12 Learning-centered syllabus

We encourage you to view the syllabus as a course guide and an educational promise to your students that provides them with learning opportunities and plans. The concept of a promising syllabus is based on the notion that learning should be grounded in “trust, rejection of power, and setting standards that [represent] authentic goals rather than schoolwork” (Bain, 2004, p. 74).

The promising syllabus is based on mutual accountability between instructors and students, giving students a powerful sense of control over their learning, making it learning centered. Instructors with a learning-centered syllabus are also perceived by students to be more approachable and welcoming (Palmer, Wheeler, Aneece, 2016).

💡 Please take a moment to reflect on the course you are planning to teach:

If you are designing your syllabus, please review the key elements of a learning-centered and promising syllabus:

• Share Instructor information: the instructor’s name, title, office address, office hours, preferred contact information (e.g., phone number, email address). If the instructor is a teaching assistant, they should include the course supervisor’s name, office address, office hours. Also include the name and office of the departmental executive officer (DEO).
• Consider including your pronouns and the phonetic pronunciation of your name to model these practices for your students and establish a welcoming environment.
• Encourage your students to reach out to you with questions and explain the purpose of office hours (or even call them “student hours” or “drop-in hours”).
• Post a short video with a self-introduction or a welcoming statement on your ICON site to generate enthusiasm for your course and make this information more accessible. See two samples here: a welcome statement from What Inclusive Instructors Do? (Addy et al., 2021, pp. 180-181) and an introductory monologue shared by Bianca Williams in Race, Equity, and the Learning Environment (Tuitt et. al., 2016, pp. 71-72).
• Share course information and engaging, question-driven course descriptions. For example, some instructors find it helpful to add sections like “Why take this course?” and “What will you learn?”
• Share long-ranging, multi-faceted learning goals that require high levels of thinking and learning as well as clear, measurable, and actionable learning objectives. Periodically refer to these as you teach, as you develop assessments, and as you engage with students. Learning objectives can be a helpful tool for students who want to better understand their progress in the course, including their grades.
• Add robust and transparent assessment and activity descriptions with estimated time commitment. The workload estimator can provide some general estimates.
• Provide detailed course schedules, due dates for drafts and major assignments, and dates for tests, exams, and special events. Some instructors include a disclaimer in the syllabus to the effect that the schedule should be viewed as a tentative outline subject to reasonable adjustment. This reminds students that the learning process is flexible and may be altered according to their learning needs and the instructor’s teaching expertise.
• Describe course content, the estimated cost of required learning resources, and a list of readings and/or other anticipated course materials. You can also include information about whether any course materials may be available via the library’s course reserve system, which can be helpful for students with limited funds to purchase materials.
• Use an inviting, approachable, and motivating tone that supports students’ learning endeavors. An authoritarian or scolding tone does not welcome or encourage student collaboration in the teaching and learning process. You could think of renaming the course policies section to “Expectations of students” or “How to succeed in this course.”
• Give explanations for jargon, technical terms, and acronyms you use in your syllabus. Are these terms students will understand at the beginning of the semester, or are they things they will learn throughout the course?
• Post a statement on the availability of accommodations for students with disabilities.
• Share a personalized diversity, equity, and inclusion statement establishing an inclusive learning environment for your students. Please read our guides on Personalizing syllabus DEI statements and Designing syllabus accessibility statements to craft your own syllabus statement.
• Provide resources for obtaining additional help, such as tutors or learning assistants and various centers and offices on campus that support the diversity of learners in your class.

The tips above are not meant to be the last word on developing a practical and learning-centered syllabus. It can be helpful to obtain copies of syllabi from previously taught courses to make sure you have not missed anything important and invite a supervising faculty member, mentor, or experienced colleague to review your syllabus before printing.

We also encourage you to review your syllabus from students’ perspectives, considering the strategies that we have discussed in the chapter Who are your students? The Center for Teaching has many resources about the theory and practice of syllabus construction, including a handout, Using an Inclusive Syllabus to Build Connections with Your Students, developed by Iowa undergraduate students. To find some engaging activities that could help leveraging your syllabus, please review our resource Introducing your syllabus to your students.

The Center for Teaching also provides consultations on syllabus development.

💡 Please reflect:

Some instructors facilitate group work activities, short reflective papers, or syllabi quizzes to ensure their students understand their syllabus. How are you planning to encourage your students to read your syllabus?