Wilmette Institute courses usually last 8 weeks, but there are exceptions for short courses which may have four instructional units, and longer, more complex courses which may go as long as ten weeks, depending on the subject. If you believe that your proposed course needs to be shorter or longer than the usual 8 weeks, please justify your ideas in the course proposal.
A typical WI course has:
A 4-day introduction where the learners review the course content, become familiar with the technology (Moodle, Google Docs, Zoom, etc), and ask questions. In this first unit, participants are asked to create a personal learning plan in which they express what they hope to learn from the course. Faculty can provide a short introductory reading and a discussion question, but most of the content of the unit is provided by the Wilmette Institute.
Six 1-week study units. Each unit should cover one topic. More extensive topics can be explored over two units.
A 3-day “reflection and application” unit in which participants are asked to write a self assessment based on their initial personal learning plan. Faculty could provide a wrap-up reading and discussion questions, but that may necessitate making the unit 7 days long instead of 3 days. Final presentations can also be scheduled for this last unit.
There is a two week grace period for the learners to complete their work.
Revised: 04/01/2022