Best Practice for a Syllabus
by Susan Smith 1 month, 1 week agoHello,
I have written a syllabus for a basic medical terminology course. I am attempting to provide a prompt for the teacher to include thier information on the form. I am curious about what the best practice is/should be with regard to leaving my information (name/phone/email) on the document or noting "put your information here" Can I assume that the person using the document realizes they need to update it with their own information? The more wordy the document becomes may confuse the user.
Also, school information. In the document I did, I added all my college's policies that were pertinent to the syllabus. Is it better to do that so others can see what the policies are or leave the sections blank on the syllabus so that they add their own schools policies.
Either way it would need to be noted that they must add their own information and school information. But just wondering what others in this group might do?
My syllabus template has highlights when an instructor would need to update with their information.
YC Business department had these same kind of highlighted areas for the assigned professor to update. It made it much more simple as a newby to just follow the "update the highlighted sections" instructions. As I am also a college staff member I simply used my official college contact information and gave the students instructions on how to label any email or Canvas inbox message to me for clarity.
As a student, I would appreciate an email address from the author if I wish to contact them.
I think putting something like [INSERT FACULTY NAME/INFORMATION HERE], and then doing that same bracket format any time the information needs to be specific to the person/section/college. It'll absolutely have to be modified for each individual to use it, so I would say keep those parts fluid and labeled in a way that makes them distinguishable from what you want them to take away from your template.
In CAC, we have a syllabus template all insrtutors should follow and it includes information of instructor's office number, office phone, email and office hr.
Using placeholders in your syllabus template is an excellent way to guide future instructors in customizing the document to their needs.
We have something similar at my institution. It is called a blueprint syllabus, and has required contact information, as well as relevant links to all college/district policies.