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Scholarly Technology and Resources

Re-formatting Your Syllabus for the Web

Determine the categories of information in the syllabus and then consider chunking your online syllabus into these smaller manageable parts such as:

web page layout of syllabus including home, schedule, protocols, faq, grading
  • Syllabus Home containing main course info (contact info, course objectives, technology information, textbook, disability statement, etc.)
    which could be used as the syllabus home page
  • Protocols or rules of the road
  • Grading
  • FAQ
  • Schedule or course calendar

This handy Online Syllabus Checklist (PDF) may be helpful.

Hints:

  • These chunked parts can be separate pages linked to the syllabus home page, like a kind of syllabus web site.

  • Many online faculty find that it can be handy to provide links to the course schedule and protocols pages elsewhere within an online course as just-in-time references for their students. Plus, you can keep the same main page of the syllabus each semester, and only have to make changes to the dated materials, such as course schedule or grading pages.

  • Include consistent navigation on each page to all parts of the syllabus.

  • Be brief and to the point: use bullets rather than long paragraphs.

  • Include white space in the layout.

  • Add meaningful diagrams, pictures, charts, rubrics that accommodate various learning styles (and include a short text description of any images as an "alt tag" for students with disabilities).

  • Make the pages short enough that readers won't have keep scrolling and scrolling.

  • Consider developing your online syllabus with a separate working version of the course schedule. By finalizing the course schedule at the end of your online course development process, you can tweak the arrangement and dates as you go. This method will let the schedule serve as a kind of flexible guide while you're developing content for each module, and it will allow you some wiggle room.

  • Also consider not putting dates anywhere in your course materials except highly visible places like:
    • your syllabus course schedule
    • the calendar tool
    • the "titles" of files in the content modules
    so that you won't have to go on a treasure hunt through all of your materials each semester looking for where you hid those blasted dates!

  • Be sure to address the online logistics for those who live in the area and those who do not (i.e. testing, obtaining course materials or access codes for ePacks, etc.)

  • If you provide URLs (web addresses) to the WWW, be sure they're live links each semester!

  • Link directly to other documents and sites that you want students to visit, including the name of the site in the link (making the links more user-friendly to users with disabilities who rely on screen readers).
    Do this: "Go to the UALR Home page. "
    Avoid this: "Click here to go to UALR's Home page."

  • Be sure to cover technical information such as where to find instructions on using the course tools, assignment file naming conventions, and getting help online or by telephone.

  • Include frequently asked questions and/or technology support information, like what to do if your computer breaks down, your internet connection dies, etc., and at what point you should contact your instructor.

  • If you use an ePack (electronic course materials from textbook publishers) before class begins provide information at the bookstore (and/or with Off Campus Programs for web based courses) about obtaining the ePack's access code to log into your online course.
Scholarly Technology and Resources
Dickinson Hall, Room 105
501.569.8954
star@ualr.edu