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Syllabi for today's college classes.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Faculty know that it is important to write syllabi for the courses that they teach; however, the content of these syllabi can vary from instructor to instructor. This article describes the results of a survey given to 129 undergraduate education students that asked them to rate the importance of 15 potential components of syllabi and the occurrence of these elements in their course syllabi. The results, implications, and recommendations are presented.

Introduction and Background

Parkes and Harris (2002) analyzed more than two hundred course syllabi from eleven colleges in a single university and studied the professional literature on the topic. Based upon their research, they listed a number of important components that should be included in a syllabus: instructor contact information, course objectives and content, grading policies, textbook information, attendance and late assignment policies, and descriptions of assessment policies. Others have described similar components (Diamond, 1998; Dominowski, 2002; Grunert, 1997). The literature, however, is from a faculty/instructor perspective rather than from a student perspective. Determining what students believe are important components would contribute valuable information to faculty for syllabi construction. In addition, comparing what students consider as important elements to what they have actually experienced in their classes would provide information that can be used in faculty development programs. The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine what students believe are important components of a syllabus and to compare their beliefs to what they have experienced in university courses.

Literature Review

A syllabus serves as a compass that guides faculty and students alike. A well-designed syllabus provides students with information about the goals and objectives of the course, what the course will cover, what work is expected of them, intended learning outcomes, and how performance will be evaluated. It can also contain other important information such as how late work will be handled and the behavior expected of students in the classroom. By distributing a written explanation of course procedures, faculty can minimize student misunderstandings about expectations for the class (Davis, 1993; Dominiowski, 2002; Royse, 2001). In addition, syllabi can keep faculty on track throughout the semester and help to ensure that the course does not stall at any one point (Royse, 2001).

Changes in the college environment in recent years present additional issues to be addressed via syllabi. Academic dishonesty is viewed as being on the rise, and many institutions are struggling with the issues of cheating and plagiarism (Whitley &...

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