Faculty Focus

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Ever wonder why students dont read the syllabus, despite the time and effort we put into creating it? It serves as a contract between instructors and students (Eberly, Newton, & Wiggins, 2001), outlining the entire semesters expectations, assignments, and deadlines. Yet, many students simply arent motivated to read it.

Syllabus 98

Syllabus Students Activities Instructors 98

Faculty Focus

MAY 29, 2025

This step was taken especially since it became more difficult for me over the years in the classroom to keep todays device-driven students focused beyond 10 seconds or less on an assigned major concept for each of my fifty-minute classes.Retained learning was there but not at the expected levels.In

Student Engagement 91

Student Engagement Syllabus Learning Students 91

Faculty Focus

AUGUST 31, 2023

Recently, I attended a conference and was sharing my new visual syllabus with some colleagues. After several interactions, I noticed the most frequent comment was, “What a cool syllabus…but is it accessible?” A little background about myself; I love designing, redesigning, and getting creative with my syllabus.

Syllabus 98

Syllabus Accessibility Quizzes Exams 98

eSchool News

OCTOBER 7, 2015

Prepare syllabus and assignment due dates carefully and well in advance so that students know what to expect and when. Instead of just reading and writing weekly assignments from a book, students read and write in service of completing a larger project. Establish good course practices.

Education 279

Education Syllabus Instructors Feedback 279

Edsurge

MARCH 6, 2019

The course, titled “The Reading Experiment: The Power of the Book,” takes place every other Friday beginning at 9:30 a.m. Students put away their technology and read for four hours. It’s a rediscovery of uninterrupted reading,” Peña-Guzman said last Friday while pulling up slides about the assigned readings.

Reading 163

Reading Teaching Lecturing Syllabus 163

Edsurge

APRIL 26, 2018

On Tuesday, April 24 the #DLNchat community got together to discuss and debate: How Can Alternative Assignments Effectively Assess Student Learning? Where there’s an alternative there must be a standard, so we started our chat creating a list of what those standard assignment are: exams, quizzes, essays, reports, lab manuals and the like.

Assignments 102

Assignments Exams Instructors Learning 102

Edsurge

JANUARY 9, 2019

Dropbox Paper or Google Docs : these mainstream collaborative word-processing tools let instructors invite students to collaborate on assignments or group work. This past semester, each student submitted reading notes as an assignment in the LMS. one question they had for others who read the same chapter. Hypothes.is

Instructors 165

Instructors Syllabus Peer Review Students 165

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

I recall one student who would wait until the night of the assignment deadline to dive into their schoolwork. All too often, they would wind up needing to ask their instructor a question about the assignment but had no time to receive an answer before the deadline passed. Don’t wait for an assignment notification to get started.

Online Learning 190

Online Learning Instructors Coaching Syllabus 190

Edsurge

JUNE 6, 2024

Tech giants Google, Microsoft and OpenAI have unintentionally assigned educators around the world major homework for the summer: Adjusting their assignments and teaching methods to adapt to a fresh batch of AI features that students will enter classrooms with in the fall. That’s going to be a real time saver for faculty,” he predicts.

Lecturing 216

Lecturing Education Assignments Syllabus 216

Edsurge

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

I think the phenomena of the infographic syllabus has been an effort by many teachers to make that document more accessible, more real,” she explains. “We We can solve a lot of problems as educators if we can just get people to read the syllabus upfront.”.

Syllabus 167

Syllabus Teachers Course Outline English 167

Edsurge

OCTOBER 22, 2021

Argos is calling its courseware platform and marketplace Sojourner, and the goal is to make it a hub for professors and students to create, assign and use digital course materials, in a way that allows for rich analytics for professors, showing them how their students are using materials.

Textbooks 183

Textbooks Syllabus Instructors Peer Review 183

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 13, 2024

Instead of thinking about the LMS as simply a repository for course essentials (syllabus, contact information, etc.), Students now expect the use of this tool by their professors for more than simply providing lecture slides or links to readings. consider how it might be used as a tool for enhancing student learning and engagement.

Syllabus 122

Syllabus Instructors Assignments Faculty Development 122

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

A few repositories like the Open Syllabus Project collect syllabi from around the world. For example, Bruff teaches a statistics course where he uses an infographics assignment that he adapted from Sidneyeve Matrix, an associate professor at Queen’s University, in Canada. “In As scholars, we probably should do something like that.

Teaching Portfolio 167

Teaching Portfolio Teaching Syllabus Peer Review 167

Faculty Focus

JUNE 15, 2025

I still assign readings. Step 4: Now we bring in the tools Only after we’ve felt the tension do I introduce the day’s reading, model, or theory. Try This in Your Class Tomorrow If you want to test this out without overhauling your syllabus, here’s a quick plug-and-play format: Choose a paradox related to your next topic.

Syllabus 64

Syllabus Ethics Art Questions 64

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Did teachers know that students were reading them? On the other hand, teachers and parents complained that the guides enabled students to skip reading the originals. I suppose the answer is somewhere in the messy middle: some students missed out on the joys of reading original work, and others used them to review what they read.

Syllabus 124

Syllabus Academic Integrity eLearning Assignments 124

Edsurge

APRIL 30, 2020

But now that so many students are taking courses remotely, in improvised environments that may not be especially conducive to learning, it may take some extra effort to redesign instruction, assignments and assessments to address everyone’s needs. Listen to the conversation below, or read a partial transcript, lightly edited for clarity.

Accessibility 218

Accessibility Disabilities Universal Design Syllabus 218

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 15, 2023

What’s it like going from one course that simply posts a syllabus in the LMS to another that makes more robust use of the tools and features? Organization and structure  Students appreciate courses where assignments and course materials are organized and structured. Avoid confusing instructions.

Syllabus 126

Syllabus Instructors Peer Review Lecturing 126

Cult of Pedagogy

MAY 11, 2025

Morrow was surprised to read that Ruiz had finished in 11th place in the New York Marathon. Integrity is often talked about as a coin that reads cheated on one side and didnt cheat on the other. Communicate major assignments and assessments in advance and give students opportunities to plan their time and effort.

Academic Integrity 89

Academic Integrity Learning Feedback Assignments 89

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Did teachers know that students were reading them? On the other hand, teachers and parents complained that the guides enabled students to skip reading the originals. I suppose the answer is somewhere in the messy middle: some students missed out on the joys of reading original work, and others used them to review what they read.

Syllabus 119

Syllabus Academic Integrity eLearning Assignments 119

Faculty Focus

MARCH 12, 2023

The first day or week of the semester is often referred to as what students call “syllabus week,” because professors typically spend the first day of class reviewing the syllabus—interject a big yawn here. At this point, I still have not reviewed the syllabus with them and instead begin a community building activity.

Student Engagement 116

Student Engagement Activities Syllabus Instructors 116

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 13, 2024

Instead of thinking about the LMS as simply a repository for course essentials (syllabus, contact information, etc.), Students now expect the use of this tool by their professors for more than simply providing lecture slides or links to readings. consider how it might be used as a tool for enhancing student learning and engagement.

Syllabus 105

Syllabus Instructors Assignments Faculty Development 105

Faculty Focus

MAY 9, 2024

As educators and students grapple with what is allowed when using generative AI (GenAI) tools, I have compiled five tips to help you design or redesign academic integrity statements for your syllabus, assignments, exams, and course activities. Students might benefit from using these tools on some assignments, but not others.

Academic Integrity 137

Academic Integrity Writing Syllabus Exams 137

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 18, 2024

I was handed a syllabus, a classroom, and students, and left to figure out the rest on my own. In preparing that first course, I focused on what I thought were the essentials of teaching: finalizing the syllabus, picking the readings, and writing the assignments. Encourage student participation. Use formative assessment.

Teaching 119

Teaching Syllabus Feedback Instructors 119

Faculty Focus

OCTOBER 15, 2023

What’s it like going from one course that simply posts a syllabus in the LMS to another that makes more robust use of the tools and features? Organization and structure  Students appreciate courses where assignments and course materials are organized and structured. Avoid confusing instructions.

Syllabus 111

Syllabus Instructors Peer Review Lecturing 111

Edsurge

AUGUST 1, 2017

Is that a real A, or an A based on turning in the syllabus? You walk into class without a care in the world, and casually look up on whiteboard to read the agenda. As a high school student with seven different classes all assigning homework, projects, and tests, Canvas is an easy way to keep everything organized. Save the trees.

Quizzes 146

Quizzes Textbooks Syllabus Students 146

Edsurge

MARCH 21, 2019

I have created what I’m calling my “prep syllabus” and hope to set a solid foundation for myself. I would love to get your feedback on what should be in my "prep syllabus” and how to make that transition. It turned out that the small number of points she was missing from the assignment had absolutely zero impact on her overall grade.

Syllabus 143

Syllabus Writing Schools Research Methods 143

Faculty Focus

AUGUST 13, 2024

As the lazy days of summer start to dwindle, it’s time to trade in beach reads for textbooks and flip-flops for sensible shoes. Whether it’s whipping up dazzling PowerPoint slides, rewording a syllabus, or designing a new and exciting lesson, AI has you covered. Let AI handle rubrics, tailor assignments, and give feedback.

Syllabus 119

Syllabus Assignments Feedback Teaching Assistants 119

Faculty Focus

AUGUST 20, 2024

We may not have a storefront window to attract attention, but we do have something that students see before the start of the semester that can grab their attention, set the tone, and get them excited about entering the class…your syllabus! Exhibit 2: Thompson’s Barbie themed class syllabus (Spring 2024). Let Them Play! Stay Playful!

Syllabus 111

Syllabus Attention Assignments Activities 111

Faculty Focus

AUGUST 20, 2024

We may not have a storefront window to attract attention, but we do have something that students see before the start of the semester that can grab their attention, set the tone, and get them excited about entering the class…your syllabus! Exhibit 2: Thompson’s Barbie themed class syllabus (Spring 2024). Let Them Play! Stay Playful!

Syllabus 111

Syllabus Attention Assignments Activities 111

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 21, 2024

Five strategies to foster sense of belonging Be caring and authentic: Syllabus policies and language, as well as introductory comments on the first day of class, set the tone for an entire term. Students must understand why the assignment is important, what is expected, and how the quality of their work will be judged.

Syllabus 132

Syllabus Exams Students Motivation 132

Faculty Focus

DECEMBER 15, 2024

For some, planning revolves around syllabus revision, closing loopholes, and adjusting dates. When times abundant, some teachers read books like Wiggins and McTighes Understanding by Design , a thoughtful, research-based system. Color-coding provides a visual measure of the flow of assignments throughout the term.

Syllabus 108

Syllabus Exams Course Outline Attention 108

Faculty Focus

JUNE 25, 2023

Next, I drafted a one-page syllabus (Figure 1) that included my contact information, a course description, student learning outcomes, those same discovery questions (above), recommended texts, a preliminary course schedule, and an abbreviated outline of the course content. The list of assignment ideas was edited to four or five assignments.

Coaching 105

Coaching Syllabus Confidentiality Assignments 105

Faculty Focus

JANUARY 18, 2024

I was handed a syllabus, a classroom, and students, and left to figure out the rest on my own. In preparing that first course, I focused on what I thought were the essentials of teaching: finalizing the syllabus, picking the readings, and writing the assignments. Encourage student participation. Use formative assessment.

Teaching 111

Teaching Syllabus Feedback Instructors 111

Faculty Focus

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

For instance, when assigned to work in groups during class, students who may have trouble focusing or even hearing the discussion due to the noise level may ask the professor for permission to work in the library or outside. Faculty should consider implementing these strategies during the design phase of their curriculum and syllabus.

Disabilities 144

Disabilities Exams Lecturing Education 144

Faculty Focus

MARCH 12, 2023

The first day or week of the semester is often referred to as what students call “syllabus week,” because professors typically spend the first day of class reviewing the syllabus—interject a big yawn here. At this point, I still have not reviewed the syllabus with them and instead begin a community building activity.

Student Engagement 98

Student Engagement Activities Syllabus Instructors 98

Faculty Focus

AUGUST 13, 2024

As the lazy days of summer start to dwindle, it’s time to trade in beach reads for textbooks and flip-flops for sensible shoes. Whether it’s whipping up dazzling PowerPoint slides, rewording a syllabus, or designing a new and exciting lesson, AI has you covered. Let AI handle rubrics, tailor assignments, and give feedback.

Syllabus 111

Syllabus Assignments Feedback Teaching Assistants 111

Edsurge

OCTOBER 16, 2017

Instructional technology may take the form of software that can be used to complete homework assignments, or serve as a primary content-delivery and assessment system in fully online or blended online classes. Online videos (e.g. Course management technology organizes and presents course structure and materials on an electronic platform.

Technology 157

Technology Education Syllabus Course Evaluations 157