Syllabus Resources

The syllabus, whether paper, electronic, or both, is an extremely central element of a course. It should be:

• Welcoming
• Learning-focused rather than content-focused
• Marketing: overall goals, generic resume items; outcomes for students
• Contract: attendance policy, religious holidays
• Schedule of topics and assignments: often kept as a reference
• Grading policies: weighting of assignments, group work, late submission, extra credit
• Expectations: you of them, (behavior, participation, honesty) what you promise (promptness, availability, assistance)
• Resources for them: Writing Center, Office for Academic Support Services for Students with Disabilities, Librarians, etc. See Quick Links at right.

Resources for faculty:

• Your department chairperson and school associate dean are excellent resources. The associate deans know the policies and strategies for avoiding common difficulties.
• "The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach" by Judith Grunert, (Anker Publishing Company, 1997) was included in the orientation packet for new faculty in recent years. Copies are available from Susanne Morgan.

Online resources from other campuses with quick links at right:

• The Center for Academic Excellence at Illinois State University includes an outstanding collection of Teaching Tips and a syllabus checklist.
• The IDEA Papers series includes many useful papers, including a 3-page guide on the Course Syllabus.
• The Teaching Goals Inventory is now online through the University of Iowa and can help sharpen our thinking about our courses.
• Brown University's Sheridan Center provides online tutorials for syllabus construction for their own faculty
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