Online Syllabus Example Language

SYLLABUS REQUIREMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS for ONLINE

The syllabus is the entry into your course and the first thing your students engage with in regard to learning about the topics presented in your course. Therefore, it is a great opportunity to make your syllabus represent your teaching philosophy and set the stage for the learning community you wish to create in your course. The Social Work Department has created a module in Canvas Commons that you can use as a guide for sample language. Search under the Canvas Commons for BSSW or MSW Syllabus and it should come up. Feel free to copy and paste any of the areas in that module!

Though there are some required pieces to the syllabus, you have freedom to create it in a way that engages your students and sets the playing field for your time together. Some instructors do a syllabus and schedule quiz online to make sure the students have read the syllabus and schedule, giving opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification! It is recommended that you have specific syllabus for the different delivery options that your course is offered (e.g., online, campus, hybrid, summer).

Below are department and College of Professional Studies guidelines and online recommendations for syllabus creation. In addition, there are resources provided that address HTML editing and general syllabus information.

Required Syllabus Elements:

  • Name and Number of Course
  • Semester Date
  • Instructor Contact Information
  • Instructor Office Hours
  • Required Books
  • Required Technology
  • Course Description
  • Course Objectives
  • Course Outline
  • Required Assignments: Expectations around and description of assignments, how to turn them in, instructor late policy, online discussion expectations and examples, etc.
  • Course Grading Policy
  • Citation Information: APA requirements and resources
  • Policies (Privacy Policies of Course Tools; Accessibility of Course Technologies, Social Work Department Guidelines; General University, Academic Policies and Support Services; Institutional Accessibility Policies; ADA Syllabus Statement)

The HTML Syllabus Templates (as part of the Canvas Blueprint) include the above required syllabus elements and also include the following optional elements. Though optional, these elements are really helpful for students to understand your expectations, especially in regard to online and hybrid courses as many students are new to online and/or new to social work courses online.

  • Response time and assessments/assignment feedback: Provide information about the response feedback to emails, discussion postings, projects, papers, and when feedback on assignments and assignments would be expected. Best practice in online education is to give timely feedback within the week. Due to the online environment, students are invested in their assignments and respond when feedback is provided quickly. In addition, targeted and brief feedback is best with more general or summary comments to the whole class.
  • Practice Opportunities and Feedback: Describe the type of practice opportunities in the course and how the students will receive feedback. For example: self-check quizzes with built-in feedback, sample writing assignments, etc. Also, let students know where they can take risks in your course and practice their new skills. For example, if you are having a conversation in a discussion group, encourage students to share a contrary opinion and respond to each other. By letting them know it is “practice” this will help them take risk and practice their skills.
  • Learning Interactions: Describe the opportunities for learning interactions in the course. What are some of the activities for learner-learner (group discussions, course blog), learner-instructor (project, paper, assignment), and learner-content interaction. Talk about what type of community you would like to create and what role the students play in this process.
  • Netiquette Expectations: This section addresses how you hope students interact with you and one another in email, discussion group, in video, or in live online meetings. Encourage students to greet one another and sign their names when making posts or commenting. Discuss when they are on video what image they want to present (i.e., shirtless surfer, crazy cat lady, backlit anonymous head, etc.)
  • Communication Expectations: Share with the students how you want to communicate with them and how they can communicate with you. You can share that you prefer email, discussion boards, or any mode of communication that works best for you. You can also share here about your expectation that they check into Canvas 3 times a week and respond to their campus email.

Recommended Syllabus Format

  • It is recommended to use the Blueprint format that is part of Canvas for your syllabus.

Other syllabus formatting options that are up to the instructor:

  • Some instructors have the course schedule in the syllabus and some put it only in a separate document
  • Some instructors include text about each policy and others put in links that the students can refer to.
  • A great syllabus resource is : http://ctl.yale.edu/SyllabusDesign

Syllabus Language Specific to Online & Hybrid Courses

This is a link to our sample syllabus language in Canvas Commons.

Other optional language to consider:

Online Education in Social Work: In this course we will be discussing many different social work topics grounded in our ethics and values. Sometimes our conversations will be difficult. This often poses barriers for online students as we have not been taught how to have constructive conversations online and current online culture reinforces anonymous, attacking, uninformed, reactive communication. Without being able to see body language, have immediate back and forth conversation or clarification, and space to listen                                  are words and intentions can often be misinterpreted. Knowing these challenges are present, it is encouraged that you are overly intentional with your communication and assume good intent of your peers and instructors. It is also essential that you clarify and ask questions ASAP to help address microagressions, miscommunications, misunderstandings or other undesired communication.

Plan ahead: Plan ahead when you are working online as problems do occur. Issues with submitting on Canvas, attaching documents, uploading videos, and dropped internet are just a couple of the issues that may arise. Plan that these WILL happen and then you will be prepared! Reach out immediately to IT and then your professor when you experience issues like you would in any job when barriers arise.

Time Management: Make sure you understand when assignments and activities are due in each of your courses. Online courses often have multiple due dates for discussion groups and assignments and it is essential that you meet these deadlines to create a quality experience and also for you to earn all your potential points.  Make sure to read the syllabus and schedule and ask for clarification from the instructor if you have questions!

Intentional Image: You have already created an online presence through the use of social media and other online presence. Research your online image and see if it is what you want to portray. In your course you will also have an “online image” that people create through your posts and videos. Make sure that you are intentional in your communication so your image matches with how you want to be portrayed.

Good Tips on you Syllabus & Course Policies

January 10, 2018 As You’re Preparing the Syllabus . . .By Maryellen Weimer, PhD

The “find and replace” feature in Word quickly makes an old syllabus ready for a new course. Use it too many times and thinking about the course settles into a comfortable rut. Yes, we may change more than just the dates, but when was the last time we considered something beyond what needs to go on the syllabus? The literature answers that question with a few definitive conclusions and a host of possibilities. Here are some thoughts, offered with just a bit of provocation, in the hopes they might reenergize our thinking about the syllabus and what it can accomplish in the course, for students and for the teacher.

Tone matters as much as content. On most syllabi the tone is professional, impersonal, directive, often more negative than positive and more accusatory than encouraging. It’s language that accomplishes two objectives: it clarifies expectations and establishes who’s in charge. Most syllabi would not be described as friendly invitations to exciting learning adventures.

Does the tone matter? Is a more positive tone preferred?

Harnish and Bridges (2011) created two versions of a syllabus that contained the same content, but one was written in a cold tone, the other in a warm one. There are examples of each in the article. “Our results revealed that a syllabus written in a friendly tone had a significant impact on how the instructor was perceived.” (p. 326) Richmond, et. al. (2016) used learner-centered and teacher-center syllabi in their research (characteristics of each appear in Table 1, p. 4). “Student perceptions of [hypothetical] faculty using a learner-centered syllabus were markedly more positive; they rated faculty as creative, caring, happy, receptive, reliable and enthusiastic as well as having more student engagement in their class than faculty using a teacher-centered syllabus.” (p. 1)

Downsize policies. Yes, this is the provocative part but there are two issues here that merit some mulling over. First, policy creep, defined as the addition and retention of a policy that prohibits something bad that happened once, affects many syllabi. What’s the ratio between what the syllabus decrees students shouldn’t do and what it proposes they should do? Rules are fine but a plethora of prohibitions dampen the motivation to learn.

Second, an instructor’s credibility suffers if the syllabus contains a policy that can’t or won’t be enforced. Cell phone policies are a great example. There’s lots of research documenting that better than 90% of students are using their phones in class, even in courses with a policy that prohibits their use (see Clayson and Haley, 2013, for example). Students also report that if the instructor asks them to stop using the phone they will, at that time, but will continue to use the phone in that and other courses. The distracting use of cell phones is a problem, but it’s not being prevented by most policies and that implicates the professor.

Think more like a map and less like a contract. The contract syllabus makes clear what the student is obligated to provide. Does it also list what the professor will provide? Do students get to offer any input? Do they have any recourse? How effectively do contracts motivate learning? Most aren’t very fun to read or easy to understand. Maps, on the other hand, show the way—how to get to where you’re going. Usually there’s more than one route. Maps are helpful, full of all kinds of useful information. If you’re lost, confused, and need directions, you’ll do much better with a map than a contract.

The syllabus can make you a better teacher. Here’s a couple of ways the syllabus can benefit teaching. It’s an artifact that allows the teacher to step back and take a look at the course. There it is, all together in one place. How does it look? Interesting? Cohesive? How well does it all hang together? Where does it start and end? And then there’s useful feedback to be had if questions are asked about the syllabus. Share it with a colleague and ask what he or she would conclude about the course and instructor if all they had to go on was the syllabus. Better yet, ask students.

References:

Harnish, R. and Bridges, K. R. (2011). Effect of syllabus tone: students’ perceptions of instructor and course. Social Psychology Education, 14, 319-330.

Richmond, A., Slattery, J., Mitchell, N., Morgan, R. and Becknell, J. (2016). Can a learner-centered syllabus change students’ perceptions of student-professor rapport and master teacher behaviors. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 2(3), 159-168

Clayson, D. and Haley, D. (2013). An introduction to multitasking and texting: Prevalence and impact on grades and GPA in marketing classes. Journal of Marketing Education, 35 (1), 26-40.

Examining Our Course Policies

By Maryellen Weimer, PhD

Recent pedagogical interests have me wading through research on multi-tasking and revisiting what’s happening with cheating. In both cases, most of us have policies that prohibit, or in the case of electronic devices, curtail the activity. Evidence of the ineffectiveness of policies in both areas is pretty overwhelming. Lots of students are cheating and using phones in class. Thinking about it, I’m not sure other common policies such as those on attendance, deadlines, and participation are all that stunningly successful either. I’m wondering why and guessing there’s a whole constellation of reasons.

I hear you: your policies do work. I’m still going to gently point out that given the number of students reporting that they engage in prohibited activities, somebody’s policies aren’t getting the job done. Could faculty in general be overestimating policy effectiveness? I don’t know. It’s an interesting question. But even if your policies are successful, there are still some generic issues with policies worthy of exploration.

Course policies are necessary and their inclusion is motivated by the right reasons. Students (in fact, people in general) aren’t good at multi-tasking. Being on the phone gets in the way of learning, which is what we are being paid to promote. Attending class leads to better performance in the course. Participating in discussion has a whole range of benefits, and what profession doesn’t require deadlines. A lot of students are novice learners. They’re new to college-level learning and aren’t clear about what it takes to succeed in higher education. So, there is strong justification for policies.

I wonder, though, if students see the need for and value of our policies, or if from their perspective policies look more like power moves teachers make to control (or try to control) students. And don’t our strong words — underlined, in bold and all caps — absolutely prohibiting an action reinforce these messages of authority and control? DON’T ARRIVE LATE TO CLASS! Is it possible to say “don’t you dare …” so loudly it drowns out the quieter message that being on time is an important professional characteristic and one that’s best learned before a career begins?

We tend to look at policies individually, trying for the best possible combination of details. What we don’t do is take the collection of policies used in a course and look at them as a group. Policies play an important role in creating the classroom climate—a role we underscore by carefully going over those policies when we first meet students. It’s useful to look at the policies as a whole and ask what kind of climate they collectively create. What’s their relationship to learning? How do they promote it, individually and collectively? Are they doing that as effectively as they’re promoting the power and position of the professor?

It’s clear that policy effectiveness is very much a function of context. There’s no need to quest for the “right” or “best” policy in any absolute sense. An amazing array of different policies work, depending on the course, its setting (online, in a lab, around the seminar table), the instructor, the students, and the institution. Some professors do well with policies that fail miserably when others try to use them. What makes a policy “right” or “best” is how it works in a given situation. So, rather than looking for the failsafe, universal policy, we need to be regularly, objectively, and with feedback assessing how well our policies are accomplishing their learning-related goals.

Policy effectiveness involves more than compliance. An attendance policy can get students to class and still do little to promote their learning. Yes, that could be a student problem. Ultimately, they are the ones who decide whether or not to learn. But if students are coming to class because there’s a policy that docks them if they don’t, there’s also a chance they aren’t in class because they see that being there makes learning in the course easier.

Students need our course policies. They also need to understand the rationales on which they rest. And most important of all, they need to see themselves becoming the kind of mature learners that set their own rules.

By Maryellen Weimer, PhD