Courses

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Course Development Process

Selecting courses to be offered in the summer happens in the fall semester and is handled jointly by Yale Summer Session and the home department for each individual course. The process is detailed in this document. Courses that have never been taught in the summer must also go through the Course of Study Committee (CSC). Faculty applying to teach a course that must go through CSC will be contacted with instructions on when to submit a proposal.

Syllabi

Every course syllabus should be provided for posting on the YSS website. New courses absolutely need to submit a syllabus specifically for the summer to demonstrate how the regular semester course will fit into the short time span of the summer. 

All syllabi should be submitted to the Summer Session office in electronic format, no later March 15th to yss.academicaffairs@yale.edu. We post syllabi online so that prospective students get a better idea of what sort of workload a particular course might require.

Minimum Enrollment and Class Size

Instructor appointments are conditional on the course’s attaining a minimum enrollment of eight students. Instructors will be notified about two weeks in advance of their course’s start date if their course has fewer than eight students enrolled and will thus be canceled. Those courses that have at least eight students enrolled two weeks before the start of the relevant session will be conducted, even if their enrollment subsequently falls below the minimum.

While YSS does not normally impose a cap on class sizes, there may be certain permissible exceptions. If you have special considerations for your course, based on equipment needs or other restrictions, please contact the Dean of International and Summer Programs for Yale College. All cap requests should be included in your course proposal for consideration.

Scheduling

YSS courses are carefully scheduled in specific non-overlapping course blocks. These blocks meet the contact hours required for YSS courses and make it possible for students to take more than one course per session. YSS requests that faculty use only the timeslots assigned to their courses and refrain from holding required sessions outside of class time. YSS courses do not have sections.

There is no reading or final examination period during the summer. Instructors should administer examinations within their scheduled class times.

Classroom Requests

Classrooms may be requested by filling out the classroom request form. It is important to request the appropriate A/V needs as well. It is difficult to reassign space during the summer as there are many groups using campus besides Summer Session. Please do not move your class or change your class times, even if students agree to the change.

If your classroom has a problem, such as air conditioning, broken equipment, broken lighting, etc., please notify Facilities (203-432-6888) for maintenance. If you need help with computers or video equipment please call Classroom Support (203-432-2650).

Books

For those instructors who need to order books through the Yale Bookstore, they may do so on the Adoption and Insights website. Select Yale as the institution from the dropdown menu before logging in with your NetID and password. If you have any questions, please contact the bookstore directly at (203) 777-8440 or tm321@bncollege.com. The bookstore encourages faculty to submit their requests as early as possible or one month in advance.

Photocopying

Photocopying course materials should be done at DOCUPRINT AND IMAGING, 27 Whitney Avenue (203-776-6000) where Summer Session has an account.  It is important to give your name and course title when you have work done to ensure that invoices are referenced and billed properly.  If you must do last minute photocopying and cannot do so at your department or at Docuprint, please be sure to keep your receipt(s) in order for Summer Session to reimburse you.  It is preferable, however, to have your copying done at Docuprint or your department. Please keep in mind that if you are copying several articles and/or chapters you should make a course packet for purchase by the students.

Course Enhancement

Academic field trips can be an important—and enjoyable—element of education. They often significantly enhance the content of a course by providing a type of information hard to convey in the classroom.  We define an academic field trip as a course-related activity that serves educational purposes and occurs outside of the classroom at a location other than on the campus at which the course is regularly taught.  Academic field trips are, by definition, university-sponsored events and must conform to specific guidelines as outlined in the Yale College policy on field trips. Instructors must accompany their students to and from the field trip site and must also fill out the YSS Field Trip Form and return it to the YSS office at least two weeks prior to the date of the field trip.

Inviting guest speakers can be a great method for extending student learning beyond the classroom walls or videoconference session. The expertise of a guest speaker can be strategically leveraged to provide depth, context, application, or diversity of perspectives. All guest speakers for whom you are requesting an honorarium, need to be pre-approved by YSS. Please provide their name, contact information, and the purpose of their visit to your class. Honoraria are offered at a maximum of $200 for a guest speaker to visit an on-campus class and $100 for an online visit. Note: The on-campus amount is intended to cover any travel expenses as these will not be reimbursed separately.

YSS does not provide discretionary funding to instructors who choose to offer snacks/treats for their students.

Advertising Courses

It is important to consider advertising your course because courses will be canceled if they do not meet the minimum enrollment numbers. We encourage all faculty to advertise for their own individual courses in any way that seems appropriate. Flyers around campus, emails, and other inexpensive ways to get the word out are all important ways of contributing to good enrollments. If you have ideas, please let us know! You may also want to consult with your home department with respect to the most effective method of communicating to students.