Syllabus Design

A successful course depends on the planning that precedes it. The articles and links in this section serve as planning guides. They provide instructions for creating a syllabus.

Writing a Syllabus

This site includes advice for creating useful, learner-centered syllabi. Resources include a course planning decision guide, a syllabus template, and a rubric to help evaluate a syllabus.

Writing a Syllabus (Cornell University)

IDEA Paper #60: Constructing a Learner-Centered Syllabus: One Professor’s Journey

Educators increasingly agree that a learner-centered syllabus is associated with better rapport between students and teachers and increased student motivation, achievement, and empowerment. Accordingly, in 2009 Cullen and Harris developed a rubric for assessing the degree to which a syllabus is learner-centered versus teacher-centered. To date, however, there has been no such resource to explain how to actually construct a learner-centered syllabus. Therefore, I set out to provide a primer: In the first half of this paper, I review the history of syllabus construction and then discuss the research that assesses the impact of learner-centered syllabi. In the second half, I provide an assessment tool for teachers, based on the work of Cullen and Harris, for evaluating a syllabus to determine its learner-centeredness. I then explain specific elements of a learner-centered syllabus and provide examples of how to include these elements in your syllabus.

IDEA Paper #27: Writing a Syllabus (IDEA Center, Altman & Cashman, 1992)

The authors explore the literature on college syllabi and suggest what information might be included on your syllabus. This resource features an in-depth discussion of the major content areas to consider for a course syllabus.

Constructing a Syllabus: A Handbook for Faculty, Teaching Assistants and Teaching Fellows (Woolcock, 2005

[NOTE: Link to PDF file in folder provided]

Thorough handbook on the topic of course construction, with a special emphasis on preparing a syllabus. Includes practical exercises to help develop your course outline and goals, as well as samples of completed syllabi.