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Sarah Benton, OLLI at Penn State, asks OLLI:
Does your OLLI follow a formula for how many new courses versus repeats you offer per term? Also, does anyone have a documented curriculum planning process that you would share with me?
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University of Utah
Hi Sarah. We have documented committee guidance that I’d be happy to share with you. Our curriculum committee continues to evolve towards that ideal with each change of leadership and as committee members come and go. Email me at chouse@aoce.utah.edu and I’ll send it to you. Also feel free to call me at 801-587-9037 if you want to discuss anything.
As far as repeats and new we don’t have a formula per se but we do keep an eye on it. I’d say we typically have at least 1/2 new. While some may complain that they didn’t get to take a course I’d rather have that problem than there is nothing new. I think the latter would result in losing members more frequently than the former.
Brandeis University
My response is very similar to Cathy’s, Sarah.
Our Curriculum Committee has a very systematic process that also is changed over time with new leadership and lessons learned. Also willing to talk with you 781 736 2171 and/or refer you to the Curr Comm chair. There is always room for improvement and this year we are revisiting the Curr Comm and Resource Committee (a complement committee to Curriculum) - making it a priority to look at what’s working, where should we aim to improve and how. The goal - improve curriculum and quality of leaders.
We also aim to increase the number of new courses over time. I would estimate we’ve reduced the number of repeats by half since the early years - today I’m estimating 1/4 to 1/3 per semester are repeats. We are also making another significant push on bringing in more “new leaders” from within our community this year.
California State University Channel Islands
Our policy is that no course is repeated within a two year window. An exception is granted if the location (another city in the county) is different and it was a high enrollment course.
The curriculum process is that an instructor (paid)submits a course proposal to the Director of Programs (me). Sometimes it is spontaneous, sometimes the course and instructor are sought on the basis of member demand. The proposal consists of a 120 word course description and 60 word personal description (ultimately for the course catalog),longer course description, and if new to OLLI, a vita and letters of reference. If the course fits our criteria, I work with the instructor on “tweaking” it and revising the desctiptions. Those acceptable at that point are sent to a 5 member curriculum committee that further comments on its quality and potential interest to members, sometimes suggesting further revisions, sometimes rejecting the course. Acceptable, revised courses are then submitted to all members in their classes who indicate their interest (or not) in the next semester’s classes. Those meeting Director and Committee crteria, and obtaining sufficent interest in the general membership are offered the following semester. At the end of all classes, we administer a standard evaluation insturment to class members assessing both instructor and class. Instructors are invited back (or not) on the basis of the evaluations.
Sarah, I’ll send you some material about the process and the evaluation instrument. WOuld you send me your email address? marty.kaplan@csuci.edu
University of Pittsburgh
Hi Sarah,
Our program is quite young. We’re just in our fifth year, so we’ve had a high percentage of new courses each term. I keep the statistics for each term, including the number of new courses. For the academic year just ending, a little over 50 percent of our courses were new. (This was nearly 100 new courses offered during the year.) Prior to this year, our new course offerings were a much higher percentage. We also have some courses that are offered every term, such as tai chi and certain languages.
Courses that had strong registrations and ones that are in high demand because they have been “talked up” by those who took them are courses that we are most likely to repeat. However, they typically won’t be repeated during the same academic year.
We’re always welcoming new members, so we do have the need to repeat, but we also want to give returning members new courses to choose. So far, identifying new courses hasn’t been an issue.