Syllabus

CREATING A SYLLABUS | |
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Writing a syllabus presents some challenges.  On the one hand, as the first communication with the students, the syllabus needs to convey the excitement and interest of the course, and give the students a sense of how this course will change them and why they might want to take it.  At the same time, the syllabus needs to lay out the bureaucratic ground rules ofthe course, and it should also carry some  materials that the students probably won't read but that will provide protection for the faculty member if there are problems or disputes in the future. The appearance of the syllabus is very important as well, and it should be carefully proofread. We offer a variety of sample syllabi that may inspire you. Our syllabus checklist gives you some ideas ofthings that might be included.Although the syllabus is a promise of what the course will be, TΦ101 has been told that a syllabus isnot a legal contract.  If necessary you may need to change policies and you should not feel bound to follow your course outline if it doesn't seem to be working out or if you want to take advantage of student interest to go in a different direction.  Discuss big changeswith your chair, and then notify the students.  It is also a good idea to describe the course schedule as "tentative" so that if you do make changes, you will not be violating what you promised. Getting Students to Read Your Syllabus:Of course, after you have written a wonderful syllabus you might ask yourself whether students will actually read it. The answer is that they often do not do so. Agood way to overcome this is to give a small written assignment on the syllabus itself.  For example, you might ask, which of your existing skills will help you most in this course, and which aspect of the course might you find most challenging?Syllabus Checklist: * Name of course, semester, date syllabus was written.  It is amazing how often documents are undated, and how much trouble that cancause. * Your name, basic contact information, and office hours. * General discussion of the course.  Ideally, this should communicate enthusiasm and excitement and give students some idea of what difference this course might make in their lives.  In other words, while your syllabus does need to contain most of the items below, you do not want to send the message that your students are nowtrapped in Weber's "iron cage" of rationality.  * Books and materials that students should buy, with publisher and ISBN numbers.  There are so many different editions out there, even from the same publisher, that having the ISBN number can help.  Some instructors list the books, while others include some narrative about each book, explaining what will be learned from it. * Assigned work. Papers, tests, final, journals, etc. * Grading rubrics.  What percentage of the grade will be assigned to each of these elements. * Policy on class participation, if class participation will be part of grade. * Course goals (see our earlier discussion of goals).  Goals should ideally be phrased in active terms, e.g. "You will learn to make and critique arguments." * Success strategies for howto do well in the course. * Course outline in terms of assignments and due dates.  Many faculty members now put detailed assignment information on the web through a course management software such as Blackboard or WebCTVista, but there should be some instructions about how to access this information.  * Course policies and expectations on the following.  You may not want to put all of thesepolicies in your syllabus, but you ought at least to have a policy for most of them.   TΦ101 has never been a fan of excessively stern policies and penalties, but consistency is a good idea especially for new faculty members.  Typical policies include:   * Expectations on classroom conduct and decorum (e.g. cell phones and computer usage).  Neil Williams has created a whole set of (rather...