Syllabus

Description

One document - all answers. The syllabus is a course manual, providing complete and exact course information about organizational aspects, prerequisites, requirements, course goals, learning resources, assignment instructions, expectation rubrics and a grading scale.

Note
Use cases

For all courses (many universities require a syllabus for a course).

  • Courseware: Stud.IP's virtual Learning Environment helps you structure and organize the content and sections of your syllabus in a more appealing and easy-to-navigate way.
  • Syllabus template in Courseware This template gives you a general structure as well as a set of instructions and tips you can use to construct your syllabus.

The syllabus ties all links of your course together. The more precise you list the prerequisites, learning goals, your teaching approach and the resources, the more clarity you and your students will have during the semester. The most time consuming yet worthwhile parts of writing a syllabus are:

  • Clear learning goals (they help coming up with meaningful assignments)
  • Clear assignment instructions and expectations
  • Teaching mode / learning scenario (when will you meet in person, what should students prepare, how can students participate online, etc.)

Provide complete and exact information about:

  1. Course information: Meeting days, time and location, teaching mode, credits and prerequisites
  2. Instructor contact information: Sample text “I prefer communication via e-mail and expect you to check your e-mails at https://sogo.uni-osnabrueck.de/SOGo/ and NOT the messages in Stud.IP. Please make sure that your stud.IP messages are forwarded to your email address, so you don't miss our course announcements."
  3. Course description and schedule
  4. Learning resources, technology and texts
  5. Learning goals of your course
  6. Assignment information, due dates, instructions and grading rubric/ assessment criteria
  7. Grading scale

  • Use this template from Purdue OWL to fill in your course information. Use the prompts and complete the necessary sections including assignment instructions that clearly outline your expectations of the students' output.
  • Give complete and exact information by the start of the semester and always refer to the syllabus section in courseware/ PDF (provide both, a syllabus PDF and a courseware integration of the syllabus).
  • Consider adding some words about:
    • Handling incompletes or late work (less for interaction)
    • Course logistics (less for interaction but organization)