IAP DEPARTMENT COORDINATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS

The Role of the IAP Department Coordinator

Encouraging Activities

The Role of the IAP Department Administrator

The Role of the IAP Department Coordinator

Since IAP is "by, for, and about the MIT community," the role of the local IAP Department Coordinator is to encourage colleagues in his or her department, laboratory, center, office, or student group to offer and to attend IAP activities.

Subject and Activity planners should keep in mind the following objectives:

• Create programs appealing to freshmen.

• Try new teaching methods and learning formats that may improve the regular academic program.

• Offer short courses and seminars for credit, as well as publicize opportunities for independent study.

• Develop more Institute-wide activities to create a sense of community at MIT.

• Promote student-faculty interaction.

The IAP Coordinator serves as the source of information about IAP resources, policies, and procedures for her/his department, group, office, etc. Academic departments are encouraged to organize both for-credit subjects as well as not-for-credit activities.

To that end, you should be familiar with IAP guidelines, including page 48 of the MIT Bulletin, and About IAP.

• Advise activity leaders on the details of organizing, such as the availability of rooms and funding.

• Help students seeking independent projects by identifying faculty or other resource people who can advise them.

• Together with your IAP Department Administrator, review all departmental offerings for appropriateness.

Encourage Faculty, Colleagues, Students, and Alumni to Offer IAP Activities

• Make announcements at meetings, create posters and flyers, and send memos and e-mail messages to encourage people (especially students!) to organize activities.

• Talk to students -- not just majors, but freshmen, upperclass students and alums from your department and in other areas as well.

• Look at IAP 2002 offerings on-line.

• Meet with last year's Department Coordinator to find out what activities were most popular.

• Suggest activities that give the MIT community an opportunity to learn more about the work of your department and to meet the people behind the scenes in one or more informal sessions.

• Suggest offerings related to hobbies, outside interests, musical talents, travelogues.

• Ask your departmental student group or honorary society to sponsor an activity.

• Suggest that faculty experiment with curriculum development. Urge them to use IAP to explore a section of one of their regular courses in greater depth.

• Have a faculty member devise an independent project to be listed in the Guide as a department activity for students.

The Role of the IAP Department Administrator

The IAP Department Administrator is the central person in an academic Department, Lab, or Center responsible for submitting all IAP information to the Web for both departmentally-sponsored credit subjects and non-credit activities. Only the IAP Department Administrator is authorized to submit and update credit-bearing subjects for the IAP website.

Basic Responsibilities of the IAP Department Administrator

• Submit your department's for-credit and non-credit offerings via the IAP Posting Forms

• With your IAP Department Coordinator, review and approve all offerings and on-line postings that list your Department, Lab, or Center as a sponsor prior to being submitted to the IAP web page. This ensures that all information is correct and appropriate to the objectives and guidelines for IAP.

• Make sure that faculty and students involved in projects or classes for academic credit know the policies regarding taking subjects for credit. Be sure to submit grades by the deadline to be announced.

For guidelines on determining undergraduate credit-bearing subjects see How to Determine Units for IAP Credit Subjects.