Course Syllabus

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What is a Syllabus?

A syllabus is an integral part of your course as it lays out clear expectations for students. Beyond that, a review of the literature reveals eight broad purposes for the use of syllabi in higher education (Fink, 2012):

  • as a communication mechanism;
  • as a planning tool for instructors;
  • as a course plan for students;
  • as a teaching or pedagogical tool (resource for student learning);
  • as an artifact for teacher evaluations/record-keeping tool;
  • as a contract of policies and procedures to be followed;
  • as a socialization process for students to the academic environment;
  • and a scholarship opportunity for instructors. 

Note to create syllabus before last day to withdrawal as part of UBC requirement ...

How Should I Prepare My Syllabus?

First of all, take time to review and consider the multiple purposes your syllabus can serve, and which purposes would best support your teaching approach (Fink, 2012).  Creating a syllabus involves reflecting on assumptions about your course content, your practice as an instructor, as well as assumptions about your students. Studies have indicated that what an instructor thinks students want to know and what students actually want to know tends to differ (Garavalia, Hummel, Wiley & Huitt, 1999; McDonald et al., 2010 as quoted in Fink, 2012). 

Overall, your course syllabus should provide all the details, resources, and actions that ensure students can be successful. Student want to know about how they will be assessed. Other things important from a student perspective include: the instructors contact information, what course materials are required, and the course outline and schedule. Including explanations to help students understand why they are taking a given course, how it relates to the curriculum, or wider community in general, can help to excite and engage the students. You can include additional learner support tools and resources that can better equip students to approach their learning. 

What Tone Should I Use?

There are a number of studies which indicate that using warm language and a personalized tone improves student experiences and outcomes. Your language should be clear, concise and jargon free to avoid misunderstandings or confusion. Using student-centred and inclusive language can foster a sense of community and belonging and reduce anxiety and stress. 

Keep in mind that your syllabus is the students first impression of you as an instructor and as a person. The use of humour or pop culture references can be a fun way to establish a light-hearted connection with your students and reveal your personality to help humanize the course. For example, during the COVID transition to remote teaching and learning the following video was trending on social media, and some instructors included it in their first Canvas announcement to online students.

Snoop Dogg Helps Professor Motivate Students to Read Class Syllabus Links to an external site. by NowThis Links to an external site.

In addition, the inclusion of current discourses, media or content which keeps the course relevant, fresh and customized for the current class demonstrates care for the students's learning experience.

How to Use the ETS Syllabus Template

To help faculty meet all the required components of the UBC Senate V-130: Content and Distribution of Course Syllabi policy, ETS has created a Download Syllabus Template.

  You can customize various sections and add additional information relevant to your course. The square brackets [ ] on the template pages indicate areas you should update with specific course information. Be sure to remove any placeholder content after you have added your information.

Integrating Your Syllabus into Canvas

The ETS starter template comes with a populated Syllabus page with anchor links that lead to the main components of your syllabus such as Course Description, Course Assessments, and Course Schedule. This can help students to navigate to sections of the syllabus quickly and easily, preventing additional scrolling through the document. There is also an area for you to embed your full Word or PDF course syllabus should you want to make it available to students. To learn how to embed your Word or PDF syllabus document, watch this How To Embed Files to Automatically Preview in Canvas Links to an external site. video. 

 

Non-Traditional Approaches

Reasons for non-traditional approaches i.e. inclusivity, critical pedagogies and decolonizing approaches ...

Visual

Using visual elements or infographics is one way to engage students. Keep in mind, images and charts used in your Canvas courses should be designed to be accessible - include alt tags, no text in images, good contrast ratio ...

Liquid Syllabus

Using a Liquid Syllabus is ...

Can I Co-Create a Syllabus With My Students?

Some courses (mostly higher level courses) lend themselves to the syllabus co-creation approach. This approach emphasizes the importance of student partners who contribute to learning and teaching (Lubicz-Nawrocka, 2019). Cook-Sather, Bovill, and Felten (2014, pp. 6-7) provide a valuable definition of student/staff partnerships in co-creating the curriculum as “a collaborative, reciprocal process through which all participants have the opportunity to contribute equally, although not necessarily in the same ways, to curricular or pedagogical conceptualization, decision making, implementation, investigation, or analysis”.  A helpful way to envision this is through a spectrum of engagement.

ladder of participation illustrating the spectrum of engagement in student co-creation of syllabi  

Ladder of participation in curriculum design (Bovill & Bulley, 2011 p.180)

Add note to submit according to UBC policy ...

References