Guide to an Effective Syllabus

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

An effective syllabus is a plan and a contract between teacher and student.  It answers questions familiar to you: who, what, when, where, why and how.  It lives in at least three time periods and serves different purposes in each.  Students need it for orientation on day one and for direction thereafter; colleagues may need it for a year or more, as a guide when they teach the same course and as evidence of your effectiveness as a teacher when they evaluate you for contract renewal or tenure.   

Preparing an effective syllabus forces you to think through what you want students to learn, when and how.  It forces you to select the teaching methods and organize the experiences that will best enable students to learn.  It helps your students and you pace your work load: their reporting and writing, your critiquing.     

An effective syllabus helps students plan their semester and meet their responsibilities in your course and in their other courses.  It helps them come to class prepared to learn what you want them to learn.

An effective syllabus helps you and your students stay on track, without blocking the exits and entrances.  It should allow you to be open to side trips, provided they enhance what you want your students to learn.

Your syllabus is an expression of your philosophy of teaching and learning at a point in time and contributes to the record of your approach to teaching a course over time.  It shows what you learned from the last time you taught the course and how you are keeping up with new knowledge and current professional practice.

COURSE TITLE, WITH ROOM NUMBER, DAYS, CLASS TIMES, YEAR

Please date your syllabus with actual dates – not simply “week one” or “week eight”.  If your room is outside the J School, please provide a link to a map. If there are logistical issues (e.g., your classroom is on a high floor of a building with a slow elevator), let them know so they can prepare accordingly. You may also want to let students know if they’ll get a break during class, and when.

YOUR FULL NAME, OFFICE NUMBER, OFFICE HOURS, PHONE NUMBERS AND E-MAIL ADDRESS  (SAME FOR ASSISTANT INSTRUCTOR) 

Students sometimes expect faculty to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  You cannot and should not be.  Nor are they available to you on demand.  Educate them to understand that you and they need time alone to prepare to come to class and to do the work: they to study, report and write; you to teach and critique. 

Make sure instead that they know when, where and how you are accessible to them.  By all means, protect your privacy.  You may consider your e-mail address to be access enough and choose not to share your telephone numbers.  Faculty members and students tend to live and work in different time zones -- faculty in the 9-to-5 zone, students in the mid-morning to post-midnight zone -- and may have different communication habits.  Some students expect instant responses to their emails or texts.  To guide their expectations, you may wish to state in your syllabus or on the first day of class when you read and respond to e-mail and text messages.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Explain concisely and interestingly what the course is about, why it is important, where it fits in the curriculum and how you will teach and your students will learn.  Is the method lecture-discussion, seminar, workshop, tutorial or a combination of all or some of these?

Will you use guest speakers?  Although they are a valuable resource, especially in New York, it is wise to use them sparingly.  However much you prepare your guests, they tend to do their own thing.  They can disrupt or redirect a course in ways that can take a session or two to correct.  The most important criteria for selecting guests are relevant expertise, experience and diversity.      

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In most journalism courses, students learn some combination of knowledge, values, competencies and behavior or discipline.  Where does this course fit in the sequence of courses the school requires?  What experience, knowledge and skills do students bring to your course?  What does the school expect students to learn in this course?

List the learning objectives for the course: specific knowledge, values, competencies and behaviors.

READINGS

List first the books and other materials you require students to buy. (These also need to be disclosed on Courseworks.) You will expect students to gather and present accurate, thorough and up-to-date information.  Model that expectation in your syllabus.  Provide complete citations: full name of author and book or article title, edition, publisher and date of publication.  It is also important that students use the edition you require.  For example, the content and rules in “The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law” change with each edition.

If you require students to buy a book, make sure you assign a significant proportion of the book across the semester and discuss the assigned reading in class.  Students resent buying a book the instructor rarely requires them to read and discuss.

Then list the other materials you expect students to read, watch and listen to throughout the course: Web sites, newspapers, magazines, television and radio programs and social networks.  (Students share the school's reverence for The New York Times but appreciate the opportunity to read and discuss – and compare their work with – other news sources  as well.) 

DIVERSITY

It is critical that your syllabus reflect a diversity of authors in many areas: gender, race, age, ethnicity and viewpoint. By doing this, you’ll provide your students the exposure they need to understand the complexity and richness of your subject matter.

PRIMARY WORK ASSIGNMENTS

Although you will incorporate tests and assignments in the class-by-class or week-by-week course outline, students appreciate having the due dates of the main reporting and writing assignments highlighted.  Often these increase in length and complexity as the semester progresses.  If possible, define the length for each. Information about due dates and length helps students plan the distribution of their effort in your course and in their other courses. 

Make sure that the number and timing of assignments enable you to critique each student’s work thoughtfully and return it promptly.

STANDARDS AND EVALUATION

A P is not a Pulitzer. “Pass” does not convey the level of mastery students have achieved in individual assignments or in the course as a whole.  Define your standards for excellent work and explain how you will communicate your evaluation of a student’s mastery of the learning objectives. You will also be able to give a small number of students honors. It’s a good idea to explain in your syllabus what factors could contribute to that designation.

COURSE POLICIES

State your policies on attendance, lateness, excuses and academic and professional dishonesty and stick to them.  Improvising policy on the spot invariably leads to inconsistency and unfairness. 

Consider stating a policy on student use of personal technology during class: laptops, cell phones, BlackBerrys, iPods, etc.  Will you permit the use of such devices at all times, restrict their use to certain times and purposes, or prohibit them entirely?

We tell students that they should assume all conversation in a class is off the record, unless previously stated otherwise. This can be important for guest speakers. It is also important so you and your students can talk freely and openly without concern that comments will appear on Twitter or Facebook for a global audience. If you have a different policy, or wish to re-emphasize this one, please do so in either the syllabus or early in the class.

Consider telling students here that the syllabus is a plan and a contract.  As a plan, it is subject to change because of events and opportunities that may arise.  As a contract, it defines the responsibilities of the teacher and of the student.  If circumstances dictate a change in course requirements and assignments, inform students as soon as possible and in writing. Announcing changes in class invariably leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding. 

A BRIEF BIO

Provide a brief bio, selecting from your education and experience what is relevant to the course.  Including a bio is not an act of vanity.  Students are curious about their teachers.

COURSE OUTLINE

Provide a class-by-class outline of topics and readings, if any, assigned for each.  (You may think it unnecessary to specify that students complete the reading before class.  Make that clear.  For students, everything is postponable.)  Include the dates of tests and exams and the due dates and deadlines for assignments.  Consider scheduling a midterm appointment with each student to review progress and concerns.  Every class has its quiet students; make sure they have an opportunity to talk with you.   

In deciding days and dates for each class session and assignment, check the university’s calendar for holidays.  Listing a topic, readings and an assignment for a day when classes are not in session can throw off your plan for the course.  Note also the calendar of religious holidays.  The university asks you to avoid conflicts with religious holidays if possible when you make assignments and set deadlines.  It expects you to find alternative ways for students to satisfy missed academic requirements. 

A BIBLIOGRAPHY

Some students may keep your syllabus as a resource for reflection and further learning. Consider providing a bibliography of books and articles you recommend to help them explore the subject at their leisure.   

BEST PRACTICES

Any work you prepare and present to others conveys something about your pride in the craft and art you practice and teach.  The purpose of your syllabus is to educate and inform, but it should not read as if issued by OSHA or Aetna.  Its purpose is also to inspire.  Let your love for what you do and your personality show through.  Just make sure the person in the syllabus is consistent with the person who shows up in class.  Do not come on as Mr. Chips in the syllabus, then rule as Attila the Hun over the classroom.  Fear, by the way, may concentrate the mind right now; it rarely nurtures a love of lifelong learning.

In your syllabus, establish the tone you want for your classroom.  If you want a formal classroom and relationship with students, use “the instructor” and “the student” or “students.”  If you want a more informal learning environment, use “I,” “you” and ”we.”     

Model the writing you are striving to teach: active voice, clarity, conciseness and correctness.  If you require students to conform to AP style, do so in your syllabus as well.

Use effective layout and design to make the syllabus readable and accessible through subheads, paragraphing and white space.

The reward in this digital age for all your thought and planning is that your syllabus is a click away from eternity.  Hit “Save” and your syllabus is forever.  In the panic before classes begin next semester, you need only change the dates.  There is the trap.  So consider using your syllabus, particularly the course outline section, as a professional diary.  Find a moment after each class to reflect on what worked well, what not so well.  Note any problem on your syllabus as a reminder not to repeat that topic, approach or assignment the next time you teach the course.    

Your syllabus is a living document.  It must change as knowledge and professional practice change.  It should change, too, as your mastery of the craft and art of teaching grows.  Because the work is never done, some students’ apparent disdain for your thought and planning may discourage you.  They lose your syllabus.  Their questions suggest they never read it.  Keep in mind then what an effective syllabus does for you where the action is:  in the classroom, in your office in one-on-one discussion and in your study as you pour your expertise and experience into developing students’ knowledge and skills and educating the next generation of journalists.