While your department chair most likely has models of syllabi from veteran professors, below are listed some of the basics that many instructors include in their syllabi.

(Contact Information)

SECTIONS: Time and Location
OFFICE HR: Time and Location
PHONE: Leave message with ___ at ____
E-MAIL: Optional
WEBSITE: Optional

(Vital information about your course)

COURSE PURPOSE/ DESCRIPTION

COURSE STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES/GOALS/ OBJECTIVES

TEXTS/ MATERIALS

CLASS STRUCTURE/ FORMAT and EXPECTATIONS

Co-Requisites or Prerequisites

Class Structure: Give students an idea of what to expect. Will lecture be followed by groupwork? Are labs required?

Course Requirements: List important assignments and due dates. Instructors often list the general categories in the overview (readings, journals, lab notebooks, quizzes, research project, essays, exams), and then provide a more specific daily listing of topics and assignments.

Evaluation: List criteria by which you will decide on grades. Explain point system or percentages for process and product. Process refers to "how" (effort shown by strategies used, groupwork, in-class participation) and product refers to "what" was created or accomplished (e.g., essays in portfolio; a number of nursing modules completed).

ACCESSIBILITY

Please include in your syllabus a statement about accommodations to ensure accessibility for students with disabilities. Dr. Janet Shapiro, Coordinator of Disabled Student Programs & Services (DSPS, ext. 2364), provides the following model as an example:

“Students with disabilities who are requesting accommodations should use the following SBCC procedure: contact the DSPS office, present documentation of disability for review by a disabilities specialist, discuss options for support through DSPS, and present a signed DSPS authorization for accommodation to your instructor.”

CLASS ETIQUETTE

If you want the students to know what behavior you expect from them, here is the place to list it. If you develop class rules with the class, tell them so.

Clarify your policy regarding timeliness, i.e., attendance, tardies, late work.

Eg.: "PLEASE NOTE re. Attendance and Tardies: Tardies count against your attendance. More than (#) absences will result in _____ (tell consequences). Please be polite to others by arriving on time to class as you would to a job. Patterns started in school seem to transfer to jobs." (Note: In order to enact recording tardies, you need a seating chart or an assistant to record minutes on the role sheet for you.)

The 2000 Student Success entries on "Class Etiquette" share what professors have done. Choose "Student Success", and then "2000".

You may include references to the "Student Code of Conduct" (Student Schedule of Classes), the "Academic Honesty Policy", and "Disruptive Behavior Guidelines". For information about these at SBCC, call 965-0581, ext. 2596, or perhaps ask your dept. chair. Many teachers are including statements about Academic Honesty and the use of software, i.e. Turnitin, to check for plagiarism on essays or reports.

Optional quote. Eg.: "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Thomas Edison

Structured Model 1: For each day of the class, list the following (or the terms suited to your course format and style):

Date:	Tu., 9/5
Topic:	TOWER, a writing strategy: O = Organize
Instructions*:	Read pp. 21 - 39 in the course packet.
Key Concepts:	Graphic Organizers for Visual-Spatial or Global Learners and Outlines for Linear-Sequential Learners
Questions to Keep in Mind:	How to identify essentials & create a structure?

*This shows what to do before class. Some call it "Assignments" or "Preparation".

Note how John Herum, English Professor Emeritus, Washington State University, integrated Student Success concepts with the content: eg., time log for teaching time management.

Date and Topic	Handouts, Directions and Assignments*
Aug. 28 The Writing Process: terms defined (Students can write in instructions given in class on both sides of this table.)	Handouts: (list by number) Start a personal time log. Read Crews, pp. 54-65. Write a letter of introduction (due 9/4)

* The handouts, directions and assignments can be separated in different columns using the matrix diagram. Simply add on more boxes to the right and label. Print out with a landscape format, or horizontally.

It is very helpful for students who learn visually to include a long term calendar on which major due dates, assignments and tests are listed for the whole semester, or at least the first few months. This is crucial for students who need to arrange for accommodations, i.e., extended time on tests or textbooks on tape.

Mark Ferrer, of SBCC's Faculty Resource Center, has designed an online Syllabus Maker, part of the Teacher Hub.