A "Complete" Guide to Writing Syllabi: A Constant Cycle

playlist image — A "Complete" Guide to Writing Syllabi: A Constant Cycle

The syllabus in a college class serves as the first impression between a course and its students. It often wears many hats acting as: a schedule, list of rules, summary of course policies, semi-grading rubric, and various other roles depending on its author. Due to the heavy lifting it provides to a course and its structure a plethora of research has been conducted on its value, and Universities often hold seminars each year on the process of creating and drafting syllabi for their staff. To understand how students and instructors view the role of syllabi in the classroom authors Gauthier, Banner, And Winer attempt introduce a framework in their piece: “What is the syllabus for? Revealing tensions through a scoping review of syllabus uses”

In it, they identify nine interconnected uses which are then categorized into three primary purposes or tools: an Administrative Tool, a Learning Tool, and a Teaching Tool. The goal of this project is to take their writing and configure the information into a writing guide to help instructors write/develop/improve their own syllabi for their own courses. While this may appear as though this is designed as a developmental tool (because in part, it is), it is my goal that this project truly captures the necessity of treating the creation of syllabus as a fluid, recursive and reflective process. As we develop as instructors, and the student bodies we teach change through the times, so must our syllabi change with it.

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Authored by

Erik Flinn

Description

When you think of what information is contained in a syllabus, a lot of common responses include primarily administrative uses: Course topics, grade scale, instructor contact information, a schedule, as well as others. Essentially, viewing the syllabus administratively means outlining and defining the class structure and learning outcomes. The articles below begin by describing the relevant information a syllabus contains about course content and divides this by thinking about the syllabus in three different ways:

As a Permanent Record: Most general information described.
As a Representative of Planned Curriculum: Descriptions of the class structure, and the material that an instructor plans to cover.
As Documentation of Individual Teaching Competency: Sharing and describing the educator’s teaching style and values.

Description

This section of the guide is intended for those who have either:

Been working through this guide and completed the Administration Tool Section
or already have a functional syllabus and are looking to build on it

While considering the syllabus as an Administrative Tool, we focused primarily on making sure that it was a great repository of information. The reader of a syllabus at this point should have a good understanding of the topics covered by the course, class policies, course structure, and teaching style of the instructor. Some of those reading this guide may think that is all a syllabus needs to be and there isn’t any need to develop it further. However, it’s important to remember that the syllabus acts as a means of communication between the instructor and student, and as we mentioned earlier: A first impression. Therefore, it’s important to consider building on the base we’ve created and craft the syllabus into a Learning Tool.

This means making sure it is doing more than simply providing a clear explanation of the contents/purposes of the class. Instead, we can use the syllabus to communicate directly with students and begin the learning process. How to do so will be outlined in the three articles below:

Communication and Planning: Making your syllabus easy to navigate, communicating student expectations, providing an outline of a schedule for the course.

Establishing a Contract: Outlines course policies, grading criteria, and responsibilities for both students AND teachers, as well as consequences for violations.

Socializing Students: Making sure to build a welcoming environment and encouraging interaction and discussion between peers and faculty with students.

Description

At this stage of the process we understand that a syllabus is a multi-purposed tool, rather than a single use document. To this end, we established some basic scaffolding for our design and then building on that creation. Think of it as building a house: The construction of the syllabus as an administrative tool formed the exterior and developing it as a learning tool created our interior. Now it’s time to start decorating and find out what it means to see the syllabus as a Teaching Tool. We’ll add to our process:

Explanations on our Course Teaching: Ensuring objectives, methods, assessments are clearly communicated

Providing Training about Pedagogy: Evaluating whether your syllabus reflects up-to-date pedagogical practices.

Collaborating with Colleagues: Incorporating shared ideas, resources and best practices.

Description

Provided here are some pdfs I developed in partnership with the guide. Hopefully these can help reflect on the current state of syllabi and act as a way for people to "grade themselves" in regards to the various uses of the syllabus tool.