Posts Tagged ‘Using the Syllabus’

August 24 - What Does Your Syllabus Say About You and Your Course?

By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Teaching Professor Blog

A colleague shared an excellent but not yet published paper on the syllabus. It got me thinking as this is the time most of us are revisiting these venerable documents. Oh, I know, some of you finished yours back in May when the semester ended. And then there are the rest of us who are working on them feverishly as the beginning of new academic year quickly approaches.


March 23 - What Students Expect from Instructors, Other Students

By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Teaching and Learning

Some years back The Teaching Professor featured an article highlighting Mano Singham’s wonderful piece describing how he moved away from a very authoritarian, rule-centered syllabus (reference below). It’s one of my very favorite articles—I reference it regularly in presentations, and it appears on almost every bibliography I distribute.


January 13 - Making the Most of the First Day of Class

By: Rob Kelly in Effective Classroom Management

The first day of class is an important time. In addition to the usual housekeeping tasks that need to be accomplished, there are other critical functions of the first day of class – not the least of which involves setting the tone for the course.


August 24 - Using the Syllabus to Create an Engaging Classroom Climate

By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Effective Teaching Strategies

It’s important at the beginning of a course for students and their instructor to find out about each other. This exchange of information helps to create classroom climates of respect and fosters a spirit of exchange that can encourage students to ask questions, make comments, and otherwise participate in dialogue throughout the course.


May 18 - Student-Centered Teaching: The Academic Leader’s Role in Shifting Paradigms

By: Mary Bart in Teaching and Learning

During the past 10 years or so, higher education institutions have made strides in transitioning from an instructor-centered approach to a learner-centered approach to teaching. These strides, both large and small, have transformed the college classroom environment to provide students with greater opportunities for active learning, collaboration, and engagement.


September 1 - Using the Syllabus to Lay Down the Law

By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Effective Classroom Management

“You will submit three projects.” “I expect regular participation.” “You must attend class.” “Students bear sole responsibility for ensuring that papers…submitted electronically to the professor are received in a timely manner.” The “arrogant tone” and “imperial commands” (p. 51) are an all-too-familiar part of syllabi for college courses, writes Mano Singham in the article cited