Student-Centered Syllabi

Beginning the semester with a welcome letter crafted in an inviting tone will help to establish a connection with students, and maybe even lower some anxiety on the first day so they can actually hear what you’re saying. This is meant to be a brief, but well intended message that will help establish your class off on the right foot and centered around transparency. This message will be the first thing students read or engage with from you and in your class. 

The message can go on the first page of the syllabus, on a 1-page handout, at the top of your Canvas site, or in an initial email / announcements to students before the first day of class. 

1. Check out this Welcome Statement Template Document.
2. Review the examples provided for help in writing your own Welcome Statement.

It's always good to review your course plan, and decide what cadence, units, or schedule you will be using before the start of each semester. We tend to copy and paste course outlines and content from one year to the next, but what’s most relevant to or important for students can change from year-to-year. So, it’s always a good idea, whether starting from scratch or revising a class you’ve taught many times before, to review your overall course plan and make sure it works for you and your students. 

Students also really benefit from having clearly communicated course structure and repeatable cadence, whether it’s on a weekly schedule, or based on longer units.  Here are some action items you can take:

1. Review your current course plan or course schedule 

2. Check out a course planning tool

3. Revise your own course plan as needed, and decide on your weekly, unit schedule or cadence. 

4. Communicate that schedule to students in your syllabus clearly 

5. Optional: Evaluate your course plan in terms of time commitment

For Part 4, we invite you to write one paragraph explaining what office hours are for and begin communicating to students on the best ways to show up to meet your expectations and make the most of the time. 

An office hours statement in your syllabus can be brief. The purpose is to invite all your students to come to your office hours, whether or not they think they “need help.” The statement should explain what the time is for, when and how to show up, and the benefits of attending office hours. 

1. Take a look at some guidance on how best to communicate about office hours, including options for what to call them. 

2. Review the Office Hours statement templates and craft your own short statement about the purpose and benefits of office hours to include in your syllabus. 

Resources:

• Article on “Academic Success Tip: Rebrand Office Hours” from Inside Higher Ed, April 2023.  

• Article Review / Blog post from Chronicle of Higher Ed: “Do Your students Know What Office Hours Are For?” – review + tips based on research article “Student Motivations & Barriers to Online and In-Person Office Hours in STEM Courses”, Hsu et al. 2022. 

• Office Hours Statement templates – 2 examples provided 

We invite you to choose one assessment, feedback or grading policy in your syllabus to review and revise to add clarity and consistency to your explanations. 

We’re providing some suggested areas you could focus on, along with example language. Feel free to choose something that fits your course plan, then revise so the language is yours! Possibilities could range from: group work policies, class participation, how feedback is given in your class, your overall grading scheme, and much more!

1. Identify one assessment component, feedback practice, or grading policy from your course to work on.
2. Review the examples provided. Choose one of the suggested areas or a different one and revise to add clarity in your syllabus statement.

Note that the Office of the Dean of Students now provides clearer guidance on the types of student emergency notifications their office will handle on behalf of students. CNS suggests you adopt clear policy related to absences, including some flexibility.

CNS Flexibility Guidance

Welcome to part 6 – the start of the semester is almost here and one of the last things to check in your syllabus is whether you have information signaling to students about the various supports you and your teaching team will provide, along with how and where to access other university resources and support services on campus. 

A few of these items are required in our syllabus, such as information about how students can receive support through the Office of Disability & Access. If you are using the Simple Syllabus Template or UT Provost Office example, a lot of this information is filled in for you, but it is always a good idea to review it, make sure it is all there, and decide if you want to add additional resources or customize the language.   

1. Review what Supports and University Resources you have listed on your syllabus and/or those that are already provided in the syllabus template you are using. 

2. Check out this DOCUMENT for additional syllabus language, tips, and links to resources that can be added or customized in your syllabus. 

3. Make any updates needed to your syllabus with respect to course specific support statements and university resources shared. 

It’s Part 7 – you’ve made it – thank you for taking some time to focus on your course and your students. The semester is almost about to start, so for this last part we invite you to consider how you might introduce the course syllabus to your students.  

There are lots of options, from just posting it on Canvas, sharing it in your welcome message or a Canvas announcement, doing a “syllabus quiz / assignment” on Canvas, and more. And you might do all of these things! But we want to share one activity that we in STEMx we really like to use on the first day of class with our students.

1. Check out the Syllabus Reconnaissance activity and how to implement it; decide if you want to use it in your class on Day 1. Or identify other ways you might introduce the syllabus to your students and help them engage with the information you’ve worked hard to provide for them there.