Curriculum

Core Process

About Curriculum

The Curriculum Team maintains a rich, vibrant, quality-filled selection of single and multi-presenter courses and special programs for the LLI community. This team:

Produces and delivers approximately 25 Friday courses and three to five off-Friday courses for the fall and spring semesters.
Produces four to ten sessions/courses for the January WinterFest and the June SummerFest.
Recruits presenters.
Works with the producers to develop high-quality courses that will appeal to LLI members.
Meets monthly to plan and evaluate courses and ensure the quality of the overall program.
Recruits and mentors course producers and committee members.
Balances course content and style.

To learn more about this team and how you can help, contact [email protected].

Curriculum Team Tasks

What do we do?

Chair

This chair coordinates and plans the activities of the producers. The chair keeps track of suggested course ideas for upcoming semesters, searching for a balance among topic types, meeting times, course sizes, delivery methods, and presenter availability.

The chair organizes the monthly Curriculum meetings, where new course ideas are proposed and evaluated. The chair makes sure producers submit their course proposals in a timely manner, provides assistance to producers and looks for new courses.

Producers

Producers develop course ideas and find qualified presenters (who are willing to volunteer their time and expertise). Presenters come from:

Bard faculty;
LLI members;
Non-members with special knowledge.

Once a course idea is accepted by the Curriculum Team, producers develop a course proposal outlining the key information about the upcoming course, such as course title and descriptions, presenter biographies, and special requirements for the course (piano? carpeted floor? large classroom? special AV support? presenter time constraints?)

Producers work with the presenters prior to the semester to develop quality courses and course descriptions, documented in a course proposal. The course proposal becomes the basis for the catalog entries that members use to decide if they want to take a course.

Producers continue to work with presenters throughout the semester to ensure that presenter and class participant needs are met. Producers also follow up with presenters and discuss class evaluations at the conclusion of classes.

Catalog Reviewer

The catalog reviewer examines each course proposal to ensure it is ready to be included in the catalog. If there are any issues, the catalog reviewer works with producers to solve the problems.

It sounds like a simple task, but this has to be done for each course so members have an accurate and clear description of offered courses.

There are word count limits on descriptions and biographies. Photos for the course, presenter, and producers have to be found. There are deadlines for submission of the course proposals so the catalog can be released on time.

Evaluations

Feedback from members is critical in ensuring LLI courses meet high standards. After each semester (and after each week of a multipresenter course), course evaluations are sent to registrants.

The results of evaluations are carefully reviewed by the Catalog Team. This can become a suggestion to presenters and producers.

LLI courses are in many areas

Curriculum creates and develops courses that meet the quality standards of the Lifetime Learning Institute and Bard College. LLI courses include topics in many areas, such as: art and music; history and world affairs; literature and writing; movement and dance; personal growth; science, math and economics.