Syllabus Overview: Familiarizing Students with Expectations

A syllabus overview covers the important policies and activities in your course. Your syllabus is more than just the outline of your course -- it is your course handbook.   It includes important information to guide your students to success and you want them to be familiar with it.  It is the rare student who reads the full syllabus. They usually flip to the points they care about such as the textbook, the number of assignments, and when they are due. All instructors have  dealt with student questions that were addressed in the syllabus, but the students had never read the information.  That is why an overview that covers the important policies is needed.

 

On the first day of class you probably don't read every part of the syllabus in class, but just highlight the important elements. You can focus the student's attention on these elements in several different ways that don't use up live session time.

Video overview

Record a screencast where you review the important parts of the syllabus just as you would have done in class. Post the video in the same page as the syllabus document. 

Tip: You can have the syllabus file auto-open in the page. Students will see the full document without needing to download or click the preview button. They can't say that they didn't see it. [How to auto-open a file in a page Links to an external site.]

Scavenger Hunt / Quiz

Create a quiz or assignment with questions that force your students to read the syllabus to find the answers. The questions cover the elements you would have reviewed with them in class. Use the Canvas Quiz tool Links to an external site., or get creative and make it a game to find the information and submit the completed document as a Canvas Assignment upload.

You can make the assignment required and prevent other materials in the week or the course from releasing until it is complete. [How to set requirements on modules Links to an external site.]

Sign a Contract

If you normally have your students sign a learning contract or other document stating they have received and read the policies for your class or program, you can do that online as well.

Create a Canvas assignment with a text box submission. Place all the documents to be read in the assignment instructions. Then tell your students to write something similar to this in the text box and submit

You must acknowledge receipt, understanding, and agreement to the documents by typing the following into the text box below:

I have read and understood the course requirements. I agree to follow the expectations as outlined in the syllabus and Course Contract.

[Type Your Name]

You can make the assignment required and prevent other materials in the week or the course from releasing until it is complete. [How to set requirements on modules Links to an external site.]

 

In a live session, you will want to share your syllabus document on screen while you talk about it.  

• Have your syllabus open on your computer before starting your live session.  This will save you loading time and make it easier to find in the screenshare selector.
  
  
• Increase the zoom in Word or Adobe Reader so that the section you are discussing fills the screen. This will make it easier for your students to read.
  
  
• Use the annotation tools to underline or highlight the portions you want students to pay attention to.
  
  
• If you have the students muted, have them write their questions in chat or raise their hands so you can unmute them and enable them to ask their question.

Check out Zoom: Everything you need to know for links to guides and tutorials.