CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION
STUDY AND SERVICE PROJECT PROPOSALS
Winter Term 2009: Friday, January 2 to Friday, January 23, 2009.

• The overall quality of the project proposal will be the main criterion for evaluation.
• The committee will consider the clarity and quality of the project’s educational objectives, and the clarity and completeness of the plans to carry out the proposed curriculum (e.g., logistics, itinerary, budget, etc.). No single model or format is prescribed (or proscribed, for that matter).
• Proposals should contribute to overall Winter Term objectives
• Incomplete proposals will not be considered, as evaluation is impossible without clearly articulated educational objectives, teaching methods, preliminary syllabi, itineraries and budgets.

All complete proposals submitted by the Monday, February 11, 2008 deadline will be given full consideration .

Procedure:
The Winter Term Subcommittee is responsible for advancing the most effective and attractive Winter Term program that encourages both student and faculty development. To this end, the committee will evaluate proposals that meet the above criteria. All proposals being equal, the Winter Term Subcommittee will select the types of and number of projects that it determines will most effectively accomplish the overall objectives of the off-campus study and service program. The following factors are not necessarily listed in order of importance, but are all factors that will play a role in the selection process.

Quality of proposal. The online proposal form must be completed in its entirety in order for a proposal to be considered. High quality proposals contain the following characteristics:

• Clear educational objectives
• A rationale for the off-campus location(s) as they relate to the topic
• Immersion: effective incorporation of local cultural institutions, local resources, and local individuals
• Required activities and assignments are relevant to the location and the topic
• Evidence that initial thought has been given to the logistical planning (i.e., use of a travel agent, travel websites, local contacts)
• Realistic and clear budget

Diversity of location. An important consideration in establishing a roster of study and service projects is diversity of location. The committee will strive for an appropriate balance between international and domestic projects, and will pay careful attention to the distribution of proposed locations. The Subcommittee has a relatively clear sense of the number of projects that can be sustained in any given year based on projected enrollment, location, cost, etc. As a result, it may be that not all worthy projects will be approved. Generally speaking, the Subcommittee strives to approve approximately five projects per continent, all other factors being equal.

Diversity of education opportunities. An important consideration in establishing a roster of study and service projects is diversity of educational opportunities. Proposals with similar thematic or topical educational objectives will be scrutinized with caution. Diversity of location will certainly be considered when similar topics are proposed. The committee is careful to approve projects that will not compete with each other for the same pool of students. When interest is known to be high for a particular topic, exceptions can be made.

Diversity of costs. It is very important to have a good estimate of the cost of a project. The estimate will be published one month after the acceptance of a proposal and can often be a deciding factor for students as they weigh their options. The typical range of fixed cost to students for Winter Term is $1000-$2200 for domestic projects and $2800-$3500 for international projects.

• Fixed cost refers to the uniform amount charged to each student for group expenses such as lodging, airfare, transportation, guest lectures, some or all meals, events, entrance fees, and his/her portion of the professors’ expenses.
• Unfixed cost refer to the estimated amount of money that students will need to budget to pay for expenses not included in the fixed cost such as extra meals, souvenirs, books, passport/visa, etc.

Faculty members who propose projects above the upper end of this range should justify their plans with particular care. After approval is received, the Winter Term Office may advise faculty members to scale back their program activities or use other cost-saving mechanisms to bring the price down to an affordable and reasonable range for students.

Links to other academic year courses. The committee encourages off-campus study and/or service projects that have a strong intentional link to courses taught during the regular year. Extra student financial support funding will be made available to students who participate in linked course opportunities.

Diversity of faculty opportunity. The committee considers Winter Term study and service projects to be important faculty development opportunities, and encourages new faculty members, and faculty members who have never led a study project off-campus, to take advantage of this unique opportunity at DePauw. We do not believe that a faculty member should have a sense of “ownership” of a particular location. At the same time, faculty expertise is an important consideration, which is often demonstrated by previous experience in a specific project.

Faculty Winter Term obligations. There is always room for good proposals from faculty members without obligation. In general, priority will be given to faculty members with Winter Term obligations during a given academic year.