How long is a syllabus supposed to be?
I have seen some syllabi that are nearly 20 pages. What do you think? Is that too long? How about 3 pages?
Hi Jeni,
I like the 3 page range myself. Don't want to overwhelm them with too much text. Good idea of adding the "keys for success" part. This should help to reduce some of the first day of class fears for students.
Gary
I try to keep mine about 3 pages. I also like to include some "keys for sucess" that have studying tips and strategies for staying on track for classes that are at the intro level.
Hi Ruth,
This is true. This is why I like to keep my syllabus to 3-4 pages and really focused on needed information.
Gary
This is a good approach. Three pages, brief, and to the point. That is what Students need
I think that is too long. A sylloabus needs to have enough content to cover the course of study while eliminating unnecessary information. Unnecessary information can be confusing and overwhelmining to students.
Hi Denise,
I have found that I have the best results with a syllabus that is 3 to 4 pages. The other material I share in the form of handouts that I give as needed throughout the course. Too much information at once is ignored or dismissed by the students.
Gary
This is great information. Thank you!
I find myself typing out descriptions of assignments in my syllabus. I have to back track and try to keep it down to just the important information, such as due dates.
My syllabi's tend to be 5 pages long. I was thinking about adding yet another page with a bio about me, their instructor. Is that too much information for the students to digest at once?
Concur, Gary.
I agree with you on not overwhelming our students. Its easy to do with the administrative requirements sometimes.
Introducing the rules is like crab dragging - Why cast out a rope when a fine line will do the trick?
Hi Gary,
I try to make my syllabus in the 3 page range as well. Beyond that and the students start to become overwhelmed. Many of the other items that need to be covered can be introduced through handouts and class discussions later in the course.
Gary
Wow! In my opinion 20 pages is excessive. We can take a day of teaching just to cover the policies and we might never get through all the detail we want. Are we trying to cover every possible contingency, to make ourselves bulletproof?
I prefer 2-3 pages that lay out the classroom basics and main areas that must be covered. Then, and to ensure consistency from class to class and instructor to instructor, we can use a brief slide presentation (5 slides max) to remind students of the major policies (attendance, grading, late work, etc) that we all adhere to as a campus.
If we are spending more than 30 minutes on policies, which are reviewed in every class, maybe we should re-think the process.
Hi Robert,
What a great approach you have with distributing the course syllabus and project information. I agree with you about not overwhelming the students with handouts that are too thick or too complicated in appearance. The old saying "How do you eat an elephant?" comes into play here. The answer being "one bite at a time.". With your method they see how they fit into the course and the requirements they are going to have to fulfill and then can get settled into the course.
Your forum comments are going to be valuable to other instructors as they plan their "first day" of class in the future.
Gary
I do keep my syllabi around three pages or so. They have the basic contact information, course information (course name, code, schedule, credit hours, etc.), required materials, tentative daily schedule (in bulleted form), course grading scale, and whatever mandatory policy information my school requires for the syllabus (attendance policy, etc.).
As a separate document, though, I distribute a "Policies and Procedures" document that I compiled myself where I expand on certain things and go into more detail about those polices, to cover some of the "what-ifs", to put them into plainer English with less "Documentese", and to give some of my "pet peeves" (like leaving their material at home).
As a sub-title to this Policies document, I also promise "and maybe a little bit of advice" and offer insights into how to succeed within the parameters of those policies (for instance, reading all course documents thoroughly, word for word, regardless of whether I only gloss over them or read only the highlights during lecture).
I also provide some "Expectations" on this Policies document:
a) What students should expect (to be treated fairly; for the instructor to adhere to policies; to be questioned about their comments during class discussions; to be challenged, motivated, and educated; etc.)
b) What students should NOT expect (to be mistreated by others, to be preached to inappropriately, to live in a bubble without interacting with others during class, to receive superior grades for inferior performance, etc.)
c) What I as the instructor should expect (that students will take the course and themselves seriously, that students will adhere to course policies, that I will uphold campus and course policies, etc.)
d) What I as the instructor do NOT expect (to change the course schedule without fair notice, to have my own comments go unquestioned during class discussions, etc.)
By compartmentalizing a lot of this material into separate documents, I think it allows us all to approach it in a more systematic way, and in separate lectures or segments, than to slam the student on Day 1 with a huge, bulky document that needs its own table of contents.
As somebody else has suggested, too, I distribute certain materials only when they become relevant (for specific assignments, etc.). I have noticed some colleagues who give most, if not all, of their course assignments as part of their syllabus on Day 1. (This is a literature/writing course, FWIW.) I have a problem with that, because for one, it encourages students to begin completing those assignments before they've been properly taught the course materials that are expected to be demonstrated in the assignmens, and two, it typically is not followed up by any more meaningful supplements when those assignments come round during the course. The instructor simply refer the students back to the syllabus during lecture.
I prefer to give most, if not all, of the supplements and documents when those assignments are actually assigned. I want the students to receive that material in the frame of mind that I hope to be developing over the course, not in some "Day 1" frame of mind. I don't want to steal my own thunder. Doing it this way can also trim down that syllabus on Day 1, and keep it from mutating into some awesome, multi-page, multi-chapter document.
Hi Lane,
As there is no set limit on the pages of a syllabus a range of 3 to 5 pages works best. I find that beyond that the students lose interest and it becomes to bulky for them to really digest the contents. I use handouts that address specific assignments which I give out when the assignment is made. This way the students stay focused on the assignment because it is given as it is needed. The syllabus deals with the course expectations, requirements and policies and should stay focused on them within a reasonable page limit.
Gary
