Graduate Consortium of Women's Studies

For Students

Course Development Timeline for GCWS Faculty (approximate)

Statement of Interest Form

(Rolling deadline)
This is the first step in the course development process and may be submitted by individual faculty members or faculty teams. It must be sent to the GCWS Manager or to gcws@mit.edu so that the course idea is on file.

Course Proposal

(On or before April 15th, at least 1.5 years before a course is scheduled)
This must be created and submitted by complete faculty teams. Extensions to the deadline may be granted depending on the evolving course schedules and volume of proposal submissions. Proposals are reviewed by the Curriculum Committee and comments are returned to the faculty team.

Syllabus Draft 1

(September or October following the April 15th proposal deadline)
Once the Course Proposal is approved by the Curriculum Committee faculty prepare the first draft of the syllabus. It must be submitted to the GCWS Manager 2 weeks before the Board of Directors meeting in which it will be discussed. Contact the Manager for exact dates.

Syllabus Draft 2

(November or December following the April 15th proposal deadline)
After the first draft of the syllabus is approved and comments are sent to the faculty team, the team produces a second draft and attends a meeting with the GCWS Board of Directors. Ideally, all team members are present for this conversation. Pending Board of Directors' comments, the course is officially approved after this meeting.

Faculty Agreement Form and Faculty Handbook

(January following the April 15th proposal deadline)
Faculty teams receive a Faculty Agreement Form and Faculty Handbook from the GCWS Manager. Team members must fill out and return the signed Agreement Form to the Manager, specifying the compensation option they will be using (on-load or overload) by February.

Course Description, Meeting Day and Time, and Faculty Bios

(January/February following the April 15th proposal deadline)
Teams submit a final course description and bios and confirm a meeting day and time with the GCWS Manager. Normally, classes meet on Tuesdays – Fridays for three-hour periods between 5 and 9 PM depending on the instructors' schedules. After they're submitted, course dates, descriptions and bios will appear in course brochure, on the web site and in publicity materials.

Textbook Orders

(At least 2 months prior to the start of the course)
Teams submit a complete list of course texts to the GCWS staff so that she can place an order with the MIT Coop Bookstore. Desk Copy Orders (At least 2 months prior to the start of the course) Desk copy orders may be done by GCWS staff upon request; if copies can be arranged, they will need to be picked up at the GCWS MIT office. The GCWS does not purchase office copies of textbooks or copies for faculty teams.

Course Development Mini-Grant Form

(At least 2 months before the start of the course)
This form is the request for funds for guest lecturers or materials pertaining to course enhancement. Please note that the budget for materials and honoraria is limited. Forms are reviewed by the GCWS Finance Committee. Form may be submitted by post or email and should be sent to the GCWS Manager or gcws@mit.edu.

Final Syllabus

(At least 1 month prior to the start of the course)
Your final syllabus should include full citations of all course materials, descriptions of course requirements and assignments, and weekly readings, questions, or themes keyed to dates. Please provide both hard copy and disk version, following general format of GCWS syllabi when possible. This version will be posted to the GCWS website.

Course Packet

(At least 1 month prior to the start of the course)
Faculty should work with resources and staff at their home universities to produce the master copy of the course packet. Submit a complete copy of the course packet to the GCWS Manager with all materials printed on single-sided paper and bound with a paper clip.

Applications

(Fall semester: Late August; Spring semester: Early January. Contact the GCWS for specific dates.)
Deadline for student course applications.

Application Review and Selection

(Within 1 week of the course application deadline)
A meeting between the faculty team and GCWS staff to discuss course logistics and review student applications.

Completed Payroll Forms and I-9

(Within 1 week of the course application deadline)
If teaching as an overload, the GCWS Manager will provide payroll forms for you to sign. Forms must be completed in person.

Faculty Welcome Dinner

(Early October the year your course is taught)
A dinner gathering current teaching faculty, members of the GCWS Board of Directors and a veteran teaching team that provides the opportunity for feedback, idea and resource sharing.

Mid-term Evaluations

(6th week of class)
The GCWS Manager attends the beginning of class. Teams are asked to provide 10 minutes for students to fill out the 5-question evaluation. A typed summary of student comments is provided to the faculty team. You are encouraged to discuss student comments in class the following week.

Final Student and Faculty Self-Evaluations

(Last day of class)
The GCWS Coordinator attends the beginning of class. Teams are asked to provide 15 minutes for students to fill out the evaluation and are given a Faculty Self-Evaluation to fill out during this time. Final student evaluations and faculty self-evaluations contribute to our end-of-term evaluation discussion and help students and teams reflect on their experience. These are also useful to us assessing and reporting our activities, learning from the goings on in the classroom, and assisting us in future course development and collaboration with teaching teams.

Grades

(Within 1 week of the last day of class. Contact the GCWS for specific dates.)
Faculty teams submit final grades to the GCWS Manager by email. Grades for all students must be received at this time.

If you are interested in developing a course, read our Call for Course Proposals.