This document compares and contrasts syllabi used in traditional and nontraditional classrooms. Syllabi for traditional courses typically include instructor information, office hours, course details, academic integrity policies, meeting times, descriptions, grades, and attendance policies. Recent additions include learning objectives and clarification of terms. For online courses, the syllabus serves as both a schedule and homepage, laying out all course requirements clearly. Online syllabi must require no verbal clarification and accommodate geographic flexibility. The document emphasizes that the syllabus establishes expectations and acts as a contract between students and instructors. It should be well-written, coherent, and visually effective as it models expected work.

1. Compare and Contrast
Syllabi in traditional and nontraditional classrooms.

2. What items are on syllabi for
traditional courses?

3. What items are on syllabi for
traditional courses?
● Instructor Info
● Office Hours
● Course website
● Course Info
● Academic Integrity
● Meeting Time
● Description
● Important Dates
● Grades/Tasks
● Attendance Policy
● ADA
● Book

4. Recent additions
● Course objectives/SLOs
● Information that would have been on a rubric
● Clarification on words like “participation”

5. “Increasingly, the syllabus has come to be the contract
between students and instructor, laying out the terms of
the class interaction -- the expected responsibilities and
duties, the grading criteria, the musts and don’ts of
behavior.” [1]

6. “For virtual classroom courses, the syllabus is the skeleton
that articulates the course. It is the most important page in
an online course. It serves as both menu and home page. It
lays out the schedule, requirements, and activities of the
whole course. It is the one place where learners can find all
the requirements of the course. The syllabus may be long,
but it should be clearly organized and attractively.” [2]

7. Different Rules
● The syllabus becomes the roadmap as well
as the contract
● Must require zero verbal clarification
● Consider geographic and logistic flexibility

8. Online Syllabi
All of those other things, plus the following [3]:
● Info on online office hours
● Technical requirements
● Learning Environment
● Info on assignment submission, late policies
● Participation standards (netiquette)
● Weekly schedules

9. Faculty Institute, 2012
“The syllabus is (probably) the first example
students will see of your professional writing –
make it polished, coherent, visually effective –
aim for excellence in content, writing, and
presentation.”

10. Faculty Institute, 2012, cont.
“The syllabus is the first model of what written
work in the course should look like. Don’t
distribute a syllabus that looks like it was typed
up the night before the first class – unless that’s
the kind of work you expect from students.”

11. References
[1] Creating an Effective Online Syllabus. Web. (2006). 11 Aug. 2014.
<http://college.hmco.com/instructors/catalog/walkthroughs/pdf/walk_061800042
9_4.pdf>
[2] Horton, W. (2011). E-learning by design. John Wiley and Sons.
[3] Stanley, Kristen. ONLINE SYLLABUS CHECKLIST: ESSENTIAL
ELEMENTS FOR AN EFFECTIVE ONLINE SYLLABUS. Kristen Stanley,
Angelo State University. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
<http://www.angelo.edu/faculty/kstanley/EDITProgram/EDITPracticum/SecTwo/
docs/Online Syllabus Checklist PDF.pdf>.

12. References, cont.
[4] D. N. Devoss. WRA 360. https://www.msu.edu/~devossda/360/index.html
[5] 2012 Faculty Institute Discussion on Syllabi. D. Garrison. bit.ly/1pL7dk1