GRADUATE STUDENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Building a Syllabus

If you envision a future in academia, sooner or later you will find yourself face to face with a teaching assignment and a blank computer screen.What to do?Here are some suggestions.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

--First step:define Course Objectives

--Ask friends, colleagues for tips, copies of past syllabi

--Familiarize yourself with popular textbooks

--Keep the level of the course in mind (for first-year students?Seniors?Grad students?)

--Use your own past experiences (positive and negative) in classes as a guideline

--Strive for a clear, readable format

--Include:your name, e-mail, office number, office hours, office phone, dept. phone

--Include:Course Objectives, Required Texts, Grading Criteria, Policy on late/make-up work

--Write the semester/year on your syllabus—to help keep your paper archives straight

--Good idea to include a note “subject to revision at instructor’s discretion”

--Include 2 blanks for students to fill in name/number/email of 2 other students during the first

days of class—they will always have a classmate to contact in case they miss a class

--Think of a syllabus as a work in progress—no course will be perfect the first time you teach it

PRACTICALITIES:COMPOSING SYLLABI FOR THE JOB SEARCH

--Consider creating shortened versions of several syllabi to bring to interview

--Make a few copies of each syllabus; make them different colors to keep them straight

--Be prepared to answer questions about/justify everything:choice of text, assignments, etc.

--Get a feel for which courses the place would want you to teach; bring those syllabi

PRACTICALITIES:COMPOSING SYLLABI ON THE JOB

--Follow general university guidelines, such as including note to students with disabilities

--Find out what supplemental resources are available (online, videos, library books, databases)

--Get a feel for the kind of workload expected by the students and by your department

--Be attentive to the larger administrative structure in which your course fits:

--read and follow description of course in the university’s course catalogue

--ask othes who have taught course for past syllabi, tips

--ask colleagues in same/related field for tips, advice based on past experience/curriculum

--Don’t step on any toes!

--be aware of books used in related courses at your university, try to avoid duplication

--be aware of territorial issues with certain videos, books, topics, etc.

REFERENCE MATERIALS

--BOOKS

Brinkley, Alan et al.The Chicago Handbook for Teachers:A Practical Guide to the College

Classroom.U of Chicago P, 1999.

McKeachie, Wilbert J. et al.Teaching Tips : Strategies, Research, and Theory for

College and University Teachers. Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Phillips, Gerald M.“Teaching in the College and University” in Surviving in the Academy:

A Guide for Beginning Academics, ed. Phillips et al.Annandale, VA:

Speech Communication Association, 1994.

Prégent, Richard.Charting Your Course:How to Prepare to Teach More Effectively.

Madison, WI:Magna, 1994.

--WEBSITES

There is a wealth of online information available.You can find example syllabi for just about any course imaginable.Many professional organizations maintain websites that include a syllabus archive.

Here is one very general site, entitled “Writing a Syllabus,” developed by Howard B. Altman, University of Louisville and William E. Cashin, Kansas State University

<http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/writesyl.htm>