What Will the Syllabus Say to Students?

We rely on this one document to do so much. 在创建一个 教学大纲模板 for a campus, we include all of the policy language an instructor and students might need. During a pandemic, that policy language has increased. 在这个不确定的时代, we want to provide students the ground rules for campus safety and information about online methods for teaching and learning. We also want to provide this information as early as possible (see our Reaching Out to Students Before the Semester teaching tip 为了一些想法).

This year we have added a section clarifying course format, 校园安全协议, 考勤政策样本, a new non-discrimination statement (thanks to the leadership of PJ Roberts and others in OU Student Congress), 以及更多的“网络礼仪”指南. 

The 教学大纲 and its policies are meant to provide structure, transparency, accountability. 模板是一个起点, with which every instructor should make their own, perhaps students make their own as well. What are you communicating to students in your 教学大纲 decisions? Is it document that invites coming back to, or the terms of service they must accept to essentially be in the class? 以下是你可以考虑的三个想法:

在COVID-19期间沟通护理

When courses suddenly moved off campus in March, some faculty were sharing ways they communicated the new “rules” to students. A UNC Chapel Hill faculty member’s 调整后的教学大纲说明 广为流传. 教师 in a graduate program at University of Colorado, Denver wrote of six statements of how faculty would be compassionate in their teaching during this time. 其中一名教员雷米·卡里尔 adjusted the final project to include course concepts as it relates to the pandemic. 

While we are more accustomed to the idea of social distancing and other aspects of pandemic life, these statements are still relevant and important. 新的挑战正在出现, such as parents having to coordinate their children’s schooling at home while trying to continue with their own courses. (Not requiring cameras will help with the bandwidth strain to come.) Acknowledge how the pandemic may affect the learning environment and the ways which you will create a supportive environment for students. You are likely already doing this with careful course planning, but communicating it directly will make it clear to students that you have been putting their success and safety first.

为学生简化事情

This engaging 教学大纲 design example seeks to strike a balance of providing the information students need without making it difficult to find the most relevant information. 横幅 art helps distinguish the 教学大纲 from other course syllabi. It opens with a message that links to important parts of the 教学大纲. It communicates hope and anticipation--what we really need to get us through stressful times and focus on the learning. Policy language is condensed to main points and linked out to full policies on university webpages. A Google Doc makes it easy to update, annotate, consult on different devices.

OU生物讲师博士. Sarah Hosch uses a more visual 教学大纲 to communicate grades and distinguish 教学大纲 sections.

There are many ways to simplify the 教学大纲, any of these ways shows students you want them to engage with it rather than it being legalese. 

让学生完成教学大纲

Cate Denial, history professor writing the book 善良教育学, starts the semester by having students annotate the 教学大纲, noting what they like and look forward to, 他们有什么问题, 甚至提出了一些改变. (She shares this in a recent podcast episode, which also includes a transcript to get to this section.) A 教学大纲 in Google Docs allows students to do this synchronously or asynchronously, but similar conversations can happen in a live class discussion or in a discussion forum. 

如果这看起来有点过分, consider other ways students can work on the 教学大纲, 比如挑选横幅艺术, adding optional readings or multimodal texts to compliment assigned readings, or discussing specific policies related to class discussions.

在复杂时期, it is helpful to step back to see the larger picture and communicate what really matters.

查看更多我们的 COVID-19期间的教学技巧.

Save and adapt a Google Doc version of this teaching tip.

Written by 克里斯蒂娜•摩尔, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Photo by Michael Schaffler on Unsplash. 其他人可以分享和适应 知识共享许可协议.

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