Prospective Instructors | Course Proposal Guidelines
Tips for writing your Collins course proposal
The submission deadline for next fall is Friday, October 23, 2009 by noon.
Overview
We seek 1-credit hour, 2-credit hour, and 3-credit hour course proposals, particularly but not exclusively at the 200 level. Taking an in-house course is required of freshman and sophomore Collins residents.
Class size is usually limited to 20 to allow students to participate in a small community of learners.
All classes meet in a Collins classroom, where video and audio equipment is available for instructional purposes.
Course Topics
Courses may address particular topics within a discipline or be interdisciplinary. Courses cannot be considered if they are already available or overlap considerably with existing courses in the Bulletin.
Course content must be within your area of expertise. For instance, films may be shown for their relevant subject matter, but not for technical and artistic purposes if you are not a film studies scholar.
Teaching Qualifications
Appointed faculty members, emeritus professors, advanced graduate students, or professionals with graduate work and teaching experience are eligible to teach at Collins.
Classwork and Assignments
Try alternative approaches. We encourage creative assignments involving visual and auditory presentations that complement or supplement written responses, use of media to extend learning opportunities, field trips, and a variety of “hands-on” experiences.
The objective: To make Collins courses among the most memorable and stimulating of a student’s academic life, inviting the best of effort and commitment while maintaining academic rigor and quality.
Evaluation
Evaluation techniques should improve students’ knowledge of the topic and their learning and presentation skills. For instance, ask for preliminary plans and draft copies of major assignments, so you can give guidance throughout the process.
Avoid resting the evaluation of an entire course on one major assignment. Multiple shorter assignments or papers are usually more appropriate than one large final paper, for instance.
Announce your grading criteria for assignments in the written syllabus.
Syllabus Design
Please lay out a detailed week-by-week schedule that includes readings, assignments, and in-class activities. Include a general description of the course content, expectations for students, a complete list of readings and resources, and an explanation of how students will be evaluated. Look at a sample syllabus
.
Do not subdivide the schedule into MWF or TR format, since the specific schedule will be determined only after its approval.
Community Involvement
Identify occasions when a particular class period, event, or activity could be of interest to Collins residents at large, and to which you could invite a wider audience.
Attendance Policy
Student participation and attendance at all Collins classes is expected. For this reason, we discourage giving grades for participation or attendance.
You should, however, develop an attendance policy that penalizes for absences. A common practice is to employ grade deductions after three unexcused absences (from B+ to B or from B to B-, for example), or to deduct a set number of points from the semester total for each unexcused absence.
Make sure your policy is clear to students at the beginning of the semester, and be aware that application of the policy is at your discretion, based on the student’s circumstances.
If you have any questions, consult with an LLC staff member.
Be Available
Develop helpful and congenial relationships with your class members.
Office hours are expected. Instructors are invited to use the Edmondson Formal Lounge to hold office hours. Residential Programs and Services provides complimentary meal points to encourage instructors to share one meal per week with students.
