17 Planning Your Course

Course Framework

• Each class has 15 students or fewer.
  • Class caps are determined by individual facilities.
• Each class uses a Learning Management System (LMS) and a course reader to compile all course materials.
• Tutoring is a required component of all OBB classes. Tutors support students as they engage with the class content and act as guides to attending college classes in general.
  • OBB instruction includes using Google Docs to provide tutors with weekly class updates to help structure their conversations with students.

Key Dates

• In accordance with the UW-Madison academic calendar, OBB begins classes on the first Monday of the semester (holidays exempted)
• Classes typically meet one day a week.
• During the first class, students need to fill out forms to manually enroll into UW-Madison as a special student. They will also sign consent forms that allow us to share their writing materials.
• OBB celebrates students’ achievements in their last class. There will be visitors, usually the OBB team and institutional educational staff members, at the final class. In this session, students will typically tell stories or deliver commencement speeches before receiving certificates for their class participation.

Course Planning Timeline

2-3 months before the first class:

• • • Coordinate and finalize the day and time of your class in prison. Note that some institutions are only conducting education programs on specific days.
    • Finalize all reading materials for your class if you are teaching courses other than E100 and you need help compiling a course reader.
    • If you are teaching E100 and would like to add materials in addition to the reader, please propose these to the program manager.
    • Study training materials provided by OBB.

1 month before the first class:

• • • Schedule a check-in with OBB Academic Program Manager
    • Attend orientation meetings led by OBB.
    • Attend orientation meetings led by the DOC.
    • Finalize your syllabus and submit it to OBB and the respective departments.
    • Familiarize yourself with the LMS.

1 day before the first class:

Confirm that all course materials have been provided to students. The Program Director and Academic Program Manager will plan to have pre-semester orientations where these materials are distributed, but in some cases, we might ask instructors to bring materials into the classroom:

• • • Course reader
    • Notebooks
    • Pens
    • Student welcome packet
    • Student application and enrollment forms
    • Student consent forms
    • Welcome Oracle (for E100)
    • Pre-class survey (if available)

During the first class:

• • • Have students sign and return forms and surveys
    • Discuss grading policies
    • Discuss the purposes and importance of tutoring
    • Arrange tutoring schedules (see Classroom Dynamics)
    • Demonstrate the use of LMS (if available)

Throughout the semester

• • • Attend the required weekly instructors’ meeting to report and discuss class progression.
    • Maintain weekly communications with tutors via Google Doc.
      • Given the changes that often happen week to week in the classes and despite the focus on student-led tutoring sessions, it isn’t enough for tutors to have access to course materials without some instructor guidance. Please be sure to add info to the Google Doc about your class one day prior to the tutoring session.
    • Meet with the tutors a few times a semester. The tutor coordinator will help set up these meetings.
    • Coordinate with the OBB Academic Program Manager to accommodate visits from academic and financial advisors and others required by your course.
      • It is beneficial to arrange advising during Spring Break and/or during tutoring sessions so it does not take away from instructional class time. Alternatively, if you build individual conferences into your course, that would be a good day to also schedule advising sessions.
    • Respond to students’ messages in the LMS.
    • Provide timely feedback to students.
    • Administer mid- and post-class evaluations (if available).
    • For all classes involving research, coordinate and take part in research support for students. (This is a given in E100 classes; please notify the academic program manager if your class involves research.)
    • For E100 instructors, compile (and scan if necessary) students’ work for Oracle.

Additional E100-Specific Framework

• As OBB’s E100 class functions as the first jumpstart class for students in prison, the essential parts of the class include academic and financial advising, where advisors from UW-Madison facilitate a session on Zoom or in-person.
• For E100 classes, a session with a UW-Madison librarian is also compulsory. In addition, OBB also typically brings storytellers into the class toward the end of the semester for workshops.
• For E100 classes, the OBB team also typically produces The Oracle from students’ writing for in-class circulation. This can occur 2-3 times throughout the semester.