Course Syllabus--Good, Bad and Ugly!
During this module the sample syllabus provided a guide and know each of us has experienced in our own education of DL at various institutions the good, bad and ugly.
The best syllabus in my DL experience was when the professor gave choices, write papers, post online, book reviews, and find key websites that support the course objectives. Each had a point value and you needed a total number of points to complete the course and each received a grade. I found this allowed to adult student who also worked choice to when they could best complete the work. Guidance was clear and expectations clear on what was required to complete the course.
The ugly for me was a 72 page syllabus that was so confusing it was difficult to track what was expected and when the due dates were. Had to develop a separate excel to track timelines. It failed to answer the key questions highlighted in this module:
1. What is the purpose of the assignment
2. What am I expected to demonstrate in this assignment
3. Of what relevance is this assignment to the learning objectives.
4. Why is it important for me to complete this assignment
5. What am I expected to include in my answer
Any other experiences anyone can share?
Kenneth,
Oh my gosh....72 page syllabus is beyond ugly!!!!! I like your questions to give to the students. This promotes critical thinking.
Shelly Crider
I have seen worst than that. I was a lead faculty for online course and the instructor posted course syllabus with more than 110 pages. He put in it all kids of stuff that were unnecessary and confusing. The course syllabus looked like a dissertation to me!!!
Mountasser,
All I can say.....well I am speechless!
Shelly Crider
...Speechless, to say the least! Whether it is 25, 72 or 110 pages, I find it difficult to understand the reasoning behind an extraordinarily long syllabus. To me anything over 10 pages would be excessive, even for a four or five credit course. I thought a syllabus was an outline of the subject(s) in a course of study. I would love to see the instructors' resumes :)
Lyn,
I, as a student, would not be interested in a course that started off on a negative note!
Shelly Crider
I have found many students simply gloss over a course syllabus and ultimately miss a key piece of information. I prefer to highlight or recolor any key information within the syllabus such as due dates of assignments, late submissions, milestones, etc.
Taiwan,
Highlighting is an excellent way to get your point across that something is important.
Shelly Crider
