia Brown, and Chavonne Rodriguez.
