Getting Students to Read the Syllabus
“It's on the Syllabus...”
This has been a common refrain of the Higher-Ed Professor since 1889 (when the term was first used to describe the subjects of a series of lectures).
Faculty understand that a syllabus is a document that outlines the essential information about a course, but do students assign the same weight to it? I think so. So why do we find students aren't reading it? There is a lot of content in these syllabi, and not all of it is as essential to the students as to the faculty or the university.
Let’s add syllabus design to the list of things to talk about at a later date—for now, how can we get our students to read the ones we already have ready to go for day one of the semester?
A Note on the “Syllabuster”
I want to start by defining what too many of us already do on day one—read the entire syllabus to the class and send them on their way. This U.S. Senate tradition has no place in the classroom. It’s not working, if it were we wouldn’t be wondering how to get students to read the syllabus, now on to the actual tips.
Syllabus Quiz
Most impactful on day two of the class, a low-stakes or no-stakes quiz on the most important information on the syllabus would be a great way to signal to the students "Hey, [this, this, and this] is important!" Bonus: even if they don't do well on this quiz, it was another pass at information retrieval that will increase the likelihood that they know more than they did before (that’s why no-stakes quizzes are great!).
Syllabus Discussion
A few questions can spark a discussion and an opportunity to clarify any concerns or confusion. A common teaching strategy to get the ball rolling on this would be "Think-Pair-Share." This strategy encourages students to think individually (even better if you have them write down their thoughts), collaborate with a partner, and present their thoughts to the class. It's a cooperative learning technique that can be used in any subject and at any point in a class.
Some questions to get the conversation going:
how does this syllabus compare to other classes you have taken (it can be in the discipline or out)?
what challenges do you anticipate in this class after reading this syllabus?
Syllabus Prequel
Before you hand out the syllabus, ask students to generate all the questions they can think of about the course. Then, distribute the syllabus and have them work in small groups to find the answers together. Go over all the answers as a whole group. Bonus: a feedback loop for the instructor—if there are questions with no answer, answer them in an updated/redistributed syllabus.
Syllabus Scavenger Hunt
Students are put into teams and must locate information and answer questions about the syllabus.
Annotated Syllabus
Remi Kalir - Annotate Your Syllabus 4.0
Syllabus Podcast
Using Google's NotebookLM you can upload your syllabus and have AI generate a "deep dive" conversation in the form of a podcast revolving around your content. This can be engaging for the right kind of learner and serve as a jumping-off point to talk about AI in your classroom. If you don't love how the conversation turned out I think just listening to your syllabus as an engaging conversation can give you a different perspective on how you might talk about it with your students—there is value either way.
I’ve tested this out with a syllabus for my Typography course. There are a few odd mispronunciations but overall I’m floored by the output (mostly because the AI is very complimentary about its impression of me as a teacher). Below is the 20-minute “Deep Dive” conversation that was generated from my syllabus.
Students Design the Syllabus
A first day of class activity in which you distribute the course description (goals, topics, etc.) but not the weekly schedule. Break students into groups and give them the task of designing the sequence of topics. This allows students to get a feel for how their professor thinks but also upon review of all the group's different ideas, they see that there is no “right way” to do it. After the groups briefly present their sequence, you share the rest of your syllabus with the actual planned sequence and explain your reasoning and why it differs from theirs. Bonus: you can consider some of their ideas and possibly make changes.
If you gave any of these tips a trial run, I’d love to hear how it went. If you have any other suggestions on how to get students to read the syllabus or feedback on this content from The Center for Teaching & Learning—please send us an email to get a conversation going.
