
A syllabus provides students an outline of the course expectations. In order for the syllabus to be effective, not only do you need to include all the relevant information, but the information must be organized and formatted in a way that will be accessible to all students. To accomplish this, it is important to create a fully accessible document that has the following elements properly formatted.
OAI has created an accessible syllabus template, containing PSU policies and other common syllabus elements to help you get started. This syllabus template is tagged to be accessible, using Word’s heading structure. You can use the existing formatting to maintain accessibility and add to and delete information to make it relevant to your own course.
Download the PSU Accessible Syllabus Template, updated January 2021 (docx)
If you want to update your existing syllabus, be sure to pay attention to the following elements:
It is also important to create a syllabus that is culturally inclusive to all of our students. The PSU Library has created a great guide that speaks not only to making your syllabus culturally responsive and inclusive, but also provides tips for making your whole curriculum more inclusive:
Important Notes:
Particularly in online courses, it might be helpful to also create a video screencast describing getting started with the course syllabus. See, for example, the Syllabus Builder Video from UDL on Campus.
A negotiated syllabus is one that is constructed collaboratively with students, providing them with a range of choices about what, how, when, and with whom they will meet the learning objectives of the course. There are many ways to build a negotiated syllabus with your students, but one method is to start with a basic foundation of what is required in order for students to pass the course. Outline those requirements for students, and then allow for some aspects of the class to be determined democratically such as readings, grade scheme, class activities, major assignments, etc. Students are often much more invested in classes where they are actively making decisions and building the class with the instructor and their peers.
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.We'd love to hear from you. Full-service remote support is available to all PSU instructors through the Office of Academic Innovation. Contact the virtual Faculty Support Desk, Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm.