Leveraging Your Course Syllabus

"The syllabus can extend welcoming invitations to learning, highlighting the relevance and importance of the course." Maryellen Weimer (2020)

How can you communicate your course alignment and structure to your students? A strategy for communicating your intentional course design is through your syllabus—one of the first points of interaction between students and your course.

The syllabus is a powerful learning tool that can highlight the interactive relationships and alignment between learning outcomes, assessments, and learning activities—reinforcing the relevance and importance of every step in the learning journey. Consider the following strategies for leveraging your syllabus:

Share the course learning outcomes
Identify which learning outcomes each assessment addresses
Clarify when students can expect assessment feedback to support their progress toward the learning outcomes
State which learning activities and instruction prepare students for assessments and when such activities are scheduled
Offer timelines and strategies for engaging in learning activities and preparing for assessments
Highlight relevant resources and supports that promote student learning and reflection

The interactive relationships and alignments between course components can be presented graphically as a "course map" (Nilson, 2007). Consider designing options for perception (multiple means of representation) and nurturing joy and play through active, engaged learning (multiple means of engagement).

Remember, effective active learning involves sequencing getting information and ideas, experiencing, and reflecting to enhance learning.

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Communicating Course Priorities

Throughout the modules, you have considered two frameworks that welcome student identities and learner variability: The Inclusive Pedagogy Framework (IPF) (module 2) and the Universal Design or Learning (UDL) Framework (module 3).

Consider the following strategies for communicating your course priorities of welcoming student identifies and learner variability in your syllabus:

Share a bit of information about yourself (beyond your name, title, and email), such as:
- A photograph (or a link to an introduction video)
- How to address you (including how to pronounce your name) and your pronouns
- Your research and/or recreational interests
- Fun facts about you
Draft meaningful statements that reflect your intentions, commitments, and actions, which may include:
- A proclamation for the respect for diversity and accessibility
- An inclusive list of relevant dimensions of diversity, especially within the context of your course
- A land acknowledgement that signals the need for change in settler colonial societies
- Expectations with respect to the classroom climate and behaviours, interactions, and communications
Update your reading lists and consider the following:
- Whose perspectives are represented in your primary texts/readings?
- What are the identities of the authors and editors?
- What minoritized identities are referenced in the readings, and how are they portrayed?
- What ways of knowing are being privileged? In other words, what kinds of sources are perceived to be of the most academic value and why?

Consult the CTSI Sample Statements for Your Course Syllabi webpage for statements that may be relevant to your teaching context. Hogan & Sathy (2022, pp. 58–60) and Artze-Vega et al. (2023, pp. 78–79) provide sample diversity and inclusion statements.

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Getting Started with Your Course Syllabus

For guidance on designing your course syllabus, consult CTSI's Syllabus Design Foundations (SDF) program—a self-paced resource for University of Toronto (U of T) instructors developing a new course syllabus or revising an existing one. The SDF program consists of three modules that explore key aspects of inclusive, accessible, and usable syllabus design.

Module 1: Understanding Syllabus Design in the U of T Context
Module 2: Embedding Inclusive Practices in Your Syllabus
Module 3: Creating an Accessible and Usable Syllabus

The CTSI Developing a Course Syllabus webpage offers information on various syllabus elements, including:

Essential information
Coursework and grading
Key dates and deadlines
Course/department/divisional policies
Copyright in instructional settings
Student support and accommodation
Options for additional information

Check with your division or home unit to identify relevant local policies and procedures that need to be considered or applied when designing your syllabus. Consult the Council of Ontario Universities' Accessible Campus website for tips on writing an accessible course syllabus.

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Pause for Workbook Activity: Identifying Communication Strategies for Your Course Syllabus

In your Course Design Foundations Workbook docx, note down how you will leverage your syllabus to communicate the interactive relationships, alignment, and structure of your course components, as well as your course priorities.

Identify what else you would like to communicate about the learning journey and attainment of learning outcomes in your course.

Take a moment to reflect on your most memorable or impactful learning experiences. What information would have enhanced your learning experience? Are there opportunities to share such information in your course syllabus?

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University of Toronto, Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation