Creating and Submitting a Proposal
The Curriculum Committee recommends reading all sections of this page before submitting your proposal
Table of Contents
Schematic Diagram of Course Proposal and Review Process
Overview of the Course Proposal Process
How to submit your proposal
Important dates for the proposal process
Fall 2024 BOLLI Class Schedule
Examples of outstanding proposals from prior terms(s)
The Course Proposal Process
The BOLLI Curriculum Committee (CC) is responsible for assembling a program of courses for each Spring and Fall term. We strive to have a varied set of courses suitable for, and of interest to, the BOLLI membership, and to describe them in a way that is accurate yet enticing.
You can be assisted by the Curriculum Committee throughout the process of proposing a course, from the initial decision to submit a proposal through its final acceptance and publication in the online course catalogue.
See below for how to obtain and submit a course proposal form, and how to submit a revision.
As a prospective SGL you will be assigned a committee member as your Curriculum Committee Liaison. The Liaison is your primary point of contact through the process of developing and bringing your proposal to fruition. This begins with determining your interest in submitting a proposal, your likely subject, and whether you intend to teach for 5 weeks or 10 weeks. The Liaison can provide advice and act as a sounding board when you are developing a proposal, and then provide feedback and suggestions as the proposal is reviewed by the larger committee.
Once you submit a proposal, you can expect to be contacted by your Liaison to clarify, help organize, edit, or otherwise discuss the information contained in the proposal. It is very common for a proposal to need some changes or clarifications. These may be needed to properly market the course to BOLLI members and to try to ensure that those who take it have the right expectations.
Minor edits (spelling, punctuation, grammar, formatting) may be made without discussion, but any more substantive change will require your approval or a revised proposal from you.
While the initial proposal should be submitted online, when you submit any revision, you should email it to your Liaison. Please do not use the online submission process for a revised proposal, because our online system will mistake it for a different course rather than a revision.
The Liaison will determine when the proposal is in reasonable shape to be reviewed by the whole committee. At this stage of the process, the other Curriculum Committee members may offer suggestions and insights. The Liaison will summarize these suggestions for you. Any substantive changes will require your input and acceptance.
Before a proposal becomes final, it will undergo a further review by the Curriculum Committee Chair and then by the BOLLI Director, and occasionally more changes may be requested before it can be approved.
On rare occasions BOLLI may defer a course that has been approved if there are too many courses overall or too many in a particular subject area.
To create and submit your proposal:
1. Your Curriculum Committee liaison may have emailed you a copy of the proposal form, which is a Word document. If you would like to download the proposal form directly from this website, click on the following link: BOLLI Course Proposal Form for Fall 2024 (1).docx . The form initially opens as a Google doc.
a. When the form opens, click on File and then click on Download. This will display several file format options.
b. Select Microsoft Word.docx.
c. Now Save the proposal form to your computer - just remember to select a place where you can find it!
2. Fill in the requested information. As long as you save it you can continue working on it until you are satisfied with it. Adhere to maximum word counts where indicated. Yellow-highlighted items appear in the course catalog so put your best foot forward for these. Others are intended to convey information to the committee and/or to make you think about how you will deliver the course.
3. When completed to your satisfaction, save the document with your completed work. (If you are on a Mac and haven't been working in Word, you must export the completed document in Word format.) Then click the link at the bottom of the form and follow the instructions that will ask you some brief questions and lead you to upload the form into our online system.
4. You should receive an automated email acknowledging our receipt. We will need time to consider proposals, likely request changes, and decide on approvals.
5. If you need to revise your proposal later DO NOT REPEAT THE ABOVE STEPS. (Our online system would treat the new upload as an additional course.) Instead email the revised version to your liaison.
Important Dates for Fall 2024 Term Submissions
March 29, 2024 - Intent to Propose Due
April 25, 2024 - Proposals Due
May 13, 2024 - Proposals finalized
FALL 2024 Class Schedule
What Makes a Good Proposal?
Your Course Proposal includes information about your course that is used to inform, engage, and excite the reader about your class. The proposal provides a format to help you organize your thinking about the subject, how you will teach it, and how you will present your course information to potential learners.
Your proposal includes a course Title that sparks interest, creates curiosity, and draws the reader in to want to know more about the topic. The Objectives and Topics sections should contain structured and succinctly stated goals, and well developed, organized topics.
The Course Description will appear in the Course Catalog. It is designed to attract and educate the reader. This section provides an explanation of the course to include background, history, or definition that brings clarity to what the topic is about. Tidbits or fun facts may be included, as well as information about what the course entails, what it will cover and what will be expected of the learner. This section is meant to inform, while engaging the reader to want to know more about the course. It is your marketing tool used to get the reader to want to learn more…and ultimately take your class.
Here are four examples of excellent proposals from the past term in various subject areas. Click on a proposal to open and read it.
The Rise of China: Politics, the Party and Global Power
McKnight S23 Proposal V3.docxHow “a Slave was Made a Man”: Frederick Douglass and the Long Road to Freedom
Malinowska Proposal 2023.V2.docxMusic Unbound: The Rise of Romanticism
Koznin.docxThree Bohemian Artists from the School of Paris: Modigliani, Soutine and Chagall
Alimansky S23 Proposal V2.docx