QUESTION: I’m starting work on my syllabi for the fall. Are there things I’m required to include?
ANSWER:
According to the ISU Policy web site, Faculty should provide students’ access
to a written syllabus (printed or electronic) in a timely fashion, normally on the first
day of class, for each course that they teach. The syllabus should include specific
course information, office hours and location (or other means of faculty availability
appropriate to the teaching assignment), objectives of the course, tentative assignment
and examination schedule, attendance and other course policies. Faculty members should
clearly explain to their students methods of evaluation for the final grade. Faculty
should reasonably adhere to the course syllabus and should announce and explain to the
class all changes to the syllabus as far in advance as possible.
Much of this is self explanatory, but a few items probably deserve some special consideration.
Course Objectives
Here at CTLT we see lots of course syllabi, and we‘re often surprised at the number
of syllabi that don’t include explicit statements of course objectives. As you‘re
developing your syllabi this fall, take a moment to make sure you‘ve included
this element. If you need help designing and articulating your objectives (sometimes
called learning outcomes), contact me or one of the CTLT Coordinators for an Instructional
Strategies Consultation. In addition, if you‘re teaching a General Education course,
be sure to visit the General Education website and use the convenient drop down menu
to find a complete list of the Gen Ed learning outcomes your course is designed to meet.
Course Policies
Among the other course policies you may want to include are policies regarding attendance
(see the December 2007 LINK for an Ask the CTLT Staff article about attendance policies),
classroom civility (see the Community Rights and Responsibilities website for recommended
language), policies regarding academic integrity (again, see the Community Rights
and Responsibilities for recommended language), and policies regarding students with
special needs (see the Office of Disability Concerns website for language).
Is Yours a “Promising Syllabus”? Even if you didn‘t have the opportunity to attend Dr. Ken Bain‘s Promising Syllabus workshop at the 2008 Teaching & Learning Symposium, you might want to consider whether or not yours is the kind of promising syllabus often designed by the best college teachers. According to Bain (in What the Best College Teachers Do), the promising syllabus includes three major parts. In the first part, the instructor lays out the promises or opportunities of the course (pp74-75). In the second part, the instructor explains what the students will do to realize those promises (p75). In the third part, the syllabus summarized how the instructor and the students would understand the nature and progress of the learning (p75).
None of these elements is unique to the promising syllabus. What does distinguish the promising syllabus from more traditional syllabi is its language and tone. As Bain notes, in the promising syllabus, the language of requirements gives way to the language of opportunities (p65). The promising syllabus invites rather than commands (p62).
Does Your Syllabus Reveal Your Passion for Your Discipline?
Whether you accept the notion of a promising syllabus or not, I would recommend that, once your syllabus is written, you put it away for a few days and then take it out and read it as if you were one of your own students. Does the syllabus convey the sense of excitement you feel when you talk to colleagues in your discipline? Or is that sense of excitement lost among a long list of things students will and will not do in your class? Your syllabus is an important part of your students’ first impression of your course. Why not do all you can to make that first impression a positive one?
