The syllabus may be one of the most important documents we can prepare as educators. It is the primary method that students know what the course is about, how it will be taught, how they will be assessed, important policies, and so forth. I must confess that I have seen plenty of syllabi from other faculty and amazed at how poorly they are written and no wonder the students struggle in the class -- they have no clue as to the instructor's expecations, what they are to learn, and so forth. Indeed, many syllabi I have reviewed spend the vast majority on how students are to behave in the class when it comes to dress, attitude, attendance, punctuality, cell phone or laptop use in class, cheating, and precisous little on LEARNING. It is more like Hammurabi's Code of Laws than a syllabus.
So for those who want to see how their syllabus stacks up to a rubric designed to assess one, first visit the following URL. Then go through your syllabus and score it. Naturally, where a criterion has a ranking of 1, or perhaps 2, then make necessary corrections. The rubric has such criteria as syllabus heading, learning outcomes, instructional strategies, and more. As my friends in the UK would say, "give it a go!" Your students will appreciate it for sure and be far less confused as to what it is they are to learn from your teaching.
The URL with the rubric is found at:
http://www.fsc.edu/extended/documents/Rubric-evaluatingsyllabi1-5-06final.doc
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