Creating an Effective Course Syllabus: A Guide for NIU Faculty and Staff (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: I'm Janet Giesen, Instructional Design Coordinator of the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University. This presentation will provide NIU faculty and staff the basics of preparing a course syllabus including what to do before you design the syllabus and general items to include in the syllabus. An easy-to-follow checklist is also available to get you started. Before you actually develop your syllabus, you should plan for its contents and purpose. Begin by considering the purpose of a course syllabus. Think of a syllabus as a road map you and your students can follow as you navigate the course throughout the semester. The syllabus, then, is a primary source of information to guide your students throughout the semester and should carefully explain the course components. Most likely, your syllabus will be one of the first substantial means of communication between you and your students. The ultimate goal of a well-designed syllabus is to ensure students understand what is expected of them throughout the semester. Therefore, the syllabus should be easy to read, understand, and follow. Find out whether your department, school, and or college have policies which require specific information to be included on the syllabus. This might include policies on grading, attendance, makeup work, makeup exams, and information related to standards and accreditation or other requirements. If you are preparing a syllabus for a course which has multiple sections, check with your department chair to see what content, books, and other components should be consistently provided in all sections of the same course. If you are teaching a course for the first time, review the approved course proposal to adequately represent course goals, objectives, and content. Goals and learning objectives are the heart of your instruction and should be carefully written. Course goals and objectives represent what students should be able to do after successfully completing the course. They should be observable and measurable and be stated in terms of student outcomes. Plan activities, assignments, and outcomes, which help students achieve the goals and objectives. When planning assignments and class activities, consider listing with them which course goals and objectives will be achieved when these tasks are completed. By showing relevance of course requirements with related goals and objectives, students will better understand why they have been assigned. Select appropriate teaching methods, activities, assignments, and assessment strategies you plan to use throughout the semester and make sure they reflect the course goals and learning objectives. Also, consider ways to present course content in different ways, visual, auditory, and hands-on, to meet the varied learning preferences of your students. Consider including in the syllabus a teaching philosophy that conveys your enthusiasm for teaching and subject and respect for your students. Explain the importance and benefits of why students should take the course. Adding a positive and optimistic teaching philosophy statement to your syllabus can send an important message to your students of your love for the subject and that you are truly interested in student success in the course. Decide upon a grading system and check with your department chair if necessary to make sure it is consistent with departmental standards. Choose a grading system that is suitable for the course and communicates to your students your expectations about what is important and what you expect from them. Grading criteria can be made available in the form of rubrics and can increase objectivity when grading students' work. Adopt appropriate textbooks and resources and relate required reading to course goals, objectives, activities, and outcomes. Contact the bookstore for order deadlines and ask your department chair if certain books are required for the course. Many faculty provide a format that clearly lays out the course meeting dates, assignments, readings, exams, and due dates for each requirement, which can be very useful to help students plan for the semester. Course schedules also help faculty to stay on task, too. If you plan on developing a course calendar or schedule, refer to the NIU calendar to carefully sequence exams, quizzes, projects, and assignments to avoid overlapping due dates and other potential conflicts. Decide where you plan to put statements on students with disabilities and academic integrity. Some faculty place these statements toward the end of the syllabus. Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center has developed online tutorials, one for faculty and one for students, which can be useful in preparing an academic integrity statement and can be reviewed online at www.niu.edu forward slash AI. Now that you have planned the overall content of the syllabus, it's time to put it all together and develop it. You can customize your syllabus to match your subject and teaching style, and making it personal doesn't mean it shouldn't be organized and thorough. The order in which the sections are presented here follows many syllabus models, but it can be arranged to fit your own needs. Under course information, you should include the course designator and number, the section number, the title and credit hours of the course, the location of the classroom, the day or days and meeting times of the class, any related lab or recitation locations, the course website URL if you have one, and finally, the course description found in the course catalog. In the instructor information section, you want to include your name, your title, your office location and office hours, your telephone number, your email address, and other ways in which students can contact and interact with you. If you have a TA, you also want to include his or her name, the office location, phone number, email address, and office hours, and the role the TA plays in the course. Under course requirements, you want to list assignments, readings, exams, and describe the requirements for student successful completion of these activities. Samples of projects and assignments can be made available in your office, or be made available electronically. Under course assessment, you want to provide a list of standards and criteria for each graded course component, such as assignments, exams, and class participation, so students know your expectations. State how much each graded course activity will count toward the final course grade. Also include the course grading scale so students can keep track of their progress. State how students will be rewarded for effort and progress, and if you will allow extra credit. Indicate how these will be used toward a student's final grade. State specifically how final grades will be determined, and provide information such as whether you will weight letter grades, use accumulated points, or if you will grade on a curve. Under course resources, those which are required and recommended, provide full resource citation and addition number for textbooks and other course resources. State where students can purchase these resources, their cost, if known, and if using e-books or alternative sources is acceptable. Provide any course-related website and Blackboard link, if applicable. Provide information on support services, such as the Center for Accessibility Resources, the NIU Writing Center, any learning centers, and ways students can obtain peer tutoring. This last point is especially helpful for undergraduate students. Under course policies and accommodations, you should provide clear and succinct information on attendance, late arrivals and early departures, late work, missed quizzes and exams, and any make-up work policy. Also include information on use of copyrighted materials, individual and group work, and classroom comportment, such as mutual civility, respectfulness, use of cell phones or electronic devices, and eating and drinking in the classroom. Finally, list policies related to lab work, such as safety, human subjects, university property, and so on. In another section on your syllabus you might call Receiving Assistance, include a statement requesting that students with disabilities contact you regarding accommodation needs. The Center for Accessibility Resources, known as CAR, C-A-A-R, has a website, which is located at www.niu.edu forward slash C-A-A-R. Also you could include a statement that says something about how student success is important to you, and that any student who has a disability or any other special circumstance that may have some impact on their work in the class, and for which they might require special accommodations, to contact you early in the semester so that accommodations can be made in a timely manner. In a separate and prominent location of your syllabus, include statements on university plagiarism in conduct and discipline regulations. Both of these statements can be found in the NIU undergrad catalog in print form or online. Also, include the URL for the online tutorials on academic integrity. That URL is www.niu.edu forward slash A-I. If you plan to include course information in a calendar or schedule, provide a list of topics, textbook and other readings, assignments, examinations, special activities, and their respective due dates. Also include a statement that says the schedule is subject to change. Now let's talk about the overall appeal of the syllabus. Use headings, short sentences, outlines, lists, charts, and diagrams for organization and quick reference. Use welcoming and encouraging language in what you will do to help your students throughout the semester. Instead of completely filling the page with dense text, consider incorporating some open areas of blank space or even some content-related visuals. Highlight important information. Be neat. Avoid typos, incorrect dates, and other errors. After your syllabus has been created, you want to review the final copy for clarity and accuracy. Ask a colleague or your department chair to help you with this. Check assignments and exams against holidays and other events. Then file the syllabus with your department as a record of your course to be used for accreditation purposes and as a reference when students search for course information. We have created a checklist to help you plan your course syllabus based on the information in this quick tip. Click on the PDF icon on this slide to access the checklist. Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center provides handouts, checklists, as well as face-to-face workshops which can help you prepare an effective syllabus in greater detail. Visit the Faculty Development website for more information about these and upcoming programs and resources for NIU faculty and staff at www.facdev.niu.edu.