Syllabus 101

Author: Amanda Leary

Syllabi are often the first introduction students have to an instructor, subject, or even an entire field of study. That first impression is an important factor in whether or not students stay in a course and sets the tone for student-faculty relationships. We often think of syllabi as contracts that lay out explicit responsibilities of both students and instructors—what we will teach and what students will do to earn a good grade—or as an organizational document that outlines the course requirements including due dates, readings, and exam schedules. Yet it is possible to regard the syllabus both as a learning tool and as a student-serving document—as “invitations into rich, meaningful, and supportive learning experiences” that improve student motivation, enhance equity, and build inclusive communities in which all students belong (Palmer et al., 2016). Whatever your approach, each element of a syllabus is an opportunity to promote student learning.

Effective, comprehensive syllabi serve several functions:

• Create community and outline membership in it (Addy et. al., 2021)
• Set the tone for the course (Woolcock, 2003)
• Provide information about how learning will take place (Parkes and Harris, 2002)

Getting Started

If you’re getting ready for a course you’ve taught before, use our syllabus review checklist to gauge how student-centered your current syllabus is.

If you’ve never taught before or you’re designing a new course, check with your department to see if there is a template you might adapt. While Notre Dame doesn’t have an official syllabus template, we recommend including the following elements:

• Contact information: what you prefer to be called, email, office location, and office hours
• Course logistics: title, description, meeting pattern and location, policies, required materials
• Course details: learning goals, assignment descriptions, grading scheme, course calendar
• Campus resources: Sara Bea Accessibility Services, Writing Center, Hesburgh Library, McDonald Center for Student Well-Being (McWell)

Let’s break down these elements.

Contact Information

According to a 2022 study, students rated instructor contact information as the second-most important item in a syllabus, following only course due dates and deadlines (Pham and Halpin). Your syllabus is an opportunity to communicate to your students who you are as an instructor, so take time to introduce yourself. Let students know what you prefer to be called, whether Dr., Professor, or by your first name. Adding this transparency into your syllabus clarifies expectations for students and begins to foster a relationship. If you’re comfortable doing so, you may also share your pronouns. Along with your email address and office hours, we suggest offering guidance for students on how to engage with you through those platforms, such as how quickly students can expect an email response or what kinds of things they can talk about during office hours.

Course Logistics

Course Description

The course description is an opportunity to foreshadow the specifics of what your course will cover—whether genres, methodologies, time periods, theories, etc.—beyond just the catalog description. Consider the following examples:

From the course catalog: The fundamental structures of organic molecules and the spectroscopic methods used to define them are studied. A comprehensive understanding of the reactions and properties of organic molecules (from kinetic, thermodynamic, and mechanistic viewpoints) is developed and applied to the synthesis of organic compounds and to an appreciation of nature’s important molecules.

Revised for the syllabus: From the medicines we take to the food we eat, organic molecules are everywhere. In this course, we will explore the fundamental building blocks of organic chemistry and the spectroscopic techniques used to reveal their intricate details. We will cover the reactions and properties of organic compounds, understanding them from kinetic, thermodynamic, and mechanistic perspectives.

Through hands-on activities and real-world applications, you'll learn to synthesize complex organic compounds and gain a newfound appreciation for nature’s most important molecules. Whether you're interested in pharmaceuticals, materials science, or biological systems, this course offers the tools and insights you need to excel in the diverse and dynamic field of organic chemistry.

The second description uses several techniques to engage students:

• An opening hook to pique interest and establish the importance of the course
• Personal language (we, you) creates community and brings students into the course
• The description connects course content to broader, real-world applications

Course Policies

Clearly and transparently stating your course policies sets clear expectations, reduces ambiguity, and creates accountability for you and for students. Your policies are also an opportunity to reflect on your approach to teaching and learning and signal the kind of teaching students can expect. We recommend using personal language (“you” instead of “students”) and building in appropriate flexibility where possible. Policies you may want to include are:

• Attendance
• Late work
• Participation
• Technology use
• Academic integrity
• Generative AI
• Classroom environment/civility

Though not policies, you may want to include statements in your syllabus that reflect your commitments to inclusivity and student support. Some of these statements may be required by your department:

• Accessibility
• Title IX
• Student well-being
• Diversity and inclusion

Our resource library contains sample syllabus policy language for several of these types of policies.

Course Details

Learning Goals

Having clear learning goals listed in your syllabus has benefits for you and for students. They:

• Identify the most important skills, knowledge, and abilities students will develop
• Keep the course focused
• Form the basis for designing assessments and course activities
• Add transparency for students
• Improve student motivation and performance
• Decrease time spent responding to student work.

Learning goals should describe the specific knowledge and skills students will be working toward in the course using concrete verbs. Two helpful frameworks for identifying appropriate verbs are Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives, which is organized into six hierarchical categories of work students will be doing, and Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of the different kinds of learning students will do.

As you are developing your learning goals, keep in mind how you will assess them. Course assessments and activities should be clearly aligned with the goals of your course and provide students an opportunity to demonstrate progress toward a goal.

Grading + Assessments

Provide a high-level description of the major assessments you will use in your course (remember, they should be aligned with your goals!). Doing so will give students a clear understanding of the workload, reducing anxiety and offering students guidance on how to manage their time throughout the semester. These do not need to be full descriptions; you can provide more information separately as assignments draw closer. Apply the transparent assignment design framework to clearly articulate the assignment’s purpose, task, and criteria.

Describing your grading schema helps students see how their work will be evaluated and how their grade will be determined. Understanding how their effort is turned into a grade can improve motivation, reduce grade disputes, and allow students agency in determining how to distribute their effort. Especially if you use a non-traditional grading scheme (e.g., contract grading, ungrading, specifications grading, etc.), describing your approach and philosophy in your syllabus increases transparency.

Consider and communicate whether:

• There is a “curve” in the course
• TAs will be grading (and how regrade requests will be handled)
• Students can drop their lowest grade, revise and resubmit an assignment, or retake quizzes and exams

What to Do With Your Syllabus

Once you’ve created your syllabus, consider how you want to distribute and engage with it. If you envision your syllabus as a living document that will undergo changes in content, dates, or policies throughout the semester, consider sharing it as a Google Doc or similar digital artifact. You can also print your syllabus and distribute paper copies to go over with students. Either way, it should be posted in Canvas and readily accessible to students for the entire semester.

To promote students’ engagement with the syllabus, consider using an activity that asks students to work directly with it, whether a group syllabus review or syllabus annotation, syllabus quiz, or syllabus scavenger hunt.

We are available to help at any point in this process; come into the Kaneb Center for a syllabus consultation or sign up for a syllabus review through the short-term Inclusive Pedagogy Partnership to get feedback from a student.