International and Domestic Off-Campus Studies Committee
Letter of Intent to Offer an Interim Course in January, 2006
November 19, 2004 is the deadline for submitting a Letter of Intent to offer a repeated off-campus study Interim course in January, 2006. The course must have been offered within the past 4 years to qualify for this category of course proposals. For many of you the syllabus and itinerary for the previous offering of the course will contain most of this information. The Letter of Intent must include:
- Title of the course and course number.
- Pre-requisites required for applicants.
- Any major, concentration or GE attributes offered in the course. (Please indicate those that have been previously approved and those for which you intend to make a new application.)
- In several paragraphs, explain how you intend to organize the course and use the instructional time available to you, keeping in mind the guidelines given below. Please provide as complete and accurate a picture of the course as you can, including sufficient information for IDOCS to be able to make a judgment about the course.
- Off-campus study, whether undertaken abroad or in a U.S. setting other than the St. Olaf campus, shall be characterized by the same academic rigor and high expectation for student work as on-campus study.
- Courses offered off campus shall have at least as much contact time as courses offered on campus (40 hours or more). Normally they will have considerably more than this minimum. Contact time includes class meetings, lectures by the instructor or guest lecturers, and supervised course-related activities.
- Although the nature of out-of-class work undertaken in off-campus courses may differ considerably from out-of-class work undertaken in on-campus courses, the time students are expected to devote to out-of-class work (e.g., reading, preparation of assignments) shall be approximately the same off campus as on campus.
- The course should include a minimum of 24 days and a maximum of 28 days, including travel to and from the site(s).
- Instructional days should be balanced throughout the program so as not to leave large gaps of unscheduled time.
- Off-campus study, whether undertaken abroad or in a U.S. setting other than the St. Olaf campus, shall be characterized by the same academic rigor and high expectation for student work as on-campus study.
- A tentative syllabus as well as an itinerary.
- Please explain how you intend to determine a final course grade for your students. If you are able to provide information regarding various course components and how each will figure into determination of the final course grade, please do so. In the absence of a precise break-down of the grading scheme, a general statement regarding assessment of student learning is acceptable. (Note that attendance at all scheduled activities is mandatory and that such attendance should not figure into the grade per se.)
- Please provide a statement which explains how you propose to incorporate cross-cultural learning into the course on site.
- A preliminary budget. Work with your liaison in the Off-Campus Studies Office in preparing the budget estimate.
- There is a new budget form for 2006 Interim programs. It is available at [URL] or through your liaison in IOS.
- The final budget for 2006 will be developed prior to March 1, 2005 in collaboration with your IOS office liaison.
- There is a new budget form for 2006 Interim programs. It is available at [URL] or through your liaison in IOS.
- A copy of the most recent faculty final report (optional).
- The Letter of intent must include the signature of the Instructor and the Department Chair.
Link to IDOCS home page
