CREATING A POWERFUL SYLLABUS: DOING WHAT WORKS! Christine Harrington Ph.D. Middlesex County College www.drchristineharrington.org charrington@middlesexcc.edu
Agenda Purpose Research Practical Applications
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A SYLLABUS? Turn and Talk
Purpose of the Syllabus Contract Communication Device • Legal document • Prevent potential • Course information and misunderstandings • Tone and personality of course expectations Plan Cognitive Map • Course outcomes or goals • Clear focus on what’s most • Strategies to accomplish goals important • Visual Organization Matejka, & Kurke, 1994
Purpose of the Syllabus Encourage and Guide Teaching Philosophy Students Course Learning Expectations Outcomes Policies, Support for Success Responsibilities Grunert , O’Brien, Millis, & Cohen (2008)
Learning Outcomes What do you want students to know, think or do?
Learning Activities How will students accomplish the learning outcomes?
Need for Accountability: Helping Students Master Content
9 Mastering Content: Retrieval is a MEMORY tool!!! 1 SSSS 0.9 SSST 0.8 STTT 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Immediate Delayed Roediger & Karpicke (2006)
www.drchristineharrington.org 10 Re-thinking Assignments: An Equity Issue (Taras, 2006) Final Product Feedback Second Draft or Feedback Attempt First Draft or Attempt Challenging Assignment
Assessment How will you know if students achieved the learning outcomes?
Processing Time… • How do you hold students accountable for learning outside of class? • How can you increase feedback opportunities for students?
RESEARCH ON THE SYLLABUS (AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS!)
WHAT’S IN A SYLLABUS? Doolittle, P. E., & Siudzinski, R. A. (2010). Recommended syllabus components: What do higher education faculty include in their syllabi?. Journal On Excellence In College Teaching , 21 (3), 29-61. Retrieved from Academic Search Premiere.
What’s Important on a Syllabus? • Reviewed 15 College Teaching Resources Step 1 • Discovered 81 suggested components Step 2 • A total of 24 components were identified by at least 50% of the resources Results Doolittle & Siudzinski, 2010
Next Steps Themes from 24 Components Course Instructor Information Information Reviewed 1000 Syllabi (Google) Grading Policy Information Information Doolittle & Siudzinski, 2010
Prediction Time… What percentage of faculty included: • Late/Missed work policies • Disability statements • Information about supports available?
What do faculty include? Percentage Included 97 100 91 84 90 80 70 60 50 40 23 30 20 20 7 10 Percentage Included 0 Doolittle & Siudzinski, 2010
REACHING OUT FOR SUPPORT Perrine, R. M., Lisle, J., & Tucker, D. L. (1995). Effects of a syllabus offer of help, student age, and class size on college students' willingness to seek support from faculty. Journal of Experimental Education , 64 (1), 41-52.
The Study Seek help from instructor? 104 College Students Support Statement No Support on Syllabus Statement on “Please come Syllabus and talk to me” Perrine, Lisle, & Tucker, 1995
Results- Willingness to Seek Help Potential Problem Supportive Neutral Trouble understanding textbook 4.7 3.7 Low grade on first exam 4.8 4.0 Hard to hear instructor's lectures 4.4 3.8 Study skills ineffective for course 4.7 3.6 Thinking about dropping course 4.9 3.8 Trouble understanding major topic 5.3 4.2 All significantly different! Perrine, Lisle, & Tucker, 1995
Application • Explicitly communicate your interest and willingness to work with students outside of class • Provide specific information about supportive services (counseling, tutoring, etc.) on campus
Supportive Statements
Campus Resources
How Long Should a Syllabus Be?
SYLLABUS DETAIL Saville, B. K., Zinn, T. E., Brown, A. R., & Marchuk, K. A. (2010). Syllabus detail and students' perceptions of teacher effectiveness. Teaching Of Psychology , 37 (3), 186-189. doi:10.1080/00986283.2010.488523
The Study Survey on 97 College Teacher Students Behaviors Brief Detailed Syllabus Syllabus Saville, Zinn, Brown, & Marchuk, 2010
The Syllabus Brief Version- 2 pages Detailed Version- 6 pages • Instructor name/contact • Same information with information more detail • Course objectives • 6 exams consisting of multiple choice and short • Textbook answer questions • Brief Overview of • Calendar included chapters Assignments (ex. 6 that would be covered exams) • Grading distribution • Brief overview of policies • Calendar with due dates
Results! Teacher Characteristic Detailed Brief Approachable/personable 3.17 2.55 Creative/interesting 3.45 2.64 Effective communicator 3.05 2.47 Encouraging/cares for students 3.12 2.13 Enthusiastic 3.60 2.41 Flexible/open-minded 2.97 2.41 Knowledgeable 3.75 2.97 Prepared 3.38 2.81 Present current information 3.53 2.50 Promotes critical thinking 3.50 2.88 Realistic expectations/fair 3.06 2.16 All significantly different! Saville, Zinn, Brown, & Marchuk, 2010
More Results 3.5 3 2.5 2 Brief 1.5 Detailed 1 0.5 0 Recommend Course? Take another course? Saville, Zinn, Brown, & Marchuk, 2010
An Informal Assessment Student Preference Neutral 12% Short 27% Long 61%
Student Comments: • “A syllabus should be short and simple but have enough details to explain everything. Lengthy syllabi makes it boring for students to read and that is why some won’t even bother.” • “A shorter syllabus is less overwhelming.”
Student Comments: • “I prefer a long syllabus because it has all of the course content. I like having it in one place and not having to look it up on the computer. While a long syllabus may be intimidating at first glance, it’s convenient and helpful to have all the course information in one place.” • “I prefer a longer syllabus. Shorter syllabi make me feel insecure about the requirements for the course and makes me feel as though the professor is not organized or engaged in the course.” • “I like to have a longer syllabus because I like to have all of the information accessible in one place”. • “A longer syllabus is more likely to be used instead of only being looked at on the first day.”
Application • Add specific information – especially about course schedule and assignments (i.e. rubrics) • All essential information is in one place • Sends positive message about instructor, setting a positive tone for course • Visual images, charts or tools- longer syllabus but perhaps better!
Consider Adding Inviting Image
Add Photo of Textbook, Shading and Color
Use Graphs
Add Details about Assignments
Consider Adding Rationale
ON-LINE SYLLABUS Grigorovici, D., Nam, S., & Russill, C. (2003). The Effects of Online Syllabus Interactivity on Students' Perception of the Course and Instructor. Internet And Higher Education , 6 (1), 41-52. Retrieved from ERIC.
The Study Student Perception 49 Undergraduate of Instructor Students High Interactivity- Medium Interactivity- Low Interactivity- Main Page with Main Page with 3 links, Three Pages 1 page 3 links with 3 more links Grigorovici, Nam, & Russill, 2003
Results Low or High Medium Interactivity More Interactivity More positive negative impression of impression of professor professor Grigorovici, Nam, & Russill, 2003
Application • Slow down…. Use caution when considering hyperlinks • Easy access • Visual organization
STUDENT USE AND RECALL Smith, M. F., & Razzouk, N. Y . (1993). Improving classroom communication: The case of the course syllabus. Journal of Education for Business, 68 (4), 215-222. Retrieved from Academic Search Premiere.
The Study Completed 152 Upper Questionnaire Level College On Syllabus Content and Students Use 72 Males 80 Females Surveyed at 3 weeks or 7 weeks Smith & Razzouk, 1993
Prediction Time! What percentage of students report using their syllabus at least once per week?
The Results! Syllabus Usage Frequency Every day 20% Once a week 57% Smith & Razzouk, 1993
The Results! Syllabus Recall Percent Correct Course title, instructor 95-100% name, credits, textbook Project purpose, 85-90% course code, number of exams Topic for day, instructor 8-48% office information, textbook author Smith & Razzouk, 1993
The Results! Course Objectives Percent Recalled One objective 60% Two objectives 8% More than 2 objectives 3% No objectives Almost 30% Smith & Razzouk, 1993
Applications of Research First Day of Class • Avoid Cognitive Overload- No Need to “Cover” Entire Syllabus • How can you draw attention to what’s most important (i.e. learning outcomes)?
An Example…
A Better Example…
Processing Time… • Do you bring attention to the course learning outcomes? • How might you bring even more attention to important parts of your syllabus?
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