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Finding Commonality

UCCC Subcommittee Examines Syllabus Boilerplate Language

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During Fall 2020, the University Courses and Curricula Committee (UCCC) had an interesting discussion about what information should be included in a student “agreement” (often referred to as a “contract”). These agreements can look different department to department and college to college, and since these agreements may stand in place of a syllabus in some cases, members discussed how best to give students the information regarding these rights and responsibilities as seen in the syllabus regulation. As the regulations currently stand for courses that can use an agreement in lieu of a syllabus, there are no regulations on what should or must be included. This led to a discussion at the College of Science CCC meeting that all required “boilerplate” information should be available in a central location (website). This committee was formed to discuss and address these ideas and concerns. We use the term instructor to refer to anyone who teaches or creates a syllabus.

Over the course of several meetings, members and the Office discussed wide-ranging issues related to the syllabus regulations and the information contained therein, including:

  • Length of syllabi
  • Communication about changes to the regulation
  • Education surrounding the regulation
  • Student knowledge and support of self-advocacy
  • Difficulties of syllabus maintenance

While discussions from this work will continue, the subcommittee developed a set of deliverables and recommendations that the Office is excited to carry forward!

  • A website to help translate syllabus regulation language for both faculty and students
  • A training work group should be created that include all offices that provide resources and training about syllabi creation and updates, including OUCCAS, DELTA, the Graduate School, and Office of Faculty Development
  • Asynchronous training should be developed and coalesced among all of these expert groups to provide a unified, complete syllabus communication and training experience.
  • Changes to the syllabus regulation should be communicated via MyPack, Moodle, and to a variety of groups on campus to ensure that clear information is disseminated in a timely manner.
  • For nonstandard courses that use an agreement (contract) in lieu of a syllabus, the best practice is to include the “boilerplate” syllabus information, including the DRO statement, academic integrity statement, the links to all syllabus PRRs, and a link to student syllabus website. This is a recommendation and not a requirement.
  • Courses in the approval system that use agreements still need to have their agreements reviewed by the Dean’s office of the college and the approval indicated in the system the same as a syllabus.

Stay tuned for more training and communication moving forward!