SYLLABUS DEVELOPMENT
The links below will take you to various resources that may assist you in developing your course syllabus. If you have specific questions regarding master syllabi you can go the College of Education Web Site and view various master syllabi from the different departments.
Center of Teaching Effectiveness at the University of Minnesota
-In their welcoming statement the authors state that a syllabus is a document that should bring students and faculty members together in the sense that a syllabus is a showcase of how well faculty manages to communicate the material, their interest in it and in the students' intellectual struggles. Students in return should be enticed to become more involved in the courses.
Reviewed by Iris Busch
http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/syllabus/index.html
Penn State University 's Syllabus Writing
-This is a very useful web site to consult when designing a syllabus for the following reasons:
1) It enumerates important factors for designing a syllabus. For that reason, it is very good for those people who do not have any or enough knowledge of designing a syllabus.
2) With the information of the necessary factors for the syllabus, this web site makes us think about what we should consider to organize these factors, such as how to select materials, what to consider when thinking about assignments, etc.
3) This web site offers specific and practical examples for each factor such as course description, course objectives, course schedule etc.
4) In addition, it offers other extra information such as classroom assessment techniques, technologies for teaching and learning, and management and assessment tools.
5) It is easy to access the items that we want to know.
Reviewed by Myengju Ahn
https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/public/atb3/syllabustemplate/syllabus.html
Syllabus Handbook: Brown University
This web site is a great resource to use to help design any kind of syllabus. First it gives the reader an explanation of the importance of designing a syllabus. It discusses how a well-written syllabus enhances student learning and helps students make appropriate course selections. Next the viewer has a chance to explore some sample syllabi from four different areas. They can look at a syllabus in the area of Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Life Sciences. At the end of each of those syllabi there are some questions that evaluate the effectiveness of each of those syllabi. At this point the viewer is ready to design his or her own syllabus. This web site has a template on it to help organize the information that should be on any syllabus.
Reviewed by Christine DeSantis
http://sheridan-center.stg.brown.edu/publications/SyllabusHandbook/
Syllabus Design: Stanford University
This is site offers: suggested steps for planning your syllabus, suggested principles for designing a course that fosters critical thinking, what type of role the syllabus plays, and what is needed to design a learning-centered syllabus. This site also offers a small passage written by William H. Johnson Jr. about inserting learning objectives into a syllabus. Some other perks to this site are: electronic syllabus templates, a link to additional hints when designing a syllabus, and various titles of books, which would help, assist when designing a syllabus.
Reviewed by Chantel M. Dreher
http://ctl.stanford.edu/teach/handbook/design.html
Designing a Learning Centered Syllabus: Michigan
This site provides a better understanding to what a syllabus represents and gives an extensive outline of its major components. Sample syllabi and course web sites are possible links from this site as well as numerous online resources for understanding and creating both paper and electronic syllabi.
Reviewed by Melissa M. Probst
http://www.emich.edu/public/fcie/syllabus/index.htm
Adams Center for Teaching Excellence
The checklist is very thorough and has the most important elements listed. Another even better characteristic about the web site is that the checklist has links about each of the components.
Reviewed by Tina George
http://www.acu.edu/academics/adamscenter/resources/coursedev/syllabus.html
Title: The Effects of Online Syllabus Interactivity on Students' Perception of the Course and Instructor
Examines whether level of interactivity in an online syllabus influences students' first impressions of course and instructor. Participants viewed identical syllabi , differing only in number and relationship of hyperlinks. The independent variable, interactivity, had three ordinal levels: web site with no links (low interactivity), web site with three linearly sequenced links (medium interactivity), and web site with three links, each hierarchically related to three further links (high interactivity).
Title: The Purposes of a Syllabus
Discusses the roles of syllabi and the corresponding implications for syllabus content. Concept of the term syllabus; Fundamental aspects of syllabi; Comparison between the scope of syllabi in introductory or foundations courses and in advanced seminars; Implications for the use of syllabus as a contract; Reasons for the significance of a syllabus as a permanent record.
Title: Twenty-First Century College Syllabi : Options for Online Communication and Interactivity.
Examines Web-based syllabi of current college courses offered in schools of education through an examination of syllabi on the Web site of the World Lecture Hall. Discusses forms of communication and interactivity; the influence of instructors; the influence of students; and the influence of practitioners and experts.
Title: The Syllabus as a Tool for Student-Centered Learning.
Describes a study conducted at Oakland University (Michigan) to examine the degree to which syllabi in general education classes reference general education guidelines. Finds that knowledge transmission was primary in syllabi , whereas skills and attitude development were less emphasized. Proposes that syllabi can be used better by promoting the implicit contract and defining expectations for instructor and student.
Writing a Syllabus
By Howard B. Altman, University of Louisville and William E. Cashin, Kansas State University
Syllabus Design for and Online Course
Online Instruction
Dr. Margaret Fieweger, Associate VP of Undergraduate Studies
Click here to visit second web site.