Developing A Syllabus For A Class You Haven't Taught Before

I'm putting together a class syllabus for a graduate course that I have not taught before.  I'm excited about the possibilities but also feeling a little overwhelmed at the same time.

Some of the questions I'm asking myself during this process include:

• What am I trying to do in this course?  What do I want the students to know or be able to do after taking this course?
• What kind of background do the students have in this subject?
• What topics am I going to cover?  How will I tie the various topics together?
• What teaching methods will I use?  What percent of lecture, discussion, experiential exercises, and cases do I want?  What application activities might be appropriate? 
• What can I do to encourage them to do the readings and participate in class?
• How will I know if the students are learning?  What evaluation tools will I use?
• How will I balance the amount of work I assign the students with my own work schedule so that I can give them prompt and useful feedback on assignments and papers?
• What can I do the first day of class to get the students excited about the course? 

Two more weeks before classes begin!  I'm curious how others approach putting together a syllabus for a new course...

Comments

[Tom Haskins]

I've found it helpful to develop a syllabus in two, very separate steps. First I make an outline of the content without regard to the students or the time constraints. I simply get the organization of the material please me. This process gets the course clear in my mind. I realize other dimensions, examples, tie-ins to other topics, etc-- in this process. If I stopped here the course would be perfectly clear to understand, but boring, low retention and little takeaway value.

Next I see the course from the students' viewpoint. Why am I here? What do I want out of this? How could this possibly be interesting to me? Where am I going to apply this in other courses or out in the world? I brainstorm answers to these questions which give me "use cases" to satisfy. I then mess up my beautiful outline with pauses to doubt what I'm saying, question the value, confuse two issues, etc. From these imagined disruptions, I develop tradeoffs to think about, issues for groups to discuss and projects to explore the bigger questions.

I then edit the sequence for the time available, and balance each session between smooth delivery and messy "disruptions".

[Richard Miller]

I have a standard model that I have applied to syllabi ever since I learned it as a technical writer for tutorial writing:

1. Abstract of the course.
2. Description of prerequisite knowledge (or not, as the case may be).
3. List of skills students should have after finishing the course.
4. List of core resources (usually texts, but sometimes recordings, video etc.).
5. Description of course structure and grading.
6. Quick outline of course sections and deadlines suitable for posting on a refrigerator door.

I typically work back and forth between these 6 elements until I'm basically satisfied, and then start going in detail day by day. The process (for me) is very similar to writing articles or papers, for which I alternate abstracting, outlining, and writing text. When I'm done, the 6 elements form the first page or two of the syllabus, and the students have a clear idea what the point of the class is, what they'll get out of it, and how they'll get that out it--and so do I.

I work up a separate pair of assessment plans, incidentally, one for student learning and the other for my teaching. Often I don't start those until I'm a little ways into the course. I like to be flexible and respond to student interests, so it's not worth getting too detailed on assessment until I'm certain the class has settled in.

I'm happy to share samples, if you're curious.

[Ellen Weber]

Great ideas floating around here already -- but yesterday I created my syllabus for a new class I'd not taught before and so the topic caught my eye. The course is at the doctoral level and it's called BRAIN BASED LEARNING AND LEADING FOR ENTREPRENEURS. I start with a two footed question and the course ends with a book we'll publish together on the topics of this course. Once my bookends (opening question and final outcome) are set the course seems to fall into place well. Just 2-bits to add to the great ideas already tossed into the ring here;-) Good luck!

[Delaney Kirk]

I love your approach Tom. One of my constraints for this class on Leadership is time...I only have seven weeks with the students. However, by looking at it also from the students' viewpoint, I think I can put together an interesting class. Thanks for your input.

[Delaney Kirk]

Richard, I would love to see samples (and to share these with other profs). Can you email me this?

[Delaney Kirk]

Ellen, I'm interested to hear how the final product for your class turns out. Thanks for coming by and commenting...And I love your blog!

[Richard Miller]

Certainly, I'll email you some samples. You can do as you like with them--I consider them public documents. Let me know what you think about them.

[LAZY Blogger]

I'll have to pass this one on to my daughter-in-law who teaches college english and seems like she always is stressing put over trying to get yet another syllabus ready for the NEXT class she is teaching. ~ jb///

[Delaney Kirk]

Tell her to contact me if I can help. The good thing about my having a new prep is that I've been teaching for 26 years so there is a little less stress on creating a new course.

[Leslie Madsen-Brooks]

Great questions!

I recently co-taught a syllabus-writing workshop where one of my fellow presenters offered simply these three questions:

1. How will my students be changed by this course?
2. By what methods will I effect this change?
3. How will I know this change has taken place?

While these are broad questions, I really like how they force instructors to think more philosophically. (The workshop emphasized pretty heavily the importance of having thought through one's teaching philosophy.)

I'm thinking about these things because I'm about to teach my first course for grad students in a field in which I've never taught, but which was the subject of my dissertation. I'm excited--and a bit anxious for the first time in years!

[Delaney Kirk]

Thanks Leslie...You've really put the essence of what we are doing in a course into three questions!

[MirmNoinmem]

Sounds intersting.. Sometimes I can't help but show you my purple bedroom Sorry, for off top, i wanna tell one joke) What did the robot have to do before she wore any earrings? She had to get her gears pierced.

[EZWilliam]

I read some of the posts and I think it is a great place! Are you trying to play with my hype faculty I have a fresh joke for you) Why did the bald man put a bunny on his head? He wanted a full head of hare.