Syllabus Formulation

Thinking about Supporting Classes or Teaching with WebCT?

One of the first things that most of you will do for any class you are going to teach, whether it is web supported or taught using distance technology, is formulate a syllabus.

To formulate a syllabus, you need to start by doing the following:

• Define the learning objectives of the class.

  (Note: If you do not know where you are going, how will you know if you got there?)

  Remember that objectives should be:

  • Cognitive** (e.g., knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation);
  • Affective** (e.g., receiving: attending and becoming aware; responding: doing something about it; valuing: taking action on your own; organizing: arranging values in systematic manner; characterization: internalizing a set of values) or
  • Psychomotor** (e.g., perception: detecting sensory cues; set: becoming ready to act; guided response: imitating and practicing; mechanism: increasing efficiency; complex overt response: automatically performing)

• Decide on what information you will need to deliver to the students to meet the defined objectives.

• Decide on what modalities (e.g., lecture; discussion; problem based learning; field experience you will use to deliver the content to meet the learning objectives.

• Decide on a set of activities (e.g., puzzle; word search; role play; case study; interview; game) that students will do to enhance the learning process.

• Determine what evaluation tools (e.g., term paper; presentation; exam; lab report) you will use to ascertain learning. Remember that evaluation should be consistent with the objectives defined above.