About the Syllabus
The syllabus is an important communication tool for all students, but for remote, hybrid, and online students, it provides the whole infrastructure for all course interactions. The syllabus is the narrative that introduces the course goals, gives students a window into your personality through your tone and voice, and helps them structure their relationship to course materials and their routine for the whole term. Its purpose is to initiate a conversation about learning that will extend over several months.
The syllabus plays a role in welcoming students into the learning environment, establishing communication expectations, and fostering growth mindset. The following resources are available to help you streamline your syllabus design.
USC Upstate Syllabus Templates
Use the Syllabus Template document as the base syllabus for all courses. Its accessible headers and formatting without tables make it easy for students to use screenreaders and other accessibility tools to view the document in a way that works best for them. Note: Find the Final Exam Schedule on the Spartan Hub Intranet.
About Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Syllabus:
Every course and instructor must determine the appropriate position on how much or how little students should use GenAI in any given assignment or course. Some courses will integrate GenAI into authentic assessments that prepare students for future careers where GenAI will play an important role. Others may focus more on foundational skills in the discipline without GenAI. To help describe the desired level of GenAI use in your course, please check out our blog post, “Navigating the Future of Learning with GenAI” and our intranet page, Instructor’s Guide to Generative AI in the Classroom.
Sample Syllabus Statements are available in the Blackboard Learning Object Repository. To add them to your course, go to the location in Course Content where you’d like them to appear, click +, then select Learning Object Repository. Select the check box for the one you’d like, then click “Insert Object(s).” The statements include the following:
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Use Prohibited: This course is meant to help you develop and use foundational knowledge and skills. You will need to demonstrate your ability to apply your understanding of this content without the use of AI, including tools like Grammarly, ChatGPT, Bing, Gemini, and similar tools.
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Use Allowed with Attribution: This course invites you to use GenAI as a resource, but you’ll need to include notes and citations to indicate where in the assignment you used GAI-generated content. There may be additional parts of the assignment where I ask you to analyze the GAI content or to indicate the process you used to check the information for accuracy and truthfulness.
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Use Encouraged with Attribution: This course uses GenAI as a part of the learning process. You are invited to use your preferred GenAI tools to push further into your explorations, take your thinking in a new direction, solve complex equations or problems, generate case studies, or other uses. Use citations in our course citation style to indicate where in the assignment you used GenAI as a thought partner.
The HyFlex syllabus statement offers students in HyFlex courses an explanation of the different ways they can attend class. If you’re teaching a HyFlex course, consider using this or some variation in your syllabus.
USC Upstate Syllabus Design Checklists
Your syllabus provides a welcome and invitation to your students. Although it is important for your syllabus to contain essential institutional statements and to conform with accessibility standards, it is also important to use formatting and include information that is important to you and your program or department. As you customize your syllabus to meet your needs, the following checklists offer guidance for using your syllabus to contribute to an inclusive learning environment where your students feel they belong.
The Student-Centered Syllabus Checklist is an overview of ways to make your syllabus welcoming for all learners. The PDF document describes research-based characteristics of effective syllabi in areas like policies and tone. Each item has a hover-box and rationale for including these characteristics in course syllabi. To learn more about ways to use your syllabus as an effective communication tool, check out this short video (7 mins).
The Social emotional learning (SEL) Checklist offers an overview of ways to bring emotional intelligence to your syllabus and course design. The PDF document describes syllabus elements that support self-awareness, self-management, and other emotional intelligence dimensions.
BLACKBOARD-READY SYLLABUS ELEMENTS
Sharing syllabus elements in text format within your Blackboard courses helps students gain instant access to your course resources without downloading and opening files. Use Course Copy features in Blackboard to add Blackboard-ready syllabus statements and the most updated policies and student resource links into your courses.
- Self-Enroll in the USC Upstate Ultra Course View Syllabus Template Course. Be sure to login to Blackboard before you click the link. Then click Submit on the enroll screen to join the course. We will regularly check the course to change your role from Student to Teaching Assistant, but if you need us to make a quick switch, please just email academicinnovation@uscupstate.edu.