ELearning/Course building/Syllabus and module guides
Syllabus and module guides | Video production | Storyboarding and scripting | Animated lectures and presentations | Programmed interactions
"The research on teaching and learning is consistent: the more information you provide your students about the goals of a course, their responsibilities, and the criteria you will use to evaluate their performance, the more successful they will be as students and the more successful you will be as a teacher." (O'Brien, Millis, & Cohen, 2008)
Syllabus
The syllabus (or course guide) describes the course in general and specifically, serving multiple purposes.
- Introduces the course to learners, establishing interest.
- Establishes expectations for the course instructor and students.
- Describes the learning objectives and the activities that lead to their attainment.
- Establishes a contract between instructor and learners.
- Allows students to decide if they have the time and resources to be successful.
- Serves as a reference document as the course progresses.
Although used most extensively in higher education, the syllabus provides the appropriate introduction to any education or training program, as pointed out above.
Best Practice
As an introduction and guide, the syllabus does not stand alone. Introducing the course, the instructor needs to emphasize its importance and explain its purposes. A "search-and-find" activity (quest) or syllabus quiz will help you stress important aspects of the course and encourage close scrutiny by students. The guidance provided in the syllabus needs to be extended to every learning module through the use of module guides, addressed later in this article.
Doolittle & Siudzinski (2010) point out a common mismatch between the components instructors provide and those most desired by students. Instructors tend to emphasize the descriptive attributes of the course while students most desire the production attributes. In other words, students want to know the nuts-and-bolts whereas instructors tend to provide rich descriptions. We encourage you to do both in the most succinct manner possible.
Contents
O'Brien et. al. and Doolittle & Siudzinski have conducted extensive reviews of thousands of syllabi. Together they provide excellent guidance for constructing the syllabus. We want to emphasize the need for clarity and conciseness. Vague expectations and unclear policies contribute to student anxiety and more questions for you. The five universal categories of information to be included:
- Instructor information
- Course information
- Grading information
- Policy information
- Student support information
Instructor information
- Instructor name
- Office location (local online learners make office visits)
- Office hours (regular weekly time periods, and by arrangement)
- Telephone number
- Office e-mail address
- How you prefer to be contacted and for what purposes.
Course information
- Official course name and number
- Description of the course, its purpose and context within the larger curriculum.
- Course goals and objectives, stated in measurable terms, communicate the work students will be held accountable for in the course. Generally, one to three learning objectives are included for each module. Within the module guides, more specific objectives. Please refer to the Goals of Instruction article under the Course Planning section.
- Required textbook and other items to be purchased. Of note is the Federal Textbook Disclosure Rule enacted with the 2009 Higher Education Opportunity Act, which requires the following textbook information: International Standard Book Number (ISBN) or the author, title, publisher and copyright date as well as the retail price. See [1].
- Other required reading such as journal articles and references.
- Suggested strategies for successful course completion.
- Prerequisites, including a list of prior course completions, but also prerequisite knowledge and skills when appropriate. For example, should students already know algebra, or how to use a graphing calculator, or already know the major tenants of Emanuel Kant? The more inclusive you are in describing prerequisites, the better able students will be to judge if they are adequately prepared for the course.
Course calendar
The following are best organized within a course calendar. Many instructors create a separate calendar document, making it easier to update while the syllabus remains largely static over time.
- Topics to be covered. It's helpful if you use the same terminology here and for your learning module titles.
- Discussion dates (unless they are a regular activity throughout the course).
- Assignment due dates.
- Test and quiz dates.
- Holidays and other breaks in the course schedule.
Grading information
- Grading policy. Rated as the most important element by students, they want and need to know how their work will be assessed and graded.
- How grades are accumulated. Students want to know how the various course components contribute to their overall grade.
- Point-to-grade conversion. How the accumulation of points converts to letter grades or other ratings.
Policy information
- Attendance policy. Online, it's advisable to emphasize the need for students to login at least every-other day. Frequent logins are especially important when discussions and group projects are part of the course.
- Late work policy. Do you accept late work? How late? Do you reduce the grade when work is turned in late?
- Expectations for dialogue, "netiquette".
- Academic misconduct policies are generally published by the institution, especially plagiarism. However, you will also want to describe how the policy is applied in the course. Please refer to the Academic dishonesty article in the Teaching Online section.
Student support
Included under this section of the syllabus are the institutional resources available to students. Provide telephone number and weblinks whenever possible. Include a statement of encouragement for students to use the resources. Possible support services include academic advising, academic and study skills tutoring, disability resources, financial aid, technical support, libraries, writing and math labs, and a set of useful links (student organizations, admissions, registration, sports and recreation, academic calendars, student proctoring, transcript requests, and the like).
Module guides
The following items are best included in module guides, where it is most timely for student use. Module guides are elaborated To-Do lists for students during the duration of the module, generally one to three weeks. They should be included in the syllabus whenever module guides are not used.
- Specific reading assignments, both textbook and assigned articles, etc.
- Recorded lectures, movies, documentaries, etc. to be viewed.
- Learning activities to be carried out, such as interactives, tutorials, etc.
- Discussion topic, description, and timeline (for initial posts and response posts). The description best includes an account of the context within which the discussion takes place and a "discussion prompt"- typically phrased as a question or direction for what to include. Please refer to the Discussions article in the Teaching Online section.
- Assignment names, descriptions, instructions, milestone dates and time, and quality and quantity criteria.
- Test and quiz names along with due dates and times, time allowed, number of tries allowed, and instructions for completion.
Syllabus and module guides | Video production | Storyboarding and scripting | Animated lectures and presentations | Programmed interactions
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