International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 133

Collaborative Partnerships between State Agencies and Institutions of Higher Education The remainder of the morning session consisted of a panel discussing successful OER initiatives at their institutions, followed by an educator who discussed a survey of the prevalence of OER in the Southeast. OER on Your Campus: Challenges & Solutions was the topic for the table discussions conducted during lunch. In the afternoon, another panel discussed the initial steps they undertook that resulted in OER success at their institution. To give a different perspective on OER options, a vendor discussed turnkey solutions for open and e-Textbooks that they make available to higher education institutions. In response to the discussions generated by the three statewide workshops, the Council of the Alabama Virtual Library stepped in to begin developing a plan for a statewide OER repository using a common publishing mechanism. The effort had significant backing from ACHE, ACCS, and public and academic librarians, which quickly led to the Council reviewing a number of possible options for the repository. Eventually, the Council developed a partnership with OER Commons to create the Alabama OER Commons. After considerable work by the Alabama OER Commons Hub Design Group, the site went live in April of 2019. Figure 1. Alabama OER Commons website. Shortly after the completion of the workshops, ACHE and ACCS developed a collaborative program to provide project grants ranging from $250 to $5,000 to public two- and four-year institutions interested in authoring OER materials (ACHE/ACCS, 2018). The joint Open Educational Resources Grant Program funded 23 of 37 proposals submitted in 2018. The projected 125