A Syllabus Analysis Tool to Advance Evidence-Based Teaching Practices at MIT
Overview
The syllabus often informs students’ first impressions of a class, the instructor, and their evaluation of whether they will succeed. The syllabus provides a roadmap for the course, indicating what students will know and be able to do by the end of the class. It signals how the course will be taught through descriptions of assessments, learning activities, and policies as well as highlighted opportunities to engage with peers and the instructor(s). Scholarly research demonstrates that students who read syllabi that emphasize students’ learning and their needs expect the course to be rigorous, relevant, and structured with active learning. Syllabi also shape students’ expectations of the instructor’s warmth, approachability, enthusiasm, and motivation to teach the course (Harnish & Bridges, 2011; Richmond et al., 2016; Wheeler et al., 2019). Developing the syllabus prompts the instructor(s) to make decisions about their priorities for student learning, sequencing of topics and activities, weighting of different assessments, course policies, and pathways for students if unforeseen circumstances come up during the class.
Given the important role of the syllabus for students and for instructors’ intentional design of the course, this syllabus checklist is a tool to guide instructors in their construction and revision of course design, assessment descriptions, teaching practices, and policies in their syllabi. Many of the checklist items also apply beyond the syllabus to other communication channels in the course (e.g., LMS, course wikis, classroom conversations).
Background of syllabus checklist
The checklist is adapted from a comprehensive and detailed rubric developed by members of the Teaching + Learning Lab to measure key indicators of inclusive and equitable teaching within the context of a single course. Checklist items are based on an evidence-based framework, drawing from research on STEM education, the learning sciences, and higher education. The principles listed below were informed by the organizing framework from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at U-M (2022). A full list of references that includes additional scholarly work on inclusive and equitable teaching will be posted in the near future.
How to use the checklist
The checklist pages provide two flexible organizations to help you identify concrete ways to construct and/or revise your syllabi. You can view the checklist by principles first to gain an understanding of the broad categories of teaching and course design practices, and then use the syllabus section checklist to streamline the process.
Coming soon!You can navigate the checklist on the these pages or download the PDF versions of the checklist at the bottom of this page.
Note that you do not need to check off every box to develop an effective syllabus; consider your disciplinary and individual priorities, pedagogical values, and teaching contexts to determine the incremental changes to make to your syllabi this semester.
If you have any questions or concerns about the checklist or how to implement these practices in your syllabus, the Teaching + Learning Lab staff are happy to help. Please reach out to us at tll@mit.edu to request a meeting.
Organization by principles
The checklist is organized by three pedagogical principles that underlie effective, evidence-based course design and teaching practices:
- Transparent + Purposeful Communication involves clearly describing why students are learning concepts and skills and how you designed the assessments, class activities, and course policies to guide their learning.
- Structured Support describes the intentional design of the course and class sessions to guide students from simpler to more complex levels of understanding as well as clear pathways for engaging in the class activities.
- Community and Belonging refers to teaching practices that highlight the relevance of course content and encourage supportive relationships with peers and with the instructor(s) to help students feel accepted and valued in the classroom community.
Each of these sections also divides up practices based on the syllabus section where they are likely to show up.
This organization may be most useful if you want to delve deeper into the rationale and evidence behind these teaching and course design practices by understanding the overarching pedagogical principles they support. You may also recognize additional teaching practices that support these principles (e.g., how you plan a class session or communicate on an LMS or in class).
Organization by syllabus sections
The checklist is organized by syllabus section(s):
- Learning outcomes and assessments include the course description, learning objectives or outcomes, as well as the descriptions of the various assessments (exams, homework, projects, and papers).
- Class activities / participation includes descriptions of what will occur during the class sessions, including how students will engage with the course concepts/skills and with other students during class activities.
- Policies includes guidelines for class attendance, participation, collaboration, accommodations, academic integrity, and the use of generative AI, among others.
- Student-instructor interactions includes descriptions of how students will interact with instructor(s) in class/lab/recitations, in office hours, and in other opportunities for students to get help outside of class and lab sessions.
- Throughout syllabus highlights characteristics of syllabi that are likely to occur in multiple and/or varied sections of the syllabus. For example, the syllabus may include a description of how coursework is relevant in career and life contexts in the course description, the assessments, class activities, and/or collaboration policies.
This organization of the checklist provides a streamlined approach to evaluating where to focus revision efforts with the ability to go section-by-section during revision.