Tena Crews

Suzanne,

Thanks for your continued posts. I agree there is always room for improvement. Since the syllabus is typically the first (or close to the first) piece of communication, it is essential that all wording be clear to the students. Thanks.

Suzanne Strulowitz

Hi Keisha,
I have had this experience and have usually found room for improvement. This is not to say the existing syllabi were not good. However, it sometimes becomes obvious that certain things could be more clearly stated based on feedback from students.
Suzanne

Tena Crews

Jim,

Thanks for all of your input in these forums. I think others can learn a lot from your postings.

Thanks again.

Tena Crews

Jim,

Thanks for sharing your experience. We al learn from our past - hopefully. :-)

Thanks again.

Jim DeLapine

My experience has always been with using pre-made syllabi, but this is for a reason. Committees get together to create this based on program requirements and to meet State accreditation standards. These committees can include instructors, and the only input instructors had after the fact was to suggest changes in the actual assignments - and they in turn get reviewed. It all has to do with learning outcomes.
Jim DeLapine

Jim DeLapine

Hi Paula,
Like you, I also had the experience of offering my input when I taught at the local College, and it was a time when I was heading the department so I was able to get a different perspective on it. It was a great learning experience.

Jim DeLapine

Tena Crews

Paula,

You have such great experience it sounds like from your experience teaching middle and high school. It will be helpful to you in the online environment as well. Nice job.

Paula Bordenkecher

Yes, I experienced this not while teaching online but while teaching middle and high school. It was a good experience because I was able to tailor it to the needs of my particular students while ensuring that they accomplished the required learning outcomes. This is especially helpful when contending with differentiation.

Paula Bordenkecher

Tena Crews

Sarah,

The instructor should have the right to add to the syllabus to provide more details and help students understand the expectations clearly. Thanks for your input.

Sarah Burkhalter

My experience has been using pre-made syllabi. Each instructor is going to have some things that work better than others and ideas about changes that need to be made to meet students' needs. I have taught from a very poorly constructed syllabus that needed major revisions on an on-going basis. I was worried that my supervisor thought I was being a pain, but I provided evidence of student concerns and issues as we moved through the course I think most administrators will understand if you can make the case for improved student success.

Tena Crews

Keisha,

We create our own syllabus, assignments, projects, etc. and then we use instructional designers to help us put everything together if we so choose. Many of our online instructors do everything on their own. If I was given a syllabus to use, I would definitely want input and the ability to edit.