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Intersessions provides administrative oversight for Jan Term, May Term, and Summer 11-day courses on the Dallas campus.  Intersessions shares administration of June (Summer 1), July (Summer 2), and Combined (Summer 3) sessions with the schools and colleges.  Most scheduling and management of summer June, July, and Combined session coursework is handled by departments & deans offices, but Intersessions is involved in strategy, budget, marketing, and supporting student enrollment.

Any full-time, visiting, adjunct, or emeritus faculty member can propose an intersessions course. Proposed courses are vetted by the appropriate Department Chair(s), Dean, and the Provost before addition to the Intersessions schedule.  Faculty on research leave are generally not considered eligible to teach until the end of that leave.

SMU Intersessions sends out a university-wide call for proposals twice per year, inviting faculty to submit course proposals through an online form. The May and Summer 11-day course call for proposals goes out in October and the Jan Term call for proposals goes out in May.

Proposing a course for the longer summer sessions (June, July, or Combined sessions) is generally handled at the department level.  This is the case even for online classes whose development was facilitated by the Intersessions Office. We recommend checking in with your Department Chair (or the chair for the department in which you plan to teach) in the fall semester (October-November) to share interest in teaching in one of these sessions, as this is the season summer planning gets underway.

No – SMU Taos and SMU Abroad are separate departments from Intersessions, whose focus is undergraduate courses offered outside fall & spring on the Dallas campus or online.

All intersessions courses are expected to maintain the same content and rigor as regular course offerings.

All syllabi for intersessions courses must include the standard credit hour statement and demonstrate how required hours are met, detailing time with instructor, any assignments completed asynchronously, and exams.

 

In-person condensed format coursework

In a typical semester, a 3-credit hour class is scheduled for 45 hours of contact with students (final exams included). To stay as close as possible to this, Â鶹Éç has adapted the following hours/schedules for each in-person term:

• Jan Term classes meet 6 hours/day for 8 class days.
  Total scheduled hours: 48
•  May Term, and 11-day summer sessions meet 4 hours/day for 11 days
  Total scheduled hours: 44
• June & July month-long sessions: meet 2 hours/day for 22 days
  Total scheduled hours: 44
• Combined session classes meet 4-4.5 hours weekly, depending on the calendar
  Total scheduled hours: at least 44

Some faculty take advantage of having concentrated time with students to incorporate field trips into their classes. For any questions on this, contact intersessions@smu.edu

• Promote your course during the semester prior to your intersession. Share a PowerPoint slide, a flyer, or a few talking points to help put the course on students’ radars.
• Ask colleagues in your department to help promote your course
• Include promotional information about the course on the first page of your syllabus. Go beyond the traditional course summary to draw attention to the unique experiences your course cultivates.  
• Create and distribute flyers around campus  

When faculty or departments post something about an Intersessions course on their social media accounts we’ll re-post it. Follow us @Â鶹Éçintersession on ; we’ll follow you back!

Online coursework is not the same as the emergency remote strategy utilized during the pandemic (i.e., students logging into zoom for class). At Â鶹Éç online courses generally go through a 6-9 month development process to be constructed in Canvas and must pass a quality assurance process to launch. Find more information on this process . Â鶹Éç has limited resources to support development, so Intersessions works with SAES leadership and OPS to queue up and prioritize the courses to be developed. If you’re interested in developing a course that could be offered in January or Summer online sessions, contact intersessions@smu.edu.