eCampusOntario Releases First Round of Virtual Learning Strategy Funding

Expressions of Interest (EOIs)

On January 6, eCampusOntario released its call for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) in support of the Government of Ontario’s $50 million Virtual Learning Strategy (VLS).

The call is interested in projects related to the development of digital educational material; for example, course or program curricula, course shell, adoption or adaptation of open educational resources such as textbooks, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, activities, the creation of experiential learning projects, audio, video, animation, simulation, virtual game, virtual lab, and extended reality (XR/AR/VR), etc. 

The goal of these projects are to:

• support pandemic response and recovery through the development, adaptation and adoption of educational materials for virtual environments
• promote the design and development of online, innovative content and collaborative practices that foster understanding of how digital content serves pedagogy for all Ontario learners
• help Ontario Post Secondary Educational institutions work together to co-create a future of learning that enables greater sector-wide cooperation and collaboration, and the ability to reach global markets, together 

Timelines are tight. Expressions of Interest are due February 3, 2021 at 11:59pm ET.

• Learn about eCampusOntario (external link) 
• Learn about the Virtual Learning Strategy (VLS) (external link) 
• Review the EOI and FAQ documents for VLS (external link) 
• Watch the January 8 Technical Briefing (external link) 
• Watch the January 15 VLS EOI Application Submission Process Briefing (external link) 
• Register for the January 27 EOI Licensing Options Briefing (external link) 

Representatives from the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and the Toronto Metropolitan University Library held an information session on Thursday, January 14 to provide additional about the VLS funding opportunity. 

• View  (google slide) the session slides (external link) 
• View the session recording

Please note: The call to submit Intent to Apply forms is now closed. 

Guidance for Preparing Proposals

• Use the “submission template” specific to the Expression of Interest (EOI) (external link)  you are applying for. Complete the Word version of the template.
• Leave the Attestation section in the template.
• Follow the strict limit four-page maximum (not including the Attestation or Project Plan template as per the  (PDF file) eCampusOntario VLS FAQ (external link) ).
• Reference the EOI applicable to your proposal regularly, particularly Appendix C (Evaluation Rubric).

Resources

• View the  (google slide) eCampusOntario VLS Roles and Budgeting (Slides) (external link) 
• View the  (google doc) Budget Guidance for eCO VLS EOIs (external link) 

Drop-In Sessions for Budget Guidance

Drop-in sessions were held on:

• Tuesday January 26th, noon to 1:00PM 
• Wednesday January 27th, 1:00 to 2:00PM 

By no later than Tuesday morning (Feb 2nd) at 8AM, please submit a single machine-readable PDF for each final proposal. Please note that no changes can be made to your proposal(s) after this stage. 

In one PDF file, your final proposal must include:

1. The attestation section, with the name, title, date, and signature portions left blank.
2. The 4-page proposal, using the appropriate EOI submission template (external link) .
3. The project plan/timeline, copied and pasted from eCampusOntario’s  (excel file) project plan template in Excel (external link)  and fitting within the margins of your document in Word. The project plan does not count towards the 4-page maximum and should follow the proposal. NOTE: Do not add your project plan as an image. It must be a table.

The PDF of your final proposal must be machine-readable. To achieve this in Microsoft Word, look for “Save as Adobe PDF” or “Save as” options under the File menu. Avoid options that say “Print”. You can verify that your PDF is machine-readable by trying to copy text from the PDF and pasting it into a blank document -- if text appears when you paste, it’s machine-readable.

Once your proposal is signed, it will be returned to you by email for upload to the eCampusOntario submission portal. Project leads must upload to eCampusOntario by 11:59PM on Wednesday Feb 3rd; no late submission will be accepted.

Once your proposal is signed, it will be returned to you by email for you to submit to the eCampusOntario VLS application portal.

Project leads are responsible for submission of proposals to eCampusOntario by Wednesday, February 3, 11:59 pm, EST. eCampusOntario has informed us that no late submissions will be accepted.

1. Please refer to the  (PDF file) VLS Proposal Submission Guide (external link)  provided by eCampusOntario.
2. From the email we send you, download the PDF of your signed application and submit it to eCampusOntario’s VLS application portal (external link) .
3. Please notify your contact person when you’ve submitted your proposal.