Syllabi development is somewhat like constructing a personal vita in that it has some common elements, but each syllabus also reflects the individuality of both the course content and personality of the instructor. The syllabus must also be developed in keeping with legal and accreditation requirements.
Common Elements
The course syllabus serves several purposes:
- describes the course, its goals, and its objectives
- describes the structure of the program (particularly any non-traditional aspects that may be new to the students)
- acquaints the students with their responsibilities for the course
- provides critical logistical and procedural information about what will happen and where
Wayland Policy 9.1.4.2 mandates that course syllabi be provided students on the first day of class, and that each syllabus must include these common elements:
- the course number and title
- the description of the course which is included in the University catalog
- course prerequisites
- textbook(s)
- a course outline of the major units of study in the order they will be presented
- outcome competencies stated in measurable terms
- the specific requirements of the course
- the criteria used to assess student performance and the weight of each criterion, and
- attendance requirements established by the faculty member for that course
The policy also requires syllabi to conform to the University’s standardized format, and that a current copy of each course syllabus be filed with the dean of the school..
Other elements may be included in the syllabus, including:
- statement of rationale – how the course fits into the general program and for whom it was designed
- personnel involved in the course and how to contact them (office hours, phone numbers, email addresses, fax, mailing address, instructor web site)
- calendar – so students can know what to expect at each class meeting
- facilities – where and how to access them
- statement of the instructor’s policy on special issues (cheating, plagiarism, etc.)
- policy statement on required conditions for the grade of Incomplete
- statement pertaining to students having special needs, such as:
Any student who requires special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should inform the instructor immediately.
Even with these ever-present lists of common elements, many course syllabi fail to answer questions considered important by students. In a review of the problems faced by students, a course approval committee at the University of Maryland (Rubin, 1985) identified a series of important questions that were repeatedly not answered in the syllabi provided by the faculty to their students.
- Why would a student want to take this course?
- What are the course objectives? Where do they lead, intellectually and practically?
- What are the prerequisites? What does the faculty member assume that the students already know? Will the necessary missing skills be taught during the course?
- Why do the parts of the course come in the order they do?
- Will the course be primarily lecture, discussion, or group work?
- What does the professor expect from the students?
- What is the purpose of the assignments?
- What will the tests test? Memory? Understanding? Ability to synthesize, to present evidence logically, to apply knowledge in a new context?
- Why have the books been chosen? What is their relative importance in the course and in the discipline?
With the proliferation of courses delivered by Internet and other distance education technologies, writing the syllabus has become more challenging. Writing the Internet syllabus requires an even greater attention to detail and clarity of communication. Regardless of the course delivery vehicle, a well-designed syllabus:
- tells the students that the faculty are as interested in helping them to succeed as in the content of the course.
- defines student responsibilities for successful completion of the course.
- helps students manage time effectively.
improves the efficiency of student note taking and studying
- acquaints learners with the logistics of the course
- leads to very few requests for clarification of course requirements, time lines, grading criteria or standards, or weekly assignments.
Accreditation Requirements
Many of the visiting committee members during Wayland’s accreditation reaffirmation visit by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in October, 1997, were keenly interested in course syllabi. The current SACS Criteria for Accreditation conveys the association’s expectations in Section IV - Educational Program:
- Instructional techniques and policies must be in accord with the purpose of the institution and be appropriate to the specific goals of an individual course.
During the recent SACS visit, syllabi were used to identify these instructional techniques and judge their appropriateness to the specific goals of the course. During interviews, students were asked if these techniques and policies were appropriate.
- Students must be provided written information about the goals and requirements of each course, the nature of the course content, and the methods of evaluation to be employed.
Though this Criteria statement is less prescriptive than the lists of common elements presented earlier, SACS evaluators expected syllabi to contain more than the elements contained in this statement from the Criteria. Again, students were asked if they received syllabi on the first day of class and whether it contained appropriate information.
- An institution must publish its grading policies, and its grading practices must be consistent with policy.
Although grading policy is stated in the Wayland Policy Manual and Academic Catalog, a statement of the individual instructor’s policy is expected on each syllabus.
- Goals and objectives, and skills and competencies, should be the same for courses offered on main campus as those offered through distance learning activities.
Although not addressed in the Criteria, the SACS Handbook for Peer Evaluators instructs members of visiting committees to directly compare individual course syllabi between campuses, or between traditional and distance learning formats. The expectation is that students in the same course will learn the same material and develop the same competencies, regardless of location or format.
Legal Issues
Much has been said about the syllabus constituting a contract between student and faculty member. Issues surrounding student claims that faculty has deviated from a syllabus, most often arise when
- the student has been given a grade the student claims to be unfair,
- the student is expelled from the program,
- the student is denied a degree,
- and the student claims his rights were violated.
Typically, the student claims that the student and the university had a contract and the university failed to conform to the terms of that contract. Courts have generally said that, while students have a relationship with the college that is contract-like, the normal rules of contract law will not be applied to the relationship.
The courts review academic decisions against a rule of "arbitrariness." If the school can demonstrate that the grade or other academic decision was not arbitrary, the court will generally defer to the school.
So when it comes to the syllabus, the first safeguard is for the professor to indicate, preferably in writing on the syllabus itself, that the syllabus is not a contract, and that it may be deviated from. This helps take away the student's contract claim, if he had a basis for one in the first place. An appropriate statement might be:
This syllabus is only a plan. The teacher may modify the plan during the course. The requirements of the course may be altered from those appearing in the syllabus. Further, the plan contains criteria by which the student’s progress and performance in the course will be measured. These criteria may also be changed.
Having undertaken to make clear that the syllabus is not a contract, but is a plan subject to unilateral change by the teacher, the teacher should realize that the changes must not be arbitrary. Thus, the fewer changes that are made, the safer. Further, the teacher may be required to defend the academic judgement she exercised in making the change against the charge that she acted arbitrarily.
Therefore, faculty are well advised to
- be careful in the preparation of the syllabus,
- to give the students the syllabus on the first day of class,
- to tell them it is subject to change and why and how the teacher might change it,
- but then to be reluctant to make changes
- and be prepared to justify the academic reasons for any changes.
A private school, unlike a state school, is not obliged to give a student "due process" in regard to its decisions which are adverse to him academically. When it comes to academic disputes, a private school is only obliged to do anything it has promised the student it will do when it comes to academic disputes.
Normally, the school attempts to avoid making "promises." But, against the chance the court will conclude a promise was made, the school should be diligent in handling academic disputes according to its published policies and procedures. The private school's processes must be "fair," but need not meet the high constitutional due process requirement of the state school.
Finally, state students may also challenge an academic decision on the basis of "equal protection," a constitutional requirement that states must treat their citizens equally. Private schools, or course, must not make decisions on the basis of illegal discrimination, but an "equal protection" claim will not lie against a private school.
Because of the stakes, graduate school dismissals produce most of the litigation. The claim may be that
- the evaluation of the student was not justified by the facts,
- that the evaluation was not according to the catalog or syllabus,
- that the student was graded unfairly, or
- that the school "changed horses in the middle of the stream" and required more or something different from him than was in the original agreement.
Few of these cases are successful. However, in a few the student has won. An example of those includes a situation where a medical school refused a student’s request to retake an exam after the first exam had been conducted with some irregularities. The court said the student had not been treated fairly.
A complaint about failure to follow a syllabus would be akin to issues that arise over changes in requirements for a degree after the student has begun the program. Generally, schools try to reserve the right to change the requirements by statements in the catalog, but at the same time, try not to change them in mid-stream unless circumstances are overwhelming.
For example, if students are being prepared for nursing and the licensure requirements change, it is reasonable to change the nursing program’s requirements. In another case, when a student sued because the university changed requirements for completion of the masters in education degree program in which she was enrolled, that the university had the right and indeed, the responsibility, to change the program when valid academic reasons required it.
However, a number of courts have held that when a student enrolls under a catalog indicating a degree will be granted upon completion of a course of study, the school must grant the degree if the course is completed. Of course, if you don't change a program, or a syllabus, you will not get sued for changing something the student thinks you did not have the legal right to change.
A syllabus claim would also be similar to those cases where students sue because the program was not as promised. These suits are most likely to be successful in the first years of a new program, usually a graduate program. Courts approach these suits in a manner akin to suits alleging consumer fraud. If the court is offended by the failure of the program to be delivered as the catalog said it would be delivered, or in an inferior manner given tuition and representations of the program, the court will rule for the students.
Some morals extracted from the cases relative to the syllabus:
- don't make promises casually
- do retain the right to change the plan
- don't puff the course's quality or scope
- retain the right to be flexible when it comes to grading and in regard to the course's requirements, but exercise that flexibility and grade according to criteria you are prepared to defend as academically reasonable and fair and explain your reasons for deviating from the syllabus
- Avoid the appearance of partiality or unequal treatment of students
- warn students early in the course if their performance indicates they may not pass the course
- give the out-of-class help that was promised
- be sensitive to the student's "consumer" nature