PFS: Course Syllabi

Rachel Lindhart Author

08/12/2020 Added

13 Plays

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What is a syllabus and how do I use it?

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[00:00:06.574]Hi! My name is Dr. Kathy Castle and I'm
[00:00:08.920]an associate professor of practice in the
[00:00:10.685]department of Communication studies which
[00:00:12.710]is within the College of Arts and Sciences.
[00:00:15.110]My role today is to talk with you a little
[00:00:17.261]bit about course syllabi, or the syllabus
[00:00:20.508]that you receive at the start of classes
[00:00:22.987]every semester.
[00:00:24.236]A course syllabi is essentially,
[00:00:26.616]you can think about it like a contract
[00:00:28.403]between the instructor or the professor
[00:00:30.671]and the student.
[00:00:32.773]So this really lays out from a bird's eye
[00:00:35.203]view what your course is going to look
[00:00:37.114]like for this semester.
[00:00:38.709]It includes contact information for your
[00:00:40.906]professors or your instructor, how you can
[00:00:43.402]get ahold of them, when are some good
[00:00:45.227]times to reach them; it includes required
[00:00:47.471]course material; it includes assignments,
[00:00:51.299]point breakdowns, the grade scale for the
[00:00:54.132]course, course policies and expectations
[00:00:58.622]for students in the course, and then a
[00:01:00.823]course schedule with assigned readings
[00:01:03.652]for every class period, and assigned due
[00:01:05.782]dates for all of the assignments in the
[00:01:07.486]course.
[00:01:08.366]This is something that you are given at
[00:01:09.846]the start of the semester and you would
[00:01:12.286]be really well advised to take advantage
[00:01:15.140]of having that information at the
[00:01:16.555]beginning of the semester for a whole lot
[00:01:18.365]of reasons. The first thing that you are
[00:01:21.266]going to want to do when you get this is
[00:01:23.077]really sit down and review the policies.
[00:01:25.374]It is very tempting just to take a quick
[00:01:27.459]look at it, put it away, and maybe
[00:01:29.550]reference it once or twice through the
[00:01:31.101]semester; but you really miss out on some
[00:01:32.692]important information if you aren't
[00:01:34.803]actually engaging with the syllabus and
[00:01:36.494]taking a really in depth look at it right
[00:01:38.437]from the very beginning.
[00:01:39.517]So, I am just going to take a minute to
[00:01:41.190]go through each of the different sections
[00:01:43.173]of the syllabus and make sure that you
[00:01:45.041]understand what they are and what kind
[00:01:46.461]of information that you can find;
[00:01:47.709]but also give you some tips on how to use
[00:01:49.387]the syllabus to help you be successful
[00:01:51.701]right from the very beginning.
[00:01:53.831]So, the first thing is your course
[00:01:55.847]syllabus for every one of your courses is
[00:01:58.670]going to be located somewhere within
[00:02:01.395]Canvas. So it is either going to be built
[00:02:03.317]within the Canvas learning management
[00:02:04.638]system itself, which you are going to see
[00:02:06.208]that right here. If you come over to your
[00:02:09.403]learning management system you will see
[00:02:10.890]an area called syllabus. Some professors
[00:02:12.650]will build the policies and information
[00:02:14.550]directly into the learning management
[00:02:16.899]system. However, the more common practice,
[00:02:20.035]at least for right now, is to create a PDF
[00:02:23.789]with all of this information that gets
[00:02:25.359]posted in the Canvas course for each of
[00:02:31.310]your courses or it is handed out. So, it
[00:02:34.570]can be either of the two, or often both.
[00:02:37.995]So, what you are going to find here at the
[00:02:40.454]very beginning, at the very top, is the
[00:02:42.547]professor's name, the class time, and
[00:02:44.405]the meeting space. If there is a phone
[00:02:46.715]number for you to use, you can use that,
[00:02:49.224]but I will tell you that most of us do not
[00:02:50.811]have phones in our offices. We typically
[00:02:53.191]are very responsive to email. So, that
[00:02:55.568]would be the best way to reach out.
[00:02:57.554]Then you are going to see where our
[00:02:58.829]office is located on campus and a listing
[00:03:01.355]of office hours. I just want to be very
[00:03:03.653]clear that office hours really means
[00:03:06.907]student hours. Those are hours that we
[00:03:09.489]take and we put aside every single week,
[00:03:12.153]specifically dedicated to students who
[00:03:15.322]are in the courses that we're teaching.
[00:03:16.876]So, those are your very specific times
[00:03:19.162]outside of class that you can just drop
[00:03:21.031]in and come and ask questions, make
[00:03:24.440]comments about what you are learning in
[00:03:26.161]the course; if there is something that
[00:03:27.293]wasn't clear to you in the course you can
[00:03:28.898]use that time to ask questions or get a
[00:03:31.134]little bit more in depth explanation.
[00:03:33.119]This is a really great opportunity every
[00:03:35.355]single week, regularly, that you can sit
[00:03:37.452]down and talk with your professor. But,
[00:03:39.821]sometimes those office hours are in
[00:03:42.072]conflict with another class that your
[00:03:43.430]taking or some other obligation that you
[00:03:45.107]have and if that's what happening for you,
[00:03:47.538]then certainly email your professor and
[00:03:50.239]see if you can set up an appointment to
[00:03:51.841]have a conversation if you have questions
[00:03:53.696]or if you need some clarification on
[00:03:56.062]something. This course syllabus will also
[00:04:00.631]generally include an overview of the
[00:04:02.182]course. It will include some sort of
[00:04:04.317]course learning outcomes, or course
[00:04:07.020]objectives, that you will be
[00:04:09.072]positioned to learn and to master over the
[00:04:11.493]course of the semester. You will also
[00:04:13.891]see some of the required materials for
[00:04:15.902]the course. You are going to see
[00:04:17.543]the required textbook listed there; often
[00:04:19.878]times there will be other outside
[00:04:21.662]readings that your professors will most
[00:04:24.312]often put together and post in your Canvas
[00:04:26.551]shell if they are able to do that or if
[00:04:28.767]there is additional readings that they
[00:04:30.393]need you to pick up, they will let you
[00:04:32.542]know there. Some of the other things that
[00:04:35.072]are going to be included here are going
[00:04:36.778]to be some of the course expectations.
[00:04:38.846]So, you are going to see that in here you
[00:04:41.118]are going to see how students are expected
[00:04:43.618]to interact with one another in the class,
[00:04:45.759]interact with the professor, the
[00:04:48.544]expectations around coming to class
[00:04:50.128]prepared, and what it means to be prepared
[00:04:51.946]for class. I can tell you that most often
[00:04:54.287]what that means is that when there's been
[00:04:56.358]reading assigned or something assigned for
[00:04:58.666]a specific day, you come to class that day
[00:05:01.560]having done that reading, having watched
[00:05:04.334]whatever online lecture has been posted,
[00:05:06.818]or having reviewed whatever material is
[00:05:09.003]listed there. So, your class time will be
[00:05:11.763]spent discussing something that has been
[00:05:13.836]assigned to you and that your professor
[00:05:15.828]will assume that you have read and thought
[00:05:17.826]about. So, that's going to be an
[00:05:19.369]important part. You will also see
[00:05:21.210]policies and expectations around
[00:05:22.730]attendance, participation in class; so you
[00:05:27.020]are going to have some professors that
[00:05:28.724]require attendance, some that allow a
[00:05:31.496]certain number of absences before it
[00:05:33.368]starts to affect your grade, and others
[00:05:34.787]that don't require attendance but just
[00:05:37.032]that you keep up with things. So every
[00:05:38.682]single course you take will have a
[00:05:40.811]different attendance policy that you need
[00:05:42.853]to be able to keep track of and
[00:05:44.292]understand so that you are doing what you
[00:05:46.504]need to do to be successful in the
[00:05:48.153]course. It is really important to
[00:05:50.388]recognize that while some of you may be
[00:05:52.409]coming from situations were there was
[00:05:54.599]just one uniform policy across all of your
[00:05:57.167]courses, that is not the case here. So,
[00:06:00.239]right now, coming into the University of
[00:06:02.120]Nebraska-Lincoln, all of your courses are
[00:06:04.471]going to have distinct policies around
[00:06:06.273]attendance or participation and what's
[00:06:08.576]expected to be considered well-engaged
[00:06:10.507]in the course. You are going to have
[00:06:12.174]different kinds of policies around late
[00:06:13.848]work. Whether or not you will have some
[00:06:17.333]courses that won't accept any late work at
[00:06:19.356]all if you don't turn it in by the due
[00:06:21.675]date, you just don't turn it in and it's
[00:06:23.233]assigned a zero; others will allow for
[00:06:25.497]late work to be turned in, but often at a
[00:06:27.522]penalty and often, only for a certain
[00:06:30.096]length of time past the due date. So, it's
[00:06:32.617]really important for you to be very
[00:06:34.265]mindful of what those polices are so that
[00:06:36.252]you can think about that and understand
[00:06:38.486]what to expect if you run into that
[00:06:40.362]situation in your experience with the
[00:06:42.089]course. You'll also see policies that are
[00:06:46.958]around academic honesty, plagiarism;
[00:06:51.511]obviously some of these things are
[00:06:53.088]specific to the Student Code of Conduct
[00:06:54.696]and so, that is defined there. But, your
[00:06:57.180]course will be very clear about what will
[00:06:58.931]happen in the event of a suspected
[00:07:01.188]plagiarism or academic dishonesty. So, you
[00:07:03.899]will have to be very aware of those
[00:07:05.239]policies and really, that's for you to be
[00:07:07.596]able to ensure that you can avoid those
[00:07:10.296]problems; and if you have any questions
[00:07:11.975]about it, certainly talk with your
[00:07:13.597]professor in advance of running into any
[00:07:15.962]problems. It is always better to have that
[00:07:18.060]conversation beforehand if you have
[00:07:20.158]questions about it. You will see other
[00:07:22.338]kinds of policies. Some of you may have
[00:07:24.900]registered with the office for Services
[00:07:28.951]with Students with Disabilities, or SSD.
[00:07:31.369]If that's you, then each of your courses
[00:07:33.864]will have a policy here to encourage you
[00:07:36.155]to be sure that you are working directly
[00:07:38.256]with the professor to be sure that all of
[00:07:40.097]those accommodations are in place prior
[00:07:42.091]to the start of the semester or prior to
[00:07:43.976]the start of the class. You will also
[00:07:46.763]see policies around expectations for
[00:07:48.951]engaging with feedback. So, often times your
[00:07:51.465]professors will offer feedback on
[00:07:52.883]assignments in the beginning of the
[00:07:54.111]semester or the middle of the semester
[00:07:56.419]and the expectation is that you're
[00:07:57.849]reviewing that feedback and if there's any
[00:07:59.416]questions or concerns, you're coming to
[00:08:01.206]work with your professor right away, after
[00:08:03.879]having digested that feedback. So, some of
[00:08:06.179]us have policies similar to what's called
[00:08:08.604]the 24/7 Rule, where you need to take
[00:08:11.791]a minimum of 24 hours to think through
[00:08:13.866]what that feedback is and then if you
[00:08:16.150]have questions about that feedback, then
[00:08:18.018]within 7 days, you should be visiting
[00:08:19.792]with your professor to get clarification.
[00:08:22.419]This is really in place, or policies like
[00:08:24.730]this, if your courses have them, are in
[00:08:27.779]place to support your learning so that
[00:08:30.096]you are really working with the content
[00:08:32.363]as your getting the feedback back and
[00:08:34.899]using whatever feedback you get to build
[00:08:37.467]toward a better approach to the next
[00:08:39.351]assignment. So be sure that you're working
[00:08:41.301]with that and engaging in that way.
[00:08:44.321]You'll see policies around grade appeals
[00:08:48.432]and incompletes and things along those
[00:08:50.057]lines. The other part to your syllabus
[00:08:52.314]that is really important for you to pay
[00:08:53.442]attention to at the beginning of the
[00:08:54.929]semester and throughout are the different
[00:08:56.823]kinds of assignments, exams, and quizzes
[00:08:59.381]that are going to be expected of you,
[00:09:01.599]that you will be taking throughout the
[00:09:02.980]course of the semester itself. You'll
[00:09:05.261]also see the point breakdown for each of
[00:09:07.024]those. So, if you take a look at the
[00:09:08.412]course syllabus, you'll see a brief
[00:09:09.777]description of each of those kinds of
[00:09:11.269]assignments and in doing that, you're
[00:09:14.138]going to note that there are certain
[00:09:17.016]numbers of points associated with each
[00:09:18.640]one. As you go through, then you will
[00:09:21.135]have an understanding of how you can earn
[00:09:22.859]points in the class to be successful and
[00:09:25.477]you'll also get a sense for being able to
[00:09:27.544]track sort of where your grade is as you
[00:09:29.745]get feedback and grades back. Something
[00:09:32.809]else to keep in mind is that you will also
[00:09:36.396]have a grading scale in your syllabus.
[00:09:38.764]So, something else there is you'll see, um. . .
[00:09:43.753]sometimes its the percentage that you're
[00:09:45.350]earning and it will be associated with a
[00:09:46.941]particular grade, the letter grade that
[00:09:48.668]gets assigned at the end of the semester;
[00:09:50.552]other times it is broken down by total
[00:09:52.387]points, but there will be a clear grading
[00:09:54.020]scale in this course syllabus so that you
[00:09:56.639]can have a pretty clear sense over the
[00:09:58.556]course of the semester where you stand in
[00:10:00.857]the course as you get your feedback back.
[00:10:04.532]And then the last thing that I want to
[00:10:05.650]touch on here is the course schedule.
[00:10:08.361]So, you are going to see at the very
[00:10:09.602]beginning of the semester when specific
[00:10:11.675]readings are going to be due, what you
[00:10:13.547]have to come prepared for each class having
[00:10:15.545]read and thought about; so the assingments
[00:10:17.232]and readings that are due for each class
[00:10:18.963]period, assume that you've read that
[00:10:21.970]assignment or read that reading for that
[00:10:24.473]class period so you can be prepared to
[00:10:26.540]have a discussion about it. So, you'll go
[00:10:29.051]through and look at that, and then you're
[00:10:31.042]going to see when assignments themselves
[00:10:33.077]are due. So, you're going to see very clearly
[00:10:34.748]that on this particular date, this first assignment
[00:10:39.064]will be due: the critical reflection journal
[00:10:40.803]for this particular class. So what you
[00:10:44.766]will want to do in this regard is go through
[00:10:47.034]at the very beginning of your semester
[00:10:48.901]across all of your syllabi and identify
[00:10:51.324]what the due dates are for all of them.
[00:10:53.804]So, the Center for Academic Success and Transition
[00:10:57.073]has created a syllabus matrix, and it
[00:11:00.159]looks like this. So, what is does is it
[00:11:04.541]encourages you to take the syllabi you have
[00:11:06.777]for each of your courses at the very
[00:11:08.167]beginning of your semester and lay out
[00:11:10.262]what the title, the instructor, the
[00:11:12.563]contact information, the different kinds
[00:11:15.129]of policies, so the absence policy so you
[00:11:17.465]understand what it is to miss a class and
[00:11:19.316]what kind of implications there are for
[00:11:20.633]missing a class. Late policies is another
[00:11:22.901]one you might think about, paying
[00:11:25.886]attention and making a note of. But a
[00:11:28.487]really, really important part of this
[00:11:30.085]matrix that's really important for you to
[00:11:31.572]pay attention to is that it has a place
[00:11:33.375]for you to put all of your assignment due
[00:11:35.139]dates, all of the test dates, your final
[00:11:37.710]exam date and time; so you've got it all there.
[00:11:40.475]And I would encourage you to even go a step
[00:11:42.594]further with this and get a master calendar
[00:11:45.445]that you pull out at the beginning of the
[00:11:47.136]semester and you put all of your assignments,
[00:11:49.463]your tests, your quizzes, and your finals;
[00:11:52.832]all written down for all of your classes
[00:11:54.532]so that at any given week, you have a very
[00:11:57.117]clear sense of how busy your week is and
[00:12:00.101]what's all coming due and you can look at,
[00:12:02.186]you know, week 7 of the semester and say,
[00:12:04.156]"Oh my gosh, that's a week where I have a
[00:12:05.705]lot of tests and some big projects due."
[00:12:07.739]And so those weeks leading up to it,
[00:12:09.923]rather than being caught off guard, you can
[00:12:12.014]use those first two to three weeks ahead
[00:12:14.075]of that week to start working ahead and
[00:12:16.586]getting ready for that week. So, this is a
[00:12:19.429]really good strategy. A really important
[00:12:21.215]part of managing your syllabi is looking
[00:12:23.710]to the course due dates across all of your
[00:12:25.947]courses and making sure you are clear on
[00:12:28.599]sort of how everything falls together to
[00:12:30.920]affect how you are going to manage your time.
[00:12:33.448]So, hopefully this has been a helpful
[00:12:35.118]introduction to what your course syllabi are.
[00:12:37.473]I really encourage you to be proactive in
[00:12:39.730]reading through your course syllabi and
[00:12:41.234]making sure you are clear on things; and where
[00:12:42.938]you have questions be sure you're working
[00:12:44.956]with your professors. Thank you!

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PFS: Course Syllabi

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