Medical College of Wisconsin Graduate School Faculty Resources & Tools

Graduate course credit is calculated according to the following mechanism:

Each 18 hours of lecture, reading course presentations and other online materials, incorporating instructor feedback, engaging in online discussions/dialogue, interactive tutorials, or computer-assisted instruction and assessments = one (1) credit hour

Each 36 hours of laboratory, conference, demonstrations, clinical conference, other course activities = one (1) credit hour

Ninety (90)non-contact credit hours conducting research, writing papers or other assignments, completing projects,= one (1) credit hour*

*This policy may only be used for new course proposals beginning with the courses approved at the September 13, 1996 GSC meeting. It cannot be chosen for use in existing courses unless approved by the Graduate Studies Council upon recommendation by the Curriculum and Programs Committee. (Approved 12/09/1996 GSC)

Internet-Web Based Courses:

Definition: An Internet-web based course is any course in which student may complete more than 50% of the requirements through internet access to the course website.

Equivalence: Courses taught in the web-based format must be equivalent to the same course(s) taught in the traditional, face to face format.

During the planning and development of an asynchronous course, faculty should estimate the time a typical student will take interacting with the course content not limited to reading course presentations and other materials, participation in online discussions, conducting research, writing papers or other assignments; taking exams, interactive tutorials, or computer-assisted instruction; engagement with the instructor regarding course content, and completing other assignments or projects. The total time spent on these activities in an online course is equivalent to time spent on comparable activities in a face-to-face, traditional course.

As is the case with traditional, face to face courses, online course syllabi should provide evidence of compliance with the “Course Credit Calculations” (see above).

All proposals for new and altered graduate programs and courses must be prepared according to guidelines developed by the Graduate Studies Council. These proposals are reviewed by the Director of Enrollment and forwarded to the Curriculum and Programs Committee for evaluation. This evaluation concludes in a recommendation for approval, approval with changes, or disapproval. The Committee's recommendation is then discussed and acted upon by the Graduate Studies Council. Frequently, the course or program director is interviewed by the Council as part of the review process. All new or altered graduate programs and courses must be submitted to the Graduate School no later than November 1 to allow adequate review time to meet the Office of the Registrar February 1 deadline for approval in the following academic year.

• New Course Proposal (PDF)
• New Graduate Certificate Program (PDF)
• New Graduate Program (PDF)
• Change in Title, Content or Credit Hours (PDF)

An MCW-wide training grant support initiative has been jointly launched by the Graduate School and Cancer Center to help support PIs who are submitting training grants. Longitudinal databases tracking trainee and faculty/mentor information have been built and are continuing to be developed. These databases will contain information needed for the preparation of data tables that are required for (NIH) training grant applications.

These training grant support services do assist with:

• Providing information for data tables for new applications
• Providing information for renewal of an existing training grant
• Institutional resources boilerplate components and template language
• Providing faculty biosketches if available in the database

These training grant support services do not assist with:

• Drafting and polishing the body of the grant
• Submission of the grant

For those seeking data for a new training grant application or renewal application, please email traininggrantapplicationsupport@mcw.edu with your request or question.