By Lydia Wilson Marshall, DePauw University; SHA Academic and Professional Training Committee
If you are lucky, while you are still in graduate school, you may have the opportunity to teach a course or two (or more) as primary instructor. While it may slow down progress on your dissertation, a stint as a primary instructor is still worthwhile: it will make you a more competitive candidate in the job market and help you to assess whether you would truly enjoy a teaching-focused position over the long term. If your institution doesn’t allow graduate students to teach their own classes or doesn’t have any available openings, consider teaching as an adjunct at nearby institutions. Even if you don’t find an opportunity to teach your own class, constructing a syllabus is a useful exercise in itself. Sample syllabi (even for classes that you haven’t yet taught) can strengthen your teaching dossier since they demonstrate your pedagogical approach and thoughtfulness to potential employers. Here are some tips to consider as you approach the task.
- Review examples. The SHA maintains a syllabus clearinghouse. To generate your own ideas, first consider how others have approached similar course topics in terms of course structure, assessment, and readings. Reviewing syllabi from the institution at which you will teach is worthwhile even if the course topics are unrelated. These syllabi will offer insight into the student population and institutional norms—for example, how much reading is reasonable to assign per class period or what kinds of assessment tools are most favored.
- Follow the rules. Every institution will mandate aspects of your syllabus over which you wield little to no control. These boilerplate sections may be mandated by law—for example, detailing the accommodation process for students with disabilities. Accreditors may also require institutions to include consistent learning outcomes. And, there are likely to be a number of institutional policies that must be addressed.
- Make the syllabus an invitation. In 2021, a music professor at the University of Tennessee left a hidden note in his syllabus with instructions on how to retrieve a $50 bill stashed in a locker on campus. After the professor revealed on Facebook that the bill went uncollected all semester, news articles mostly criticized his students. But if students aren’t reading course syllabi, it is as much an indictment of the documents themselves. Part of the problem is the myriad audiences that syllabi serve (accreditors, employers, colleagues). Keep students in mind while writing your syllabi: use clear, straightforward language and stay away from jargon. It is equally important to avoid an overly harsh or admonishing tone. Don’t use the document to cast students as your adversaries or offer a list of “don’ts” and dire warnings. Rather, try to envision the syllabus as a friendly invitation to the adventure of your course.
- Consider structure. Whatever the course’s topic, you will not be able to teach all aspects of it. Reflect on what is most important. What themes will you want to cover? In what order? Once you have a general structure in mind, reflect on how you want to organize lecture, activities, and discussion in class. Some professors have specific days of the week that are primarily devoted to either discussion or lecture. Others schedule fieldtrips or activities or guest speakers at intervals throughout the semester. For the sake of your students’ learning, do not plan to depend only on lecture to teach. Research has consistently shown that while students may perceive they are learning more in lecture-focused courses, their class performance is worse than peers enrolled in courses implementing more active-learning strategies.
- Consider cost (but stay legal). In selecting readings, move beyond the exclusive use of a textbook. Overreliance on a textbook demonstrates lack of imagination to potential employers and is likely to be less interesting to students too. Another reason to reconsider assigning a textbook at all is how costly they can be. You have several options to control book costs for students. Open-access e-textbooks are both no-cost and written with students in mind. You can also link to articles and books available to students via their university library. But, if you want to assign a scanned portion of a book, be sure to consult your university librarians for guidance rather than using any rule-of-thumb you may have heard about “fair use.” There is no rule-of-thumb that applies in every situation, so be sure you are following institutional guidelines. Though this may be a less successful strategy for graduate student instructors, you can also request library purchases that will support your course. For example, I was able to save students money by asking my university library to purchase an ebook with a license for unlimited online views.
- Consider pace. For your sake and your students’ sake, don’t pile on all assignments at the end of the semester. Try to pace them more evenly throughout the term. For your students’ learning, it’s also important to have small-stakes assignments with an opportunity for feedback earlier in the semester. Exclusive use of a few large-stakes assignments may be easier to grade, but this approach also amplifies student stress and the temptation to cheat. Limiting the number of assignments also limits the feedback that students receive to help them improve. All that said, teaching a class of 15 allows for more detailed feedback than a class of 40 or more students. It’s important to find a balance between what is best for your students and what is reasonable for you.
- Face the new reality. The proliferation of generative AI has challenged even seasoned instructors to approach pedagogy and assessment in new ways. The best way to engage these challenges is with eyes wide open. Make sure to include generative AI in your syllabus statement on academic integrity. For some professors, any use of AI is strictly verboten; others allow its use for specific tasks or assignments. Be sure your views and policies are crystal clear (and double-check on institutional policies). Yet, however you may allow or disallow its use, generative AI has expanded students’ possible strategies for cheating. Consider adjusting your assignments to make any illicit reliance on AI less useful. This can be done via closed-book in-class bluebook exams and/or exam or essay questions that focus on insights from class discussion, not only published research.
- Consider accessibility and inclusivity. Students come to university with varied levels of understanding of what is often called the “hidden curriculum”—that is norms and expectations around the academic experience. You can help level the playing field by making some aspects of this curriculum explicit in your syllabi. For example, instead of just listing your office hours, explain the purpose of them for students. There are also great resources available for thinking through other aspects of syllabi’s accessibility, including use of images to convey information, text, and tone. I have found the Accessible Syllabus project to be an especially useful resource.
- Remember, it’s just a syllabus. A great syllabus does not guarantee a great class. Ultimately, while the syllabus can be a useful foundation and guide for a class, it is what happens in the classroom that matters in terms of building a learning community and opening students’ minds to new ideas.