Affordable Course Materials Award

Will the award be available again next year?

No. The funds used for these awards are being shifted to a mini-grant program to help faculty adopt, adapt, or create OER materials. Look for announcements about the new program in August 2024. Read more about the sunsetting of CLACMA on the program information page.

Who sponsors this award?

The CLACMA was created by the Library Advisory Committee (a UAA Faculty Senate committee) with the assistance of UAA Textbook Affordability. It is funded by the UAA/APU Consortium Library.

Who is eligible to receive the award?

All faculty members who currently teach at either UAA or APU, regardless of rank (instructor, assistant professor, professor, etc.) or tenure status (tenure-track, tenured, non-tenure-track, or adjunct). Current UAA or APU staff (employees of any kind) or faculty who do not teach courses but have made a significant impact on textbook affordability at UAA or APU will also be considered.

Who selects winners from the nominations?

The Library Advisory Committee (includes faculty from both UAA and APU), Consortium Library Dean, and a representative from UAA Textbook Affordability.

Do all eligible nominees receive awards?

This is a competitive award and each year we receive many more nominations than we can provide awards for. The actual number of awardees each year depends on available funding and other factors.

Is this only for courses using OER?

No. This award focuses on courses with affordable materials (as close to zero-cost as possible) more generally. In addition to OER, zero-cost course materials could be library materials, materials freely available online, materials created by the instructor (regardless of whether they are Creative Commons licensed), etc.

Is this only for faculty teaching courses that have been marked ZTC (zero textbook cost) in the course registration system? Or for courses with zero total course materials cost?

If your course(s) have zero required course materials associated with them, we hope you will have them marked accordingly in the registration system each semester! And it is our hope that as many UAA courses as possible will be taught only with zero cost materials. However, these are not eligibility requirements for the award. We recognize that sufficient zero cost materials do not yet exist for every course. If the course(s) in question has had a sizable cost reduction but isn't quite down to zero cost, it will be considered in comparison with the other nominees. Including a clear and strong justification for why the particular course cannot be effectively taught with a lower cost may help strengthen the case.

What does the review committee base its decision on?

The committee considers the following:

• Specific cost savings to students, reaching as close to zero textbook cost (ZTC) as possible.
• Sustainability and scale of impact, including number of students impacted.
• Course materials used.
• How the course was changed or improved in relation to the adoption of affordable course materials.

This guide is maintained by D'Arcy Hutchings.