22
In this section of the module, you will read about benefits of a learning-centered syllabus and schedule. We will introduce you to our Online Course Syllabus Template and how it relates to Quality Matters standards, and then you will begin adapting the syllabus template for your course.
The syllabus and schedule provide a big-picture view of the course for your students. Together they are perhaps the most important documents you can create for your online students, primarily because they describe and chart what the course is about, how you will teach it, and what students will do to learn.
You have drafted a plan for the objectives, assessments, activities, and instructional materials for your course. Just as adding time estimates to activities and assessments has a clarifying effect when designing a module, working on the syllabus has a positive effect on faculty conceptualization of a course.
Creating a Learning-Centered Syllabus
The course syllabus essentially defines your expectations for students and their responsibilities. An effective syllabus is unambiguous, comprehensive, and detailed.
The most effective syllabi for online courses focus on the student perspective. Diamond (2008) offers a clear definition of a learning-centered syllabus as a document that “… requires that you shift from what you, the instructor, are going to cover in your course to a concern for what information and tools you can provide for your students to promote learning and intellectual development” (p. xi). Diamond (2008, p. ix) goes on to say that an effective learning-centered syllabus should accomplish the following:
- Define students’ responsibilities
- Define instructor’s role and responsibility to students
- Provide a clear statement of intended goals and student outcomes
- Establish standards and procedures for evaluation
- Acquaint students with course logistics
- Establish a pattern of communication between instructor and students
- Include difficult-to-obtain materials such as readings, complex charts, and graphs
We would add the following to Diamond’s list for the online environment: Provide clear information and encouragement about using any technical equipment required, such as Blackboard Collaborate. Still, you must be wary of a fine line between “dumping” too much into the syllabus and ensuring that you have all your bases covered and have clearly communicated expectations. As you ponder where to draw the line, consider the value to students of finding everything they need in one place, versus hunting through a discussion board or posting and emailing questions to help them identify your expectations for a particular task.
The book Teaching Online: A Practical Guide by Ko and Rossen uses examples and scenarios to communicate the impact of an effective online syllabus and schedule on your course. The following chapter offers timely examples and a checklist to help you as you prepare to develop your online syllabus:
Creating an Effective Online Syllabus PDF (10-20 min.)
In the following video, Boise State Health Studies professor Jeff Anderson talks about the syllabus for his online course in Medical Terminology and how he found that the more complete his syllabus, the more students knew what to expect:
Follow this direct link to open the video in a new tab.
Creating a Learning-Centered Schedule
The course schedule is an important tool for any course, and as such, should never be omitted. The schedule not only helps you to plan and organize the course, but it also provides students with a roadmap to the learning activities and aids students in planning their time commitments throughout the semester.
Creating the course schedule allows you to take both a macro and micro view of your course: you must take a broader look at the module structure of your content and also focus your attention on exactly what students will be doing in your course. With a working schedule in place, you are able to more readily answer a number of key design questions, such as the following:
- Is the workload manageable? enough?
- Is it distributed across the semester?
- Are the requirements and due dates clear at a glance?
- Are there milestones, assessments, and feedback opportunities included at important junctures in the class so that students are informed of their progress?
- Does the schedule accommodate irregular events such as holidays, major assignments and exams?
A word about the look and feel of your schedule and module checklists: As much as possible, create a style that is uncluttered, easy to understand, and easy for you to modify. A schedule should accomplish the task of providing a timeline of the course that makes sense at a glance, without too much cognitive effort.
Because you may need to revise the schedule during the semester, we recommend you include a notice at the top of your schedule similar to the following:
“The course instructor reserves the right to amend this schedule. Students will be notified of a change via an announcement on the course site.”
Creating Participation Guidelines
In any course, participation guidelines are provided to outline your expectations for the quantity and quality of student activity. In the online environment, this is even more important as students will bring their experience and preconceptions regarding the flexibility and rigor of an online course that may not align well to the way your course is designed. Participation guidelines include how often students should log in, the nature and frequency of acceptable discussion posts, appropriate ways to share opinions, communicate with you, etc. These guidelines do not have to be included in your syllabus, but you should probably include them in the Syllabus area of the Blackboard course menu and state in the syllabus (and perhaps an announcement) that students can find detailed Participation Guidelines there.
We have provided a section for Participation Guidelines within the Syllabus area in the online course template that we imported into your Master course. You are not required to use the Participation Guidelines in the Master course syllabus area. They have been provided to save you time and should be reviewed for suitability in your course.
The Participation Guidelines in the Master course includes three subsections:
- Using Email Effectively
- Participating in Discussions
- Following Netiquette
Quality Matters Standard 1.3 refers to Internet etiquette expectations, or “netiquette,” for online discussions, email, and other forms of communication. Internet users have accepted forms of behavior on the Internet (netiquette), just as members of society, in general, have accepted forms of behavior in face-to-face interactions (etiquette). Since most of the communication in an online course may be text-based, one can sometimes find it challenging to infer accurately another’s true intentions and meaning — thus the need for guidelines.
Another key Quality Matters Standard that Participation Guidelines address is 5.4, “The requirements for student interaction are clearly articulated.” Beyond addressing online behavior, this standard recommends being specific in your expectations and directions. Let’s say you are going to require that students reply to at least two classmates in each discussion forum. If Lindsay posts thoughtful responses that enrich the dialogue, but Dan simply replies “I agree, great post!” on his, will you feel comfortable giving them each the same number of points? Technically, they both met your requirements, but if you have Participation Guidelines in place, Dan will know that he needs to step up his game.
In other words, you will still need to reinforce Participation Guidelines throughout the course, through feedback and grading mechanisms.
Using a Syllabus Template
The eCampus Center Instructional Design Services team has developed a syllabus template for you to use. We did this for two key reasons:
- To increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your syllabi by collecting essential communication points from the resources presented in this module, and ensuring that syllabi follow the guidelines that will help your course meet Quality Matters Standards.
- To jumpstart the development of your syllabus through use of section headings, suggested text, and common resources that prepare students for participation in an online course
Our experience also suggests that working with the template helps faculty conceptualize their course, and recognize how online teaching differs from on-campus teaching.
As mentioned above, the contents of the syllabus template are based on the Quality Matters Rubric. We encourage you to consider using the template for your own syllabus in order to make it easier for the course to meet the Quality Matters Standards. The syllabus is such an important document for an online course that more than two dozen of the Quality Matters standards can apply to the syllabus! You may find it helpful to remember that the QM rubric is based on national standards of best practice, research, instructional design principles, and, in some cases, federal law.
NOTE: You are welcome to modify the syllabus to provide the students with any other information that you think will help them succeed in the course, and expect that you will revise the syllabus throughout the design and development process. You do not need to follow the syllabus template to the letter, but we encourage you to keep — and fill in — as many of the same sections as possible, or plan to reinforce the course policies and procedures you remove from the syllabus elsewhere in your course. See the table at the end of this section for opportunities to reinforce course policies and student expectations.
Later in this module, you will begin working on your own template in the Course Design Documents folder for your course within Course Resources. You will see the following elements in the online syllabus template:
- The Boise State logo
- Instructor Information
- Course Information, including sections for course format, course objectives
- Instructional Materials
- Course Requirements, including sections for class participation, a description of the units and activities, and grading information
- Course Schedule
- Student Expectations/responsibilities
- Course Expectations and Policies.
- and other Institutional Academic Policies regarding academic integrity, accommodations support, copyright and privacy in online learning.
Each section is annotated with relevant Quality Matters Standards.
eCampus also provides each instructor with a generic syllabus quiz containing questions that apply to most courses, that you may customize as appropriate. The quiz is made available in the Blackboard Master Course that eCampus will create for your course development and explain in more detail next week.
Department or Program Standards
Be sure to check with your program to discover any Program Policies that should be included in your syllabus. In some cases, a department or program may also have a syllabus template you will need to use; please consult with your department chair.
Examples of Syllabi, Schedules and Participation Guidelines
Below, we provide several examples of syllabi, schedules, and participation guidelines most of which are either based off of the template or at least contain the majority of elements that are in the template. All of the files below are in PDF format.
IMPORTANT: Since these are examples from past courses, some university-specific information in these syllabi may be out of date. Please inform your Instructional Design Consultant if you choose to adapt any sections from the syllabi below, so that s/he can ensure that the information is current.
Syllabus Examples
Mike Touchton – POLS 298 – Advanced Political Science Methods
Jeff Anderson – HLTHST 101 – Medical Terminology Syllabus
Jeff includes many details in his syllabus, especially in the Course Format for Lessons — to provide the students with a detailed structure of the online course — as well as motivation to attend the Blackboard Collaborate sessions. The first semester he taught this course online, students were not attending the Collaborate sessions. After reviewing the student evaluations, Jeff learned that students were afraid of the technology and the format of the sessions. Once he clarified in the syllabus for the next semester how students should set up their computers and how to participate in Collaborate, he noticed an increase in attendance.
Patricia Hampshire – ED-SPED 458-Autism Spectrum Disorders Syllabus
Patricia modified her face-to-face syllabus, making sure she added specific information for the online student. She included a section titled Helpful Websites, as well as a section titled Student Expectations to help them understand system requirements.
Deb Carter – ED-ECS 518 – Intensive, Individualized Behavior Support Syllabus
Deb’s syllabus provides a detailed section on Assignments and Evaluation Procedures to the students. Remember, all of your communication to the students is in a written format. Make sure you are providing useful information that the students will be able to understand. In the long run, this averts lots of confusion and frustration for the students, and you should receive fewer emails.
Schedule Examples
Jeff Anderson – HLTHST 100 – Medical Terminology Schedule
UF 100 – Intellectual Foundations Schedule
Patricia Hampshire – ED-SPED 458 – Autism Spectrum Disorders Schedule
Deb Carter – ED-ECS 518 Intensive Individualized Behavior Support Schedule
Participation Guidelines Examples
Sample Participation Guidelines (MS Word doc)
Discussion Explanation and Grading for HLTHST 314 (MS Word doc) – This example is helpful for discussions in a high enrollment course.
Feel free to reuse and customize any of the examples in eCD2S to establish the policies and procedures for your course.
Reinforcing Course Policies and Procedures Outside the Syllabus
Providing a comprehensive syllabus has advantages and disadvantages. Students appreciate having a single location to look for answers to their questions, but the quantity of information in a detailed syllabus can be overwhelming. Reinforce your course policies and procedures by presenting information in more than one place in your course, to accommodate those learners who do not read the syllabus closely. Consider additional places in your course to communicate the topics outlined in the table below. We will explore specific communication vehicles (such as an initial email, etc.) in more detail in the next module. Finding the right balance of information for your course and syllabus will vary by learner audience and instructor preference.
- “Example policy statements” are found in the online syllabus template for your consideration and revision.
- “Additional places where you might share the policy” lists areas in your course where you might reinforce course policies and procedures.
As you review the table below, please take notes on additional places in your course where you will add your policy and procedure statements.
INSERT TABLE