Hege Library & Learning Technologies Resources for Accessible and Inclusive Learning (RAIL) Initiative

RAIL Fellowship Program

The primary objective of the Resources for Accessible and Inclusive Learning (RAIL) Fellowship program is to support faculty in embracing open and inclusive pedagogical approaches through the adoption, adaptation, and creation of open access learning resources. Open access learning resources carry no costs, are generally free of most copyright licensing restrictions, and thereby provide faculty with the freedom to customize their learning resources in support of their pedagogy, particularly as this affords the potential to elevate representation of marginalized identities and perspectives through the transformation of their course materials. Additionally and/or alternately, the RAIL Fellowship program encourages faculty to identify and utilize resources that already are available or may be acquired through the library catalog and would represent no cost to students (i.e. subscription eBooks, eJournals, academic database content, streaming media; and Open Access (OA) Collections)

The RAIL Fellowship Grants are intended to:

• Support lowering the cost of college for students and contribute to student retention, educational development, and persistence to graduation through adoption of open access learning resources;

• Enable and support piloting and assessment of alternative approaches to required course materials for increasing student no- and low-cost options across the curriculum; 

• Develop a community of practice that advances a culture of openness, inclusiveness, and equity of access embracing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.