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When you are in the process of strategically developing your course, with its accompanying syllabus, think about each of the following 6 items and be sure to include them. It may seem unnecessary, but it`s a great starting point - both for you and the students.
- Name of your course. First identify the official name of the course, enabling you to remain well focused in your planning. Remember, strategic course planning involves identifying a target, then considering potential tactics for reaching that target.
- Official catalog description of course. Write out the catalog description of the course. It may be that the wording is exactly as you would have written it (maybe you did), or it may be that the description was written years ago, and no longer matches what the course is conceived to be. Either way, you need to know what the catalog says and provide the catalog description in your syllabus. If there is a perfect match between the catalog wording and your concept of the course, fine. If not, then either adjust your plan for what you are going to teach, or make sure you tell students that there has been a shift in focus, and why.
- Your description of the course. Most college/university catalogs wisely limit the number of words that can be used in the official course description. Even if you are planning to teach exactly what the catalog description says, articulate that description so that it no longer sounds like a telegram. Use your own words that will be easily understood by your students. In a succinct paragraph, identify the nature and overall objectives of the course. While primarily for the benefit of students, this tactic also helps you stay focused on your target in planning and teaching the course.
- Purpose of the course. Eventually you may fold the purpose of the course and its description together, but at this point, specify (again, for students and for yourself) what the purpose is of the course. Is the purpose to build writing skills? to enhance critical thinking? to explore career options in the health professions? to learn methods of teaching mathematics? The possibilities are endless, of course, but in a sentence or two, tell what the real purpose of the course is. You may find this easy to do or you may find it difficult, but either way, invest the time to do it.
- Prerequisites, co-requisites, and other requirements for the course. Often this information is listed in the catalog. If it is, find out if it`s “real.” By that, we mean, is anyone holding students to these requirements or were they written years ago and no one has since paid attention? Or, are these valid, rigid prerequisites that you will need to enforce, and from which you can assume students have a particular knowledge base? (Note: The latter is a dangerous assumption. My dad, the Episcopal priest often said, “to assume is to make an ass of you and me.” Not original, but it bears thinking about).
If this information is not readily available, ask a knowledgeable person within your department. Better to know ahead of time whether there are prerequisites and whether those prerequisites are ones you can count on (and/or must police for). If your course has official prerequisites, identify their names and call numbers. Avoid adding additional prerequisites that frustrate potential students and that limit enrollment. It is unlikely that increasingly cost-conscious administrators or other stakeholders will support such a tactic. Contemporary educators view this section of their syllabus as a tool for helping students make more informed decisions on whether their enrollment is likely to lead to success. In addition to traditional prerequisites, are there any other requirements or necessary preconditions for this course? For example, must students already be admitted to a particular program to be in this course? Or, are they expected to have their graduate committee formed prior to enrollment in this class? Or, do students need to be enrolled in another course while they are in yours (co-requisite)? The strategic professor knows the answers to these questions, and posts that information succinctly in the course syllabus to foster student understanding.
- Description of the students who will be successful in this course. The research conducted on, and the formulation of your responses to, the first several issues should enable you to identify the characteristics of students who will likely enroll in this course. If you have taught the course before, you may be right on target with your description, but if not, you may or may not be completely cognizant of who your students will be. When students see this description in the syllabus, however, they will know whether they “match” or not.
These are some of the easiest portions to gather and compile - and are easy to overlook. Just get going with your syllabus by starting with this components…really. Right now.
Then, you can access many more articles about creating an outstanding syllabus by contacting the author of this article. In addition, you can learn much more about teaching and reaching the many different types of students who are in today`s college classroom by reading the book *Teaching College in an Age of Accountability* (Allyn & Bacon). The book was written by Richard Lyons & Meggin McIntosh (the author of this article).
To learn more ideas that you can use as a faculty member, be sure to check out http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com and http://www.meggin.com
(c) 2008 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!
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