Many freshmen have never seen a syllabus and have no idea what it is or how to use it. Please find below a variety of ideas and co-curricular resources for helping your students learn to use the syllabus. To add your own technique or resource to the list below, contact Adriana Signorini.
Teaching Tips
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Introduce the syllabus to your students, taking care to explain the purpose and how to read and use it. Follow this up with a quick activity to engage their new knowledge.
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During your first class meeting have your students review the syllabus in small groups to identify questions they may have or to report back key take-home messages to the class.
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Have your students read the syllabus as a homework assignment and give a brief quiz on it or ask them to submit a description of how the course learning outcomes support their academic or career goals.
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Regularly revisit the syllabus with your students.
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Create a table summarizing weekly activities and associated learning outcomes; have your students review this table at the end of each class to plan for next time.
Faculty Support Resources
- Learning-centered Syllabus: Presentation slides
- Roberts, M. (2013) Creating a Dynamic Syllabus: A Strategy for Course Assessment. College Teaching. 61:3, 109-109, DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2012.741081
