Syllabus—Teaching at a Glance University of Connecticut Institute for Teaching and Learning | Aug. 2014 Vol. 1 |
Weekly Teaching at a Glance: Does your Syllabus Make the Grade?
Use the following checklist to create a syllabus that your students will actually read and use:
- Provide contact information and office hours
- Present an overview of the course description, goals and objectives
- List required materials
- Describe the schedule, assignments, and assessments
- Clarify policies (including grading criteria) and expectations
Introduce the syllabus to your students on the first day of class. If necessary, show them how to read the syllabus; perhaps even conduct a group activity (e.g., a syllabus scavenger hunt) or quiz to ensure that students have read and understand all components of the syllabus.
Create a syllabus before the start of your course, and be sure to distribute it—perhaps by posting it on HuskyCT. But don’t stop there; continue to revise the syllabus, marking it up throughout the semester, to improve it for the next time you teach the course. Visit http://itl.uconn.edu/syllabus/ for templates and other syllabus-development details.
For more information, contact: Stacey Valliere at stacey.valliere@uconn.edu