Syllabus Template
Create a brief guide to a course so students can kick things off with clarity and determination.
About the Syllabus Template
A Syllabus is a brief description of your course that sets your students up for success. It lets your students know what to expect from the course, including required readings, policies and procedures, and a description or mission statement.
The syllabus is a north star and a contract. It guides your students so they can plan for the course they’re taking, but it also serves as an agreement between the students and the instructor. By codifying your class rules, policies, and procedures in a syllabus, you’re giving everyone a single source of truth they can refer to later, and you’re setting the expectation that both you and your students will adhere to the policies you lay out.
In some cases, students tend to overlook or skip over the syllabus because they find it confusing, they don’t think it’s useful, or they simply don’t want to read it. However, when students fail to read the syllabus, that can lead to confusion or grade disputes later on in the course. To ensure your students read the syllabus, it’s important for your syllabus to be clear and easy to follow.
Why use a Syllabus?
Whether you’re teaching a course for the first time or the hundredth time, a syllabus is an important introduction to you and your class.
Think of a syllabus as a contract between you and your students. The document lays the groundwork for what students can expect from the course, including policies and procedures they should adhere to, material they will learn, readings they are responsible for, and the overall goal of the course. At the same time, the syllabus also lays out what they can expect from you as an instructor, including communication style, grading policies, and your approach to the material.
Use a syllabus to make sure you and your students are on the same page about the course, and so they know what they need to do to succeed. Throughout the course, you and your students can refer back to the syllabus to answer any questions about readings, policies, or assignments.
When to use a Syllabus
Use a Syllabus any time you want to outline course policies, procedures, and guidelines to set your students up for success.
Create your own Syllabus
Start with a course description. It’s helpful for students to know what the course is about and what you will cover over the semester, term, or year. The course description should include a brief mission statement to orient your students around the course objectives. What can your students expect to get out of the course? What will they know at the end? Are there skills they will acquire?
List any prerequisites or corequisites for the course, including any knowledge your students should have as a baseline before signing up for the course.
List any required textbooks or other materials students should have on hand to complete the course. If possible, tell your students where they can go to find or purchase the materials they need.
Spell out any attendance requirements. If the course is graded, be specific about whether absence or tardiness will impact the student’s grade. If you require any documentation to excuse absences, let your students know in advance.
Describe how students’ performance will be evaluated in this course. Will they be graded? How so? What assignments will you give? How many points is each assignment worth? Is there a rubric? Be as explicit as possible to avoid confusion going forward. This also decreases the chance of experiencing a grade dispute when the course is finished.
Explain any course policies or procedures. How should students submit their assignments? What is your policy on late work? What is your academic integrity policy? Is there a plagiarism policy, and what does that look like?
Create a course calendar to give your students an idea of how they should plan for the semester. It’s okay if you don’t know everything that you’ll cover during the course. Don’t be afraid to build some flexibility into the calendar, adding in flex weeks or simply putting in “TBD” to account for schedule changes.
Include all relevant contact information: your office number, phone number, and email address. Be explicit about how you prefer your students to contact you. If you have office hours, then list the date and time.
Get started with this template right now.
8 Different Ways to Organize Your Backlog
Works best for:
Agile
Explore 8 different techniques for managing and prioritizing work effectively with this template. From prioritization matrices to story mapping, it offers a comprehensive overview of backlog management strategies. By understanding the strengths and limitations of each approach, teams can tailor their backlog organization to optimize workflow, empowering teams to stay organized and focused on delivering value.
Social Media Strategy Planning
Works best for:
Roadmap, Planning, Mapping
The Social Media Strategy Planning template provides a structured approach for developing and implementing social media strategies. By defining objectives, target audiences, and content plans, teams can maximize the impact of their social media efforts. This template fosters collaboration and alignment across teams, ensuring that social media initiatives are integrated with broader marketing goals and contribute to overall business objectives.
Action Plan Template
Works best for:
Education, Project Management, Project Planning, Kanban
Why create an action plan? Long-term business strategies and goals are only good if you can make them a reality—by accomplishing every small task along the way. An action plan lists those tasks and lays them out in clear detail. It helps you keep everything in order, make sure nothing is missed, and get stakeholders on the same page to complete a project quickly and effectively. This template will help you write an action plan that’s SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Cross Functional (Swimlane) Chart
Works best for:
Flowcharts, Mapping, Diagrams
The Cross Functional (Swimlane) Chart template offers a visual tool for mapping out processes or workflows with multiple stakeholders or functional areas. It provides swimlanes for organizing tasks and responsibilities by department or role. This template enables teams to visualize process flows, identify handoffs, and improve coordination and collaboration across functions. By promoting transparency and accountability, the Cross Functional (Swimlane) Chart empowers organizations to streamline workflows and drive cross-functional alignment effectively.
IT Project Timeline
Works best for:
Timeline, Planning
The IT Project Time Line template is essential for managing IT projects efficiently. It allows you to visualize project milestones, deadlines, and key tasks in a clear, chronological format. Track progress, allocate resources, and ensure timely delivery of your IT projects. Ideal for project managers and IT teams aiming to stay organized and meet critical deadlines.
What's on Your Radar Template
Works best for:
Business Management, Operations, Strategic Planning
Do you or your team feel overburdened by tasks? Having trouble focusing on particular problems? What’s on Your Radar is a thought exercise in which you plot ideas according to their importance or relevance. Designers and teams use what’s on your radar to ensure that their ideas are within the scope of a given project. They also rely on the method to assess whether a given solution is likely to solve the problem at hand. But even if you’re not a designer, the method can help assign priorities and ground your ideas in reality.