The Online Syllabus: A Roadmap to Success
A well designed online syllabus explains how the class will unfold, faculty expectations, student responsibilities, office hours, assignments, projects, assessments, rubrics, grading criteria, and technology tools– as well as incorporates important links, examples, and contact information. This post serves as the roadmap for your course guiding the student to success.
Here are some tips for creating an online syllabus:
- Specific directions that clearly state your expectations, sequencing of assignments, and specifications for writing assignments
- Explain the course organization (i.e. each week begins on Monday and ends on Friday)
- Note where students can get technical support and your availability for online office hours
- Class participation should be clearly stated with regards to the grading criteria
- Note the expected behavior in discussion boards; include an example to follow and rubric for grading responses
- Strive to provide feedback on all work/questions within 24 hours
- Provide detailed instructions for students, including student roles and responsibilities for group work, assignments, projects, and assessments
- State your late work and plagiarism policies
- Allow at least two days between assignments so you can get them graded and returned before the next deliverable is due
- Remember students may be in different time zones or working during the day when assigning due dates; Elon students do the bulk of their classwork between 2am and 5am
- Create a calendar of work to keep students on track
- Write material in a conversational tone with an active voice
- Clearly state learning objectives in the syllabus and directly tie each assignment, learning activity, or post to an objective
Recommended readings
Effective Online Teaching – Foundations and Strategies for Student Success, 2011, Tina Stavredes
Follow
Comments are closed.