The focus for this call is on courses that align with national strategic priorities in teaching and learning, incorporate the latest developments in their respective areas, and reach a wide national audience, including the training of future facilitators.

The 2025 call supports:

1. New Open Course Development (design, national delivery, facilitator training, and self-study build)

2. Updating Existing Open Courses (substantial updates to content, delivery, or relevance, plus facilitator training and self-study build)

3. Pre-specified Course: Development and delivery of a national course on OER and OEP in Higher Education.

An Open Course is typically designed for around 25 hours of learner effort, usually delivered over six weeks, with an additional +5 hours for facilitator training.

For courses developed as My Digital Backpack equivalents, a shorter duration may be appropriate. In these cases, the scope of work and associated budget should be proportionate to the reduced scale while still meeting the quality and accessibility requirements of the initiative.

All Open Courses funded under the 2025 call must be:

• Delivered online for their first national rollout, facilitated through the National Forum VLE

• Supported by a +5 hour facilitator training add-on to build sectoral capacity

• Packaged as a self-study version, made openly available for reuse and adaptation via the VLE and the National Resource Hub

This ensures both national access and sustainability. For courses developed as My Digital Backpack equivalents, fully asynchronous or shorter duration may be appropriate. 

Facilitator training is a short, add-on component (approximately 5 learner hours) that accompanies each new Open Course. It prepares participants who complete the course to roll it out in their own institutional or disciplinary contexts. The training typically runs alongside or just after the first national delivery of the course.

To be awarded a facilitator badge, participants must:

• Successfully complete the Open Course itself.

• Demonstrate understanding of the course topic and its impact on teaching and learning.

• Adapt the Open Course materials to their own institutional setting.

• Develop a plan for a local rollout.

This ensures a sustainable pool of trained facilitators who can deliver the course across the sector in future.

In limited circumstances, proposals may deviate from the standard integrated process. Any such deviation must be clearly justified in the proposal, and the National Forum may seek further clarification before approval.

For example, a My Digital Backpack course might not include a facilitator training element and instead rely solely on a short self-study format. In these cases, the approach must still demonstrate alignment with the call’s objectives, ensure value for money, and show clear potential for national impact.

It is strongly advisable to seek advice before submitting by contacting admin@teachingandlearning.ie

At least 30 participants are expected to complete the first national delivery of each course. Courses should be open to participants across the higher education sector.

Substantial changes that reflect latest developments, enhance pedagogy, improve delivery models, or strengthen sectoral relevance. Updates should clearly go beyond minor edits. Proposals should be led by the original developers of the course or developed in consultation with them to ensure continuity, quality, and consistency with the Open Courses approach.

Under the ‘Updating Existing Open Courses’ category, the original four digital badge criteria and the alignment of content and activities to these criteria should remain consistent to maintain the integrity of the course, preserving the integrity of the original course. These criteria are central to the learning objectives of the course and are key to earning the digital badge. Therefore, any updates or changes to the course should not alter or compromise these criteria. The course updates should essentially enhance learning while maintaining the original course’s objectives and standards.

Updates could include:

• Content Updates: You may revise, expand, or replace course content to ensure it reflects the most current knowledge, research, and best practices in the field.
• Pedagogical Enhancements: You could introduce new teaching methods or learning activities that have been shown to improve student engagement and learning outcomes.
• Technology Integration: You might consider implementing new digital tools that can enhance the online learning experience.
• Assessment Modifications: Changes might be made to the ways in which student learning is assessed to align with current best practices.
• Accessibility Improvements: Updates could include making the course more accessible to learners with different abilities, such as by providing transcripts for videos, using accessible text formats, etc.

Those considering submission are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with the development guide provided in this call to inform their application. An information webinar will be hosted on 08 October 2025.

Proposals must be submitted by a lead applicant from an eligible higher education institution under this call. The lead institution will be the funding recipient from the HEA. To see a list of eligible institutions that, please see Part B – Application and Funding Framework – Eligible HEIs. Organisations that are not eligible HEIs may participate as partners, but the proposal must be led and submitted by an eligible HEI.

The lead applicant must be an eligible higher education institution (HEI) listed in the call documentation. If your organisation is not an eligible HEI, you will need to make direct contact with colleagues in an eligible institution to explore partnership opportunities. It is the responsibility of interested parties to explore and establish these connections.

There is a funding allocation of up to a maximum of €25,000 per successful proposal. Applicants will be asked to indicate the amount requested as part of their proposal. Applicants should note that this is an upper limit, not a guaranteed amount. The HEA reserves the right to offer less than the amount requested, depending on eligibility, budget justification, and the availability of funds. Any revised funding offer will be accompanied by feedback and must be formally accepted before the project commences.

Open Courses should appeal to a broad audience and encourage enrolment across the sector. The inclusion of participants from the private higher education and further education sectors is also welcomed.

Yes, the facilitators for the delivery component can be different from the team who develop the course. However, it’s important to note that the lead developer bears the responsibility of ensuring that the Open Course is fully developed and delivered in accordance with the conditions of funding.

For proposals under the ‘New Open Course Development’ and ‘Updating Existing Open Courses’ categories, it is expected that there will be a minimum of two facilitators for the delivery component given a minimum of 30 enrolments. The allocation of facilitators should be appropriate to the size of the cohort.

All expenditures must be directly related to the project, demonstrate value for money, and be managed in line with the local procurement and financial policies of the lead institution, which will act as the administrative custodian for the funding.

Open Course development and delivery must be completed within 18 months of the lead HEI receiving funding. In exceptional circumstances, award holders may request a no-cost extension. Any such request must be submitted to the HEA in advance and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Successful projects must meet with the National Forum team to discuss the project and agree the plan, provide progress updates when requested, and submit a final report after delivery that includes evaluation and participant feedback. In addition, a fully packaged self-study version of the course must be completed and in place at the end of the project, unless otherwise agreed. A reporting template is provided to support this process and is available here for completion at the end of the project.

All materials developed for the Open Course must be open access and carry a Creative Commons Attribution (cc-by) license. This license allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, as long as they credit you for the original creation. For any other materials used in the course, it is important to ensure they also carry an appropriate license that allows for reuse and future reuse. This includes, but is not limited to, images, videos, text from publications, and other multimedia. Any use of such materials should respect the terms of the license under which they are shared, and proper credits must be given where required. Please note that you must not use copyrighted materials unless you have obtained explicit permission from the copyright holder. It is your responsibility to check the licensing of any third-party materials you wish to include in your course and to obtain any necessary permissions.

Any eligible higher education institution (HEI) may act as the lead applicant for the development of the national OER and OEP in Higher Education Open Course. The lead HEI must be one of the institutions listed as eligible under this call and will be the funding recipient from the HEA.

Consortia of institutions and organisations are encouraged, but the lead must be an eligible HEI. Proposals should demonstrate:

• Strong expertise in Open Education, OER, and OEP

• Capacity to reach a national audience across disciplines and institutions

• Experience with collaborative course design and facilitation

• A plan for long-term sustainability and sectoral impact

It is anticipated that the development team will meet with the HEA Open Education Advisory Group during the design phase. This engagement is intended to support coherence with national policy and practice and to provide opportunities for dialogue. The course design and delivery will remain under the leadership of the proposing HEI and its partners.

Yes. The specification is intended as a guide only. A collaborative dialogue will follow with successful applicants to discuss the course. Proposals should remain strategically oriented and aligned with the marking criteria set out in the call documentation.

A single eligible HEI may apply as the lead institution, and this is acceptable under the call. However, cross-institutional collaboration is strongly encouraged, as it supports sectoral reach, diversity of perspectives, and sustainability. Proposals involving partners or consortia are therefore viewed positively, provided that the lead applicant is an eligible HEI.

Yes. Applicants may draw on additional sources of support, including existing funded projects, collaborations, co-funders, or institutional contributions. However, proposals must be deliverable in full on the basis of an Open Courses award alone, should they be successful. In other words, acceptance under this call cannot be contingent on securing or maintaining other funding offers.

If the existing resource is aligned with the conditions and expectations of this call, you are welcome to submit a proposal for its further development and delivery at national level under the New Open Course Development category. The proposal should follow the required format for this call and clearly demonstrate how the resource will be adapted for national delivery (including a self-study version and a first national rollout).

Yes. If the existing open course or OER resource is aligned with the conditions and expectations of this call, you are welcome to submit a proposal for its redevelopment or extension. Proposals should clearly outline the enhancements being made (e.g. updated content, revised delivery model, expanded audiences) and demonstrate how the course will be delivered at national level in line with the call requirements, including open licensing, a fully packaged self-study version, and a first national rollout.

If the course already exists on opencourses.ie , it should be submitted under the Updating Existing Open Courses category. If the course has not previously been part of opencourses.ie, then it should be submitted under the New Open Course Development category.

Yes. Each application must include a formal letter of support from the lead institution. The letter should confirm recognition of the development team, state that the institution fully supports the proposal to the Open Courses 2025 Call, and be signed by a senior manager (e.g., Head of School, Dean, Registrar, or equivalent). Click here to Download Template.

No. Only a formal letter of support from the lead institution is required. Partner or collaborating institutions/organisations may choose to make their own separate arrangements with the lead institution, but this is not part of the call requirements. Any such arrangements are a matter between the lead and its partners and do not need to be submitted. The lead institution is the responsible and accountable body under the conditions of funding.

Yes. An institution may be involved in more than one proposal, either as the lead institution (eligible HEI) or as a partner. Each proposal must clearly identify a lead institution (eligible HEI) and a named lead applicant/key contact (eligible HEI). Applicants should carefully consider their capacity before acting as lead on multiple proposals to ensure they can fully support and deliver on all commitments.

The application deadline for this call is final and no late submissions will be accepted. There are several ways to engage even if you are not submitting a proposal in this call. You could collaborate with a team that is submitting a proposal. For current or new Open Courses, you can complete the facilitator training to earn a facilitator badge and adapt the course to your local context – all Open Course materials are openly licensed. If you are looking to use the platform to host other OER, you can explore the National Resource Hub or get in touch with the National Forum team to discuss whether there may be opportunities to host on OpenCourses.ie. You may also wish to check SATLE funding opportunities available to eligible HEIs for possible initiatives, subject to local SATLE arrangements.

Submissions must be reflective of the arrangements in place at the time of application. In your submission, you should indicate confirmed partners and collaborators. Partnership and collaboration are strongly encouraged, and it is fine for additional organisations or networks to come on board as the project develops. However, proposals will be assessed on the basis of confirmed partners at the time of submission. Partnership arrangements are a matter between the project team, led by the key contact and the lead HEI, and their collaborators. The lead HEI remains the responsible and accountable body under the conditions of funding to fulfil the project.

The call supports open courses primarily designed to be accessible to all who teach, or who contribute to teaching and learning in higher education. Proposals are expected to focus on areas of teaching practices rather than discipline-specific fields of study. Examples of the kinds of courses developed in previous calls can be found on opencourses.ie and mydigitalbackpack.ie. All outputs from funded proposals will carry an open licence, with the intention that groups and individuals across the sector can later adapt them to their own context.

From 2025, Open Courses are fully integrated with My Digital Backpack, enabling proposals to target staff, students, or both. Proposals may also consider courses that contribute to the development of graduate attributes and the broader competences that support teaching, learning, and student success in higher education.

Where a proposal does target a particular discipline, this must be strongly justified in the Strategic Alignment section, clearly demonstrating sector-wide relevance and alignment with national strategies, frameworks, and policy documents.

The word limit is a maximum, not a requirement. Concise and focused plans are acceptable. The aim is to show that your approach to enrolment is well thought out and that you have considered how best to attract the audience appropriate to your proposal.

If your proposal has a narrow or specialised audience, include more detail on how you might reach that group and meet your minimum enrolment projection. For broader audiences, you can focus on your overall promotion strategy — for example, using institutional channels, professional networks, mailing lists, or social media.

If you expect strong interest, outline how you will manage a clear and transparent selection process to ensure diversity and a good spread across the system, rather than relying solely on a first-come-first-served approach, in line with the guidance in the call document.

Some response boxes in the application form support rich text, so you can format your answers using headings, short paragraphs, or tables if that helps present your information more clearly. Formatting should avoid complex layouts to ensure everything displays correctly.

The form supports hyperlinks. However, please note that external links will not be considered as part of the formal evaluation. Your submission will be assessed solely on the text provided within the response fields, please keep your answers concise and ensure that all essential information is included directly in the text boxes provided.

As of 2025, My Digital Backpack courses are now available on the Open Courses VLE, expanding access to flexible, badge-awarded learning opportunities for staff and students across higher education. You can visit mydigitalbackpack.ie to learn more about the initiative, developed by N-TUTORR. The platform offers short, self-directed courses that award digital badges on completion and align with key N-TUTORR themes such as Digital Transformation, Employability, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Academic Integrity, Education for Sustainability, and Universal Design for Learning.

As part of the 2025 Open Courses Call for Expressions of Interest, proposals for new or updated courses that align with the My Digital Backpack format are welcome. Courses designed in this format are student-centred and emphasise student–staff partnership in the co-creation of content.

These courses are typically delivered fully self-directed, with learner effort generally in the range of 4–6 hours, though this may vary, and this should be proportionately reflected in proposal costings.

You may work with instructional designers, learning technologists, or multimedia specialists within your own institution, and they can be included as part of your development team in the Expression of Interest submission.
It is the responsibility of each project team to identify and engage individuals who can contribute to the design and development of the Open Course.

If your institution does not have dedicated instructional design support, you may:

• Collaborate across institutions, drawing on expertise from a partner HEI; and/or
• Include a budget allocation within your proposal for specialist support* (for example, an external consultant or freelance instructional designer, within the funding available).

Your proposal should clearly identify who will support the course design and demonstrate that this work is appropriately resourced within the project team.

*All expenditures must comply with the procurement and financial policies of the lead institution.

International partners and collaborators are welcome. However, the lead applicant and lead higher education institution (HEI) must be eligible under this call. Any costs related to international collaboration must comply with the procurement and financial policies of the lead institution.

The primary audience and context under this call remains staff and/or students in higher education in Ireland, as well as colleagues in further education, training, and related sectors. The inclusion of additional international participants is at the discretion of the course team. International participants are eligible to earn the participant digital badge upon successful course completion.

Please note that while all course materials are openly licensed and may be reused or adapted internationally, the facilitator digital badge is currently only available only within the Irish tertiary sector.

International participants may take part in the facilitator training at the discretion of the delivering team, but a facilitator badge is not issued in these cases. This is because the facilitator badge authorises holders to issue National Forum digital badges to future course participants, a process that currently applies only within the Irish higher education and training sector.

The National Forum can advise international colleagues on mechanisms for establishing local badge-issuing processes for use outside Ireland.

Yes. The 25 notional learner effort hours represent the total estimated time a participant is expected to spend engaging with the course.

This includes all elements of participation, for example:

• Synchronous sessions, such as live webinars or discussions;
• Asynchronous learning, including readings, videos, and online tasks; and
• Peer triad activities, reflection, and evidence gathering for badge criteria.

The 25-hour figure is a guideline for overall learner effort, combining all course components required to achieve the intended learning outcomes.

There is no fixed limit on the number of partners or collaborators in an Open Course proposal under this call.

Further considerations are outlined below.

Most successful Open Courses have been developed by small, well-balanced teams of around 3–6 members, often drawn from more than one institution.

Team should collectively bring:

• Subject-matter expertise in the course topic;
• Practical experience in teaching and learning; and
• Technical or design expertise for developing the online and self-study versions.

Larger partnerships are welcome, but proposals should demonstrate clear feasibility, roles, coordination across all collaborators in the project plan.

For large course delivery, applicants may refer in the UCD/AHEAD UDL Open Course model (see pg.25 of the call document), which demonstrates how a peer-supported, community-based delivery structure can sustain large national rollouts while maintaining quality and engagement.

Yes. Collaborators may be drawn from Education and Training Boards (ETBs), Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs), or other relevant organisations, provided that the lead applicant is based at an eligible higher education institution under this call. Such partnerships are welcomed where they add value, expertise, or sectoral reach to the course.

The OpenCourses.ie VLE platform is Moodle, which includes all standard Moodle resources and activities (such as forums, assignments, quizzes, and workshops). The platform also supports the creation of groups and groupings, allowing course teams to manage peer triads or other collaborative activities. These tools fully support peer learning and peer assessment.

Please note that no third-party plugins are installed. All course design should use the core Moodle functionality available on the platform.

Moodle supports Articulate Rise content and the choice of tools is a decision for the development team. Articulate Rise has been used in previous Open Courses as one type of activity within a wider suite of learning activities to support participant engagement.

Further considerations are provided below for good practice in line with the call guidance (Part A):

• Where such tools are used, developers should consider providing alternative or supplementary formats in line with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles, ensuring that content is inclusive and accessible to all learners.
• Providing materials in supplementary multiple formats also supports future reuse and adaptation, for example where future facilitators may wish to deliver elements of the course in alternative modalities, such as in-person or blended contexts (e.g. offering downloadable slides, worksheets, or transcripts as an additional alternative to the Rise content).
• Due consideration should be given to ensuring that materials developed in proprietary software remain accessible, editable, and reusable by others without requiring additional licences. Providing supplementary materials in alternative or multiple formats can support this. Teams may also consider H5P or other open source formats.
• When developing course materials, consider packaging and organising them from the outset in a way that supports future sharing and adaptation, following the guidance in Part C of the Development Guide ‘Guide to packaging materials for the National Resource Hub’. See previous example here.

The eligibility of the lead applicant, based on their employment or association with an eligible HEI, is a matter for confirmation at institutional level, in line with local arrangements for core grant-funded initiatives. The lead applicant must be supported through the institutional letter of support, which confirms lead applicant eligibility and institutional commitment to the proposal.

There is no dedicated platform for this purpose at present. Those interested in collaboration are encouraged to reach out directly to colleagues across institutions to explore potential partnerships and shared areas of interest. Individuals might also consider using existing sector networks, professional communities, or mailing lists to identify collaborators with relevant expertise.

Proposals normally focus on the development of one distinct Open Course. However, a single proposal may cover a suite of short, self-directed courses in the My Digital Backpack format, provided that the total budget for the entire suite does not exceed the €25,000 funding limit.

Such a proposal will be acceptable for consideration under this call, but applicants must record this deviation from the standard process using the relevant field in the Expression of Interest form, and justify the approach in relation to the assessment criteria- demonstrating that the plan is feasible, achievable within scope and budget, and supported by an appropriately skilled team.

Otherwise, separate proposals should be submitted for each individual course, costed appropriately in line with the scope and scale of each development. Where separate proposals are submitted, the awarding of one proposal cannot be contingent on another being approved or funded. In which case, a single combined proposal may be justified.