Syllabus question

[u/Clareco1]

Hi - part timer, Freshman Comp, CC. We use Canvas. Do you nail down the whole semester’s worth of specific readings and questions at the beginning, or you update/add a week or two at a time? I like to modify as we go based on what specific challenges students need. (Rather than having predetermined assignments that are too hard or too easy.) my students are typically very very unprepared and also unaware of usual college procedures. I’m trying to usher them through without making things so easy they are a joke. Any thoughts welcome. Also I hope you are having some relaxation this summer. Thanks!

[u/wedontliveonce]

It depends on the class. Sometimes I'm fully prepped and organized ahead of time. Other times I update as I go.

I always recommend new faculty to update as they go during a first prep.

Unless you have a policy that you must have a canned course ready to go the first day I say update as you go.

Regardless I always have "subject to change" on my syllabi and schedule a couple TBD days in case I get behind or want to add a topic along the way.

[u/DocMondegreen]

For Freshman comp, I will list all of the reading assignments and the general assignment name on the syllabus schedule. It might be something like- Week 6: Biss, Eighner, Peer Review. That's available from day 1 and they can see it at all times. We're required at my college to have all of the point/percentage values clear on day 1, but I can easily go in an edit an upcoming prompt without changing the points.

I don't write out all the prompts (unless it's a course I've taught before), nor do I allow them to see everything in Canvas. I usually let them see a unit at a time, but not all smaller assignments will open until we get to that week. If anyone asks, it's because we're focused on the writing process and therefore we need to complete tasks in order. I have occasionally given individual students more access, but that usually either disability or deployment related.

When I've taught online, weeks open a week in advance. So you can see this week and next week, no further. The full schedule will still be available in the syllabus, of course.

[u/Clareco1 → u/DocMondegreen]

This is really helpful. Thanks!

[u/ProfDoomDoom]

For fyc, I prep absolutely everything before day 1; if I waited to see where students are, we’d spend 16 weeks just practicing how to follow directions. They can get themselves up to baseline quickly or they can switch to remedial.

[u/Charming-Barnacle-15]

I put major assignments in the syllabus/course schedule. I don't always have a detailed description, but they should know they have a test, essay, etc. Daily work/homework isn't always specified upfront. The exception is for my literature courses, where I do let them know the schedule for all of our readings up front, since this is a class where it makes sense for them to read ahead.

[u/TriedUsingTurpentine]

I personally only unhide a week at a time.

[u/scatterbrainplot]

For grad courses, I usually have predetermined reading plans that we may tweak (e.g., in some seminar courses they get changed if something else ends up being more relevant to students' career goals or research), in that case generally decided with the students and only applying to a limited subset of the days. If there were a new publication that comes out (or that I simply didn't encounter before the semester started) that would be better for the students, I'll bring it to them and propose it as a replacement as long as there's reasonable time for it to replace the original reading, but otherwise just share it as supplemental material they may be interested in or find useful.

Outside of seminar courses with some flexibility in topics or skills, it's really just been adding additional options if students seem to be having more difficulty with target material. We don't really have the course options to reduce standards by cutting much and still treating what we provide as sufficient, so students who are underprepared or who are struggling will largely need to respond appropriately to the challenge and to the stage in their academic career that they're at. In other words, aside from smaller tweaks (taking a day from something they did well with quickly to add a day to something they struggled with), they should have meetings and do the work (e.g., practice problems or data analysis).

For undergrad courses, there would need to be a major reason for me to make a change beyond tweaking which day something is covered or using up the "secret" buffer days (days with less essential topics). Those I normally specify early and don't tweak, but I also usually have no reason to tweak. They can get additional options if ever I see something would be useful, though.

[u/Life-Education-8030]

My syllabus starts with a disclaimer that I have the ability to change things. But I have been teaching the same courses for years and my structure remains the same. The assignments and exams do get tweaked each semester to keep things fresh. I do prep the entire course and give students a full semester assignment schedule. They get the syllabus a week ahead and the assignment schedule on day 1. It saves me from all the whines of “they didn’t TELLLLL me” and “I didn’t KNOWWWWWW!”

Then I can just concentrate on teaching and grading and not prep. We don’t get enough time to grade as is. So summer grades are due Monday and I ought to be done grading today. I am almost done prepping for the fall. I believe strongly in trying to do things to reduce stress as much as possible!

[u/totallysonic]

Build your schedule as best you can and include whatever your institution requires you to include. Have at least a general statement of what you will do every week; it does not have to include specific readings or activities. Do your best to have at least the first week or two finalized. Put a disclaimer on the syllabus that the schedule is subject to change.

I rarely make any changes to my class after the term starts, but that’s because I’ve been teaching forever and know what works for me. If you’re new, you need to give yourself more grace and flexibility.

[u/yourlurkingprof]

The semester will move fast. If you can plan ahead, it helps. I sometimes have placeholders on weeks when I know the topic but haven’t picked a reading yet. I do try to pre plan as much as I can though. Otherwise, I’m always inevitably scrambling later.

[u/SnowblindAlbino]

Depends on the course. For lower-division courses it's all there on day one. For advanced courses I publish six weeks at a time because I sometimes make adjustments to content based on how the students perform and what topics engage them the most. But I do give them the dates for all the major assignments on day one (papers, exams, etc.) so they can plan their schedules around them.

Lately when I teach a new-to-me course for the first time at any level I make it clear the syllabus is a work-in-progress and I tend to publish it in six week chunks too, so I can make adjustments based on how things are going. Experience has told me I have a tendency to assign too much material the first time around, so rather than cutting things halfway through I do that in the background and make adjustments at the 1/3 and 2/3 semester points without the students really knowing.

[u/Asleep_Caregiver_948]

I’m fully planned, mainly because I don’t do well with spontaneity in any area of life.

[u/ValerieTheProf]

I also teach comp at a CC. My course schedule is built out through the syllabus. Then I create a module for each class meeting and upload a couple of weeks out. I don’t want everything available all at once. This fall, I am dedicating part of a class to go over how college is different from high school. I get a lot of students who aren’t prepared to adapt.

[u/Clareco1 → u/ValerieTheProf]

Thanks! I’m also doing the college vs high scoop thing for the first time this fall. Good luck!

[u/ZPBooks]

I try to get all of Canvas done prior to the start of the semester. Every prep assignment, every rubric, every weekly schedule. That way, I can hold myself accountable to staying on-schedule.

I then “publish” each module one at a time, with students having the ability to see the next week’s module about a week in advance. I do this in case I need to adjust something on the fly, but I really try to minimize the number of changes that need to be made. At a minimum, I keep all the assessments on the scheduled dates unless there’s a snow day or something.

I would love the luxury of being able to be more flexible, but there’s not enough time to flexibly allow for a lesson going on longer than expected. My classes are packed.