How to propose and run a module through IATL

IATL is able to offer a home for interdisciplinary modules that range across faculties, and welcomes proposals. The kind of interdisciplinary work we seek to promote has the potential to provide our students with the essential skills, and insights, that will equip them to face a world in which the problems they face will be increasingly complex and multi-faceted.

We welcome proposals from all University departments and from any individual from postgraduate tutor to professor. Module proposals will be considered by an IATL committee and, if approved, will be administered by us. These modules are designed, above all, to be cross-faculty, so any proposal should reflect the potential of the module to attract students from the Faculties of Arts, Science and Social Sciences.

All you need to do is:

1. Visit us to discuss your idea.
2. Submit a module proposal to IATL (IATL at warwick dot ac dot uk).
3. Work with IATL to set up and publicise the module.

Guidelines and timetable

1. Autumn of the academic year: discuss the module proposal with IATL and your home department.
2. Draft a module approval form – available on the Teaching Quality website.
3. December: finalise and sign module approval form and send to IATL. The deadline for proposals for 2019-20 is 7 January 2019.
4. Mid-January: IATL module approval panel meets. The panel may approve the module immediately or ask for changes/clarification.
5. Further information on the module approval process is available in the  IATL Interdisciplinary Module Guidance for Module Convenors and Tutors.

Once the module is approved, IATL will take care of the admin process: reporting to faculty sub-committees and contacting Management Information and Planning.

Your module should be registered on SITS by the end of the Easter vacation, ready for students to register for the coming academic year.
Your module will begin 'IL' and is then numbered chronologically, regardless of level (e.g. IL001, etc).

FAQs

Do I have to get approval from my HoD?
Yes. Negotiating time/buy out is a matter for the individual tutor to discuss with their department.

We recommend you discuss this with your department. However, in 2014, AQSC endorsed a recommendation from the Board of Undergraduate Studies that encourages departments to award staff wishing to teach on interdisciplinary modules appropriate departmental teaching credit.

What admin will this involve me in?
About the same as you might expect from a module in your own department. You will have the responsibilities of a module convenor, but IATL will handle everything else including student registration, room bookings, liaison with departments and registry, and general information for students. See the IATL Interdisciplinary Module Guidance for Module Convenors and Tutors document above for more information.

Have these modules been formally approved by the University?
Yes, once modules have passed through IATL's approval committee, they have the same status as a module approved by any other department.

Is it possible to propose 'M' level modules?
Yes: IATL currently accepts proposals either for honours-level undergraduate modules (i.e. second-year or above) and M-level (Masters) modules.

Does IATL have exam boards and external examiners for these modules?
Yes. We have an external examiner who looks at samples of work from all of our interdisciplinary modules. We then have an exam board where we confirm module marks before reporting the marks to the students' home departments.

Do I have to follow the structure in the existing modules of 'oversight' combined with weekly slots from 'guest' academics?
No, this is merely one way we have found that works. Feel free to propose any structure you like.