UCT 2021 Open Textbook Award : University of Cape Town

Organization : University of Cape Town
Facility : 2021 UCT Open Textbook Award
Last Date : 30 July 2021
Website : https://ched.uct.ac.za/

UCT Open Textbook Award

Call for nominations 2021 UCT Open Textbook Award

About the Award

1. The UCT Open Textbook Award is an initiative of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, which aims to incentivise innovation in teaching and learning, recognise the efforts of open textbook authors, and promote the creation and reuse of open educational resources.

2. The award, launched in 2020, was shared in its first year between Professor Johan Fagan for his Open Access Atlas of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Operative Surgery and Dr Michael Held for his Orthopaedics for Primary Health Care textbook.

3. Open textbooks are digital, free to use and openly licensed collections of course-related teaching and learning content published on platforms and in formats that provide affordances for the integration of multimedia and ancillary practice and assessment components.

These locally published textbooks provide opportunities for inclusive, collaborative authorship strategies. The open licensing aspect also means that these resources can be legally shared and redistributed, both within and beyond the institution.

4. The UCT Open Textbook Award has a social justice focus and aims to recognise activities that support the university’s transformation efforts. In line with this approach, the award recognises open textbook development initiatives which address any of the following criteria

** Curriculum transformation / decolonisation
** Pedagogical innovation
** Inclusion of students and marginalised voices
** Disability access
** Relevance to local context
** Multilingualism
** Technical innovation

5. The award may be made to single or multiple authored books. No restriction is placed on disciplinary orientation, language or format in which the book is written.

There is no restriction in terms of the publication date of the work. All nominated works must carry a Creative Commons or similar open license.

Nomination Form Format

1. Contact details
Name
Position
Email
Telephone

2. Open textbook description
Title
Authors
Date of publication
Access URL
Licence

Department and faculty in which you are based:
Department and faculty (and university) in which collaborators are based:
Course(s)/programme for which textbook was developed:
Degree level for which textbook was developed (e.g. undergraduate, first year):

Please provide a description of the open textbook, with particular focus on addressing the following main questions
** What is the educational problem being addressed by this open textbook?
** In what way do you envision that this open textbook can play a role in addressing this problem?

** Do you envision that the resource could have an audience beyond the course at UCT for which it is being developed?
** What is the impact of your open textbook, particularly as relates to number of students reached and cost savings?

3. Innovation and transformation
Explain how your open textbook addresses any or all of the following issues:
** Curriculum transformation / decolonisation
** Pedagogical innovation
** Inclusion of students and marginalised voices
** Disability access
** Relevance to local context
** Multilingualism
** Technical innovation

4. Quality assurance and sustainability
What quality assurance mechanisms did you utilise in the textbook development process (possibly through peer- or student-focussed approaches)?

Do you have a business/sustainability model in place in order to ensure the ongoing development or updating of the open textbook?

5. Community reviews
Please attach at least two community reviews (max. 500 words) sourced from peer academics, students or industry partners (based either at UCT or elsewhere). Student evaluations may also be submitted as a form of community review.

6. Cover letter
Please include a one page letter of nomination stating why the nominator(s) thinks that the book should be considered for the award.

Submission checklist :
** Letter of nomination
** Nomination form
** Two community reviews or student evaluations

Please submit all documents as a single PDF.

Review & Selection Process

** Proposals will be screened for eligibility
** Eligible proposals will be evaluated
** The award committee and invited subject experts will review the open textbooks
** Successful applicant/s will be notified by 30 November 2021

Prize

The UCT Open Textbook Award carries a value of R30 000 and may be shared between more than one recipient. Prior award recipients are asked to observe a two-year waiting period before submitting nominations for subsequently published works.

Deadline

The deadline for nominations is 30 July 2021.