HOW-TO: Syllabus

Context and Preparation:

Your Syllabus is where you state the terms and conditions for success; set expectations for students (and for yourself); communicate resources; and create the first impressions of your course community.

Your Canvas course will be pre-built with a linked sequence of Pages representing the standard elements of a syllabus. You can easily divide up your existing syllabus document among the various Pages.

Top-5 Checklist When Creating Your Syllabus:

1. Be Comprehensive, yet Comprehensible. Students shouldn't be "in the dark" about how the course will run. And in cases of conflict, a comprehensive syllabus minimizes ambiguity. Yet a 17-page avalanche of verbiage almost guarantees it won't ever be read. Use principles of good design to encourage students to spend time with this document!
2. Personalize the Boilerplate. Every syllabus includes standard College policy statements; finding a way to "own" those policy statements communicates a valuable message to your students.
3. Make it a Living Document. You want students to treat the syllabus as an integral, ongoing part of the course. Do you do that yourself? How will you design your syllabus so that students will revisit it regularly as a course resource?
4. Use it to Communicate. Communication is a two-way process in your course; the best syllabi are launching points for engaged conversation, rather than didactic presentation.
5. Maximize Accessibility. Students will read the syllabus on a laptop, on a phone, on paper... Building the syllabus on Pages, combined with the Syllabus Export option for pdf, lets students read the syllabus easily on any device.

Your Task (10 minutes):

Take this Quiz to evaluate your readiness to design and build your syllabus in Canvas.

You must earn at least a score of 9 on this Quiz to advance. (You can re-take the Quiz if you need to! :-)