The SyllabusCommunicating with the students

The importance of the Syllabus

It is the primary communication with students

The information that needs to be in an effective syllabus so that the students can:

Understand the structure of the course

Know expectations

Know the assignments

Know the assessment process (how will the students be graded)

(Simmonson, Smaldino, Albright, Zvacek, 2012)

Students learn personal

responsibility The student needs to know how to reach out to the instructor if he/she is struggling and needs extra help.

The student needs to know who to reach or what to do if he/she is experiencing technical difficulties.

CommunicationIt is the teacher’s responsibility to provide the preferred way of communicating with the students.

Provide an email address Let the students know the response time.

Let the students know that if they do not receive a response in a certain amount of time, they should reach out again.

Provide a phone number Let the students know what hours you will be available.

Let the students know how soon they can receive a call back.

Let the students know that if they have not heard a response in a certain amount of time, they should reach out again.

A Syllabus for online courses should:

Course Logistics

Course Policies

Instructional Activities

Assessment information

To help you develop your online syllabus a template is provided for your to make sure all of the pertinent information is included in your syllabus.

Please check the Online Teacher Handbook for the online syllabus template and a template for the course calendar.

References:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., Avacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance. Boston, Pearson.