Whats in a syllabus?
A constant in all of the courses taught at our International Program Centers is a course syllabus (sometimes called a course outline). A course syllabus can set the tone for the entire course and prevent administrative headaches and grading challenges. Yet, it’s often a piece of a course that gets overlooked or thrown together (all of us who have ever taught have put a syllabus together at the last moment in our busy lives). So, what are the elements of a good syllabus? We listed some of these: • Instructor contact information – students should know the “where, when and how” of contacting the course instructor – phone number, fax number, email address, office location and hours of availability, • 12 NU outcomes (www.northwood.edu/aboutus/) and course goals and objectives (www.northwood.edu/global/coursedescriptions/) – the syllabus should list these items, as this creates a clear understanding of what the course is about, • Listing of required books and course materials –if you list so
