Syllabi Tips from HCC Faculty

At a meeting of the HCC Center for Teaching, committee members discussed some additional items you may want to include in your syllabus and how to encourage students to consult the syllabus throughout the semester.   We shared our conversation with full-time faculty at our closing meeting in Fall 2007 semester.

What You Might Include:

• Your Philosophy of Teaching/Learning:  A short explanation of how you teach and why, how you believe students learn your course content best.
• A statement that the syllabus may be subject to change based on the class’s needs.
• Classroom Culture Guidelines:  How do you expect students to behave in class? 
• Formatting/Presentation Guidelines (Double-spacing, stapling, etc.) 
• References to relevant pages in the student handbook
• How midterm grades will be calculated
• Not only the assignments and deadlines, but consequences of failure to complete.

Encouraging Students to Use the Syllabus throughout the Semester

• Consider photocopying it on brightly colored paper so it stands out.
• Have a syllabus quiz early on, perhaps the second class, either one in which the students answer questions individually or work together in groups.  Go over answers in class. 
• Develop a contract that asks students to sign off that they understand and have prepared for some of the key elements of the class, answering yes to a series of questions/statements and perhaps spelling out how they will prepare or handle certain aspects of the course.   The WebCT Vista site with "Online Resources for Faculty" contains a few sample contracts.
• Open each class with a quick consultation of the syllabus
• Leave due dates blank on assignments, having them consult syllabus for actual due date.
• Include a sample paper, guidelines for writing a paper, and a list of do's and don'ts for writing a paper.
• Check in on objectives throughout the semester, linking work done in class to objectives outlined on the syllabus.
• Have students use syllabus to calculate their grade when they ask for a progress report.
• Schedule 5-minute conferences at midterms to check grades and review grading percentages on the syllabus.
• Put  a copy of the syllabus on your instructor's folder on the network, so that students can access it from any of the classrooms or the computer labs.

Have your own tip about what to include in a syllabus or how to encourage students to consult it more frequently?  E-mail Steve Mark, Campus Teaching/Learning Consultant at smark@hcc.commnet.edu