Designing Your Course Syllabus

• Consider basic logistical issues, such as how your course fits into the major or department’s curricular goals, how many class meetings times and hours there will be, and what type of classroom space is available. How large is your class? How many credit hours? What time of day will you be teaching? Which delivery mode will you be using (face-to-face, online, hybrid)? What technology is available to you? Is there certain content or other material you must address?
• Understand your students. What prior knowledge or preparation might they have for your course? What is their personal and intellectual level of development or maturity? How might the cultural differences among your students impact your teaching? What generational experiences and expectations might your students have?
• Identify your learning objectives or outcomes. Which knowledge and skills do you want your students to acquire by the end of the course? Phrase your objectives using action verbs, such as “Apply theorems to solve problems. Make sure the objectives are measurable so that you will know whether students accomplished what you hoped. If your course is a Miami Plan course, be sure to consider the outcomes for the requirement it meets as well as the four pillars. 
• Align your assessments with your objectives. Examinations, papers, projects, homework assignments, and classroom activities should be crafted to advance and measure the objectives.
• Identify appropriate teaching approaches, such as discussions, case studies, service-learning, writing, group or individual projects, or lectures which will promote students' achieving course learning objectives.
• Consider your course content and schedule. Will holidays or breaks affect your meeting times?

Follow a few basic steps to help ensure your syllabus is more accessible by individuals with disabilities:

• Use a sanserif font (e.g. Arial).
• Create headings and subheadings using the built-in heading features of the authoring tool. This enables screen reader users to understand how the page is organized and to navigate effectively.
• Try to present data in bulleted or numbered lists, rather than tables. 
• Try not to convey information solely through color. Colors that are used should have sufficient contrast.
• If you add an image to your document, provide alternative text for the image that describes it. Users unable to see images depend on authors to supplement images with alternative text.
• If you provide a hyperlink in your document to a website, provide text that describes what the user will see when they click on the link.

• Introduce the syllabus on the first day of class as a learning activity. Have students review it in class, and create questions or make suggestions for improvement.
• Refer to the syllabus frequently and direct students to particular sections as the syllabus content becomes relevant throughout the semester.
• Be strategic about where you place the syllabus on the Canvas course site so that students can find and access easily.
• If students ask questions that the syllabus answers, ask a student who has the course syllabus to find the answer on the spot.

Course number, title, term, year, meeting times, and location. You may want to include a course description, whether from the General Bulletin or a more developed version of your own. Give a brief explanation of how the course fits into the larger curriculum: Is this course for majors? Does it meet Global Miami Plan requirements (and which one[s])? Is it part of a Thematic Sequence?

Specify any prerequisites or co-requisites.

Clarify the relevance, purpose, and scope of the course.

Faculty are advised to include this information on the syllabus:

Course materials provided to you, including presentations, tests, outlines, and similar materials, are copyright protected by the faculty member(s) teaching this course.  You may make copies of course materials solely for your own use.  You may not copy, reproduce, or electronically transmit any course materials to any person or company for commercial or other purposes without the faculty member’s express permission.  Violation of this prohibition may subject the student to discipline/suspension/dismissal under Miami’s Code of Student Conduct or Academic Integrity Policy.

State your plans for communication and interaction with students. To help your devise your communication plan, access this resource curated and adapted by the CTE.

Books, course packets, calculators, art supplies, etc. Let students know what materials are required and where they can purchase or access them.

Please note: Books purchased via iTunes are not refundable.

Course outcomes should be tied to the SLOs of the major or degree program and, if applicable, those of Liberal Education. If you know that assignments for your course may be used for program assessment, please notify students that their work may be used for this purpose. The following language is suggested:

In addition to being evaluated by your course instructor, this academic work may be:

• • Viewed by designated Miami University personnel to gauge broader program achievement within Miami University.
  • Included in assessment reports, such as short quotations from your work that do not identify you.

Any work that can be connected with you will not be shared with a public audience nor will it be used for other purposes, such as published research, without your explicit written consent.

Assessment data are used by the university to determine how effective we are at cultivating successful students and achieving learning goals, not to evaluate your work as an individual student.

If you have expectations for how the students will conduct themselves in class, articulate them in the syllabus. This is the place to include information about your expectations for attendance, tardiness, personal use of technology, safety procedures in laboratories, class participation as well as return of student work, make-up examinations, and late work.

You may also wish to explain your expectations relating to an inclusive classroom by referring to the Code of Love and Honor.

Instructors are obliged to follow the class attendance policy in the Student Handbook (MUPIM 5.2). 

Provide guidance to students about what they should do in class rather than what they should not do.

When possible, provide a reason related to the learning environment. Examples:

• It's everyone's responsibility to support learning in this class. Be respectful of your classmates during discussion, as we will be discussing sensitive topics.
• Consume food or drink outside the chemistry lab for your safety. 
• Attendance is vital to your learning, as this is a once-a-week seminar discussion class.

Clarify your expectations regarding attendance, along with citing Miami’s class attendance policy (Student Handbook 1.9). Be sure to give short assignments during the first few weeks of the course to ensure that students are actively participating in the course and also enable you to give meaningful midterm grades to your first and second-year students.  Make sure that you use the photo roster to indicate students who have not attended or actively participated in the course.

Include a note in the syllabus informing students that they need to notify you within the first two weeks of class for a full-semester (full-term) course or in the first week of class for a sprint or part-term course if they will be unable to attend class due to a religious holiday. The following is an example of language that can be used:

Miami University recognizes that students may have religious observances that conflict with class sessions. Students need to provide written notification of class session(s) that will be missed due to these observances. Notification must be within the first two weeks of class (two weeks for full semester classes, one week for sprint/partial term classes). Please see the University Class Attendance policy website for the detailed policy and the current list of major religious holidays and celebrations. Additional information may be found on the Student Life website.

For additional support, refer to Instructor Considerations for Attendance and Participation: Guidelines to Support and Increase Student Learning from the CTE. 

The following language is taken from the website of the Office of Academic Integrity:

As a scholarly community, we must be clear about expectations for academic integrity in the classes we teach. Based on research of best practices for syllabi language, Miami recommends inclusion of the following in a syllabus:

• A personal statement on the meaning and significance of honesty in the classroom. Such a statement might refer to students' future work in a job in the respective discipline, personal observations on the importance of integrity, etc.
• Depending on the discipline, a general statement of academic guidelines (e.g., APA, Chicago Manual of Style) that students must use in their academic work.
• A statement on if, when, and how students may collaborate with one another on assignments, projects, examination preparation, or examinations.
• A referral to this website as well as other resources students may use in a particular class.
• A reference to the definitions and penalties for academic dishonesty, located in Chapter 5 of the Student Handbook and on the undergraduate and graduate student pages of this website [MiamiOH.edu/integrity].

The Office of Disability Resources suggests that faculty include a statement like this on their syllabus:

If you are a student with a physical, learning, medical, and/or psychiatric disability and feel that you may need a reasonable accommodation to fulfill the essential functions of the course that are listed in this syllabus, you are encouraged to contact the Miller Center for Student Disability Services at 529-1541 (V/TTY), located in the Shriver Center, Room 304.

To help students to receive mental health support, faculty may wish to include a statement such as:

If you are a student who may be experiencing mental or emotional distress, you are encouraged to call Student Counseling Service (513-529-4634). For emergencies outside of business hours, the Community and Counseling and Crisis Center (844-427-4747) has a 24-hour hotline.

Look up the academic calendar on the Office of the University Registrar’s website so that you are aware of when your class will be meeting. The University Registrar assigns final exam dates. You should find the final exam schedule on the Office of the University Registrar’s website and include the date and time of your final exam on your syllabus.

Identify the key topics, assignments, and exams. Give as much information as you have about the work the students will be doing. You may want to tie the listing of the course activities back to the student learning outcomes for the course. You may want to include rubrics for major assignments here, or you may want to note here that more detailed information about assignments will come later.

You may wish to note that any of the course activities listed in the syllabus may be subject to change under certain circumstances, such as to enhance student learning.

Provide a list of readings (with full information) and where students might be able to acquire or access them.

Include a list of assignments, and specify which are graded and how they will be evaluated. Consult the Comprehensive Course Assessment Review and Improvement Tool or CCARIT developed by the CTE and HWCE to help you consider, analyze, and improve the features of assessment practices and materials in your course. 

Build in opportunities for formative feedback, and scaffold assignments carefully. Be clear about how you will calculate the final grade. Is there a set number of points for the semester, or are you using weighted grades? Be sure that what students are graded on, and therefore their course grades, will be tied to the course learning outcomes, activities, assignments, and assessments. 

Include a list of resources (including locations and hours) for academic support that can help students to succeed in the course, such as the Rinella Learning Center and Howe Center for Writing Excellence.