The Scintillating Syllabus

What Does Best Practice ResearchTell Us About How to

Construct Effective Syllabi?

Warm Up: Why Syllabi?

Take five minutes to complete a brief journal

entry / brainstorm in response to the following

prompt: Why do you create and distribute a

syllabus for your classes?

I will ask you to share your ideas with the group.

Promise

Structure

SuccessGuide

Invitation

Syllabus

Invitation

To invite my students to share in the excitement of

my discipline: to offer guiding questions that will

frame our work in the course. How do cultural forces shape the lives of young Latinos in

America today? (Puente English 803)

How do competing versions of the California dream shape

our state’s politics and culture? (English 100)

How did a promised land--a new world--founded on

dreams of freedom, equality, and economic opportunity

descend into the horror of civil war? How has the culture

and literature of that emergent and divided nation shaped

who we are today? (American Literature)

Sample first page of syllabus

Students invited to join an intellectual quest

Guiding Questions Presented

Promise

To make promises to the students about what they

will be able to do when they have completed this

course and how their progress toward those

outcomes / objectives will be assessed.

Outcomes / Objectives

Assessment

Objectives / Outcomes

Two Sources Your expertise

Course Outline of Record

Why are students taking this course: what will

they leave the class able to do?

Invitation leads to Promises

What will students be able to do at the end of this class?

Knowledge, yes, but also “outcomes” or skills

Evaluate the following assessment policy? How would you modify it?

Grading Policy

Students will be graded on a percentage scale as follows:

A = 90-100%

B = 80-89%

C = 70-79%

D = 60-69%

F = 59 and below%

Assessment: Key Elements

Types of assignments and

weight of those

assignment

Rubrics / Criteria /

Methodologies

Make up, revision, or

dropping low grade policy

Submission requirements

Late work policy

VP’s and Deans

Room for students to

recover from mistakes--

retention?

Clear, detailed

Live by your policies

Imagine an administrator

dealing with a complaint

about your grading--does

your syllabus make that

Dean’s job easy?

Assessment linked to outcomes and course goals.

Types and weight of assignments provided

Policies emphasize where student is at the end of the course, leaving room for growth.

A Success Guide

Provide study

skills and success

strategies

guidance

A Learner-Centered Syllabus Might…

A Learner-Centered Syllabus Might…

Provide a sense of the class structure.

A Learner Centered Syllabus Might…

Connect students to other campus resources

require students to see a counselor to update their ed

plans)

Consider an “hours by arrangement” model that requires

students to invest a certain number of hours using

campus resources

Include information about an optional class field

trips or service learning activity

Structure

To keep myself, the students, and the class

organized and focused during the semester. Calendar

Communication Tools

Classroom Guidelines

Attendance Policies

Communication

Course Title and # Classroom #’s Your Name Phone Email Web Tips and Expectations

Classroom Guidelines: Key Elements

Be clear about your

concerns and “pet

peeves”

Involve students if

you can

Keep posted in classroom (or in student binders, etc.)

Discuss / Explain

Use positive assertions when possible

Evaluate the following attendance policy? How would you modify it?

Attendance Policy

Committing the necessary amount of time to succeed in this course begins with attending class. If you are not attending class, you cannot learn from our classroom community, and I cannot effectively evaluate your progress. For this reason, I reserve the right to drop a student who misses six hours of class or more.

I give a quiz at the beginning of each class meeting. Students who arrive after the quiz begins may not participate in or make up the quiz.

If you are absent from class, send me an email summarizing what we covered in class and including a one paragraph reflection on the reading.

Attendance Policy: Key Elements

Why Should Students

Attend Class?

Make up options?

Documentation

Positive vs punitive

Grades and attendance

Clarity and consistency

Hot Spots to Check For Does your syllabus generate excitement about or interest in your

class? Does your syllabus communicate who you are and what you

believe as an educator to you, your students, your colleagues, and campus administrators?

Are all your assessment policies actually in the syllabus (ex. Do students need to complete all major projects and final to pass the course?)

Is your assessment clear and detailed? Can a student easily calculate or find her grade at any point in the course? Could a campus administrator easily understand and defend your policy and practice? Does your grading policy leave students some room to grow and develop? In other words, does it encourage retention without lowering expectations?

Have you communicated your expectations of and pet peeves about classroom behavior to students in some written form?

Do you have the most recent and official disability language in your syllabus?