Syllabus creation guide

Most of this information should be copied directly from the timetable/course calendar. If you have questions, speak with your program assistant or department chair.

Consider including a photo and/or link to a welcome video in your syllabus, and sending students a separate welcome letter before the first day of class (see below for a sample).

Personal pronouns

Including your personal pronouns demonstrates your commitment to a classroom inclusive of diverse gender expression, signals to students that you are aware that pronouns may not always match visual appearance, and affirms your commitment to using students’ personal pronouns. For more information on personal pronouns, see the Pronouns Matter website.

Office/student/learner hours

According to section 2.9(d) in the ROASS Procedures document, “instructors need to be available for a reasonable amount of time, on a known and posted basis, for individual consultation with students registered in their courses or laboratories.” Many students are unclear about the purpose of office/student/learner hours, and some instructors are renaming them “student” or “learner” hours to indicate that these are the moments when the instructor is most dedicated to meeting students’ needs, answering questions or concerns, and so on.

Regardless of the name you choose, you should explain to students the purpose, format, and goals of the times you dedicate to them. Inviting students to office/student/learner hours multiple times throughout a term can also be helpful as the need to come see you might be less salient earlier in the term. Another way to encourage students to attend is to think about ways in which you can reduce barriers that may prevent them from attending. A few examples include asking your students what days and times would work best for them, holding in person and virtual hours, and using an appointment scheduler (e.g., Microsoft Bookings) to allow students to automatically book an appointment with you without needing to email you. For other ideas, see Andrea Eidinger’s University Affairs article called “Maximizing the Impact of Office Hours”.

Communication

As you share your preferred forms of communication with students, you might also remind them about the general University of Manitoba recommendations regarding use of communications tools (e.g., Student Email Policy). Taking some time to indicate what “professional” communication looks like to you, and sharing the reasons students should use it (e.g., practicing disciplinary or professional conventions, showing respect, etc.) would also be advised.

Welcome letter

A welcome letter helps to establish expectations with students, provides them with important contact information, office hours, and any requirement or rules regarding late assignment submission. You should share your welcome letter with students in advance (perhaps with a welcoming email and a pre-class survey to learn more about students’ interests and learning needs), post it on UM Learn, and draw attention to it on the first day of class. A sample template is below.

There are a few things to consider when including such statements.  A land acknowledgement, much like a diversity statement, is a call to action and should be meaningfully aligned with the syllabus, class activities, and course materials; otherwise, they could be interpreted as performative gestures.

In the inclusion of a Traditional Territories or Land Acknowledgement, one might want to consider:

• Why you would like to include it, and whether and how it is related to a larger practice of disrupting ongoing settler colonial violence,
• How will you personalize it and why would you do this?
• How you will ask student to engage with, or think critically about the statemen?
• What is your positionality in relation to the statement, and how will you continue to move forward in reconciliation practices?

The Indigenous Engagement Team, Indigenous community and members of the University of Manitoba have developed a Traditional Territory Acknowledgement that can be used as a guide for members of the campus community.

A Traditional Territory Acknowledgement is a reflection and expression of gratitude that recognizes the Indigenous land we occupy as a community while promoting a shared commitment to understanding historical events that have led us to present day.

All major events at the University of Manitoba, such as awards ceremonies, luncheons, lecture series, celebrations, and announcements, include an acknowledgement of the traditional territories on which our campuses are located. Stating this acknowledgement publicly is also an opportunity for the UM community to increase their awareness of Indigenous history and perspectives.

For guidance on how to include a territory acknowledgement in your event, please contact the Indigenous Engagement Team at indigenous.engagement@umanitoba.ca.

Additional resources

Canadian Association of University Teachers [CAUT]. (n.d.). Guide to acknowledging First Peoples & Traditional Territory. 

Centre for Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Land acknowledgements. University of Alberta.

Garcia, F. (2018). Guide to Indigenous land and territorial acknowledgements for cultural institutions. Indigenous Land and Territorial Acknowledgements for Institutions.

Teaching and Learning Support Units. (n.d.). Land acknowledgements. University of Alberta.

Wilson, S. (1994). Gwitch’in Native Elders: Not just knowledge but a way of looking at the world. Alaska Native Knowledge Network.

Wilson, S. (2001). Editorial: Self-as-relationship in Indigenous research. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 91-92.

Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Fernwood Publishing.

Depending on your statement’s focus, you might also call this an “anti-oppressive statement.” Providing a statement like this can help students feel valued as human beings and can begin or continue important conversations around racism, sexism, ableism, colonialism, trans- and homophobia, and other oppressive practices that infuse education and society generally.

Your statement might include some of the following aspects, but you should carefully consider whether you are prepared to fully commit to these actions as the instructor, and whether you are prepared to address gaps in your own knowledge and understanding as part of ongoing learning on these topics.

• Why you’re making this statement
• Specific anti-oppressive practices in your teaching (e.g., types of comment that aren’t tolerated, instructor/student power dynamics, attention to diversity of content, worldview, perspectives, identity)
• A discussion of the University of Manitoba’s Respectful Work and Learning Environment policy, particularly to the ways it applies both to in-class activities and also student and instructor behaviour in spaces outside the physical classroom (e.g., emails, social media groups related to courses, private texts with classmates during class time through cell phones or private chats on videoconferencing platforms and social media, etc.)
• Recognition of a holistic approach to learning and the ways that life can impact learning (e.g., discussion of food insecurity, mental health, housing insecurity). You might also refer students to the “UM Supports” section for resources here, and ensure that appropriate resources are in those sections.

Please feel free to reach out to The Centre for an individual consultation to help develop your own statement.  Below you will find a sample statement.

U of M course calendar description

Include the official calendar description here from the UM Academic Calendar.

General course description

Your course description should include course goals (broad, general statements of what you want students to learn) and describe the value of the course for students.

Learning outcomes are specific statements about what students should know and/or be able to do at the end of the course. Learning outcomes should be measurable using active verbs, specific, written from the student’s perspective, and at the appropriate level of learning. A typical course has between five and seven learning outcomes. While learning outcomes are not a summary of all the possible learning students will do in a course, they do articulate the learning that students are expected to do, and that you will measure (or assess) through assignments, projects, quizzes, exams, essays, class participation, and other activities and tasks. They should also align with the kinds of teaching strategies you will be using in the class.

The Centre’s teaching resource pages on Learning Outcomes and Course Alignment provide more information about learning outcomes and how to align them with the assessments and activities in your course. You are also welcome to contact The Centre for personalized help developing custom learning outcomes for your course.

Accessibility

Choosing course materials, both required and supplemental, is a challenging task. Evaluate your content for accessibility:

• Are all documents accessible with assistive technologies such as a screen reader?
• Do all images include alt-text descriptions?
• Are documents accessible on different devices and with low internet bandwidth?
• Are captions and transcripts provided for videos?

Additional resources are also available through Student Accessibility Services (SAS) for faculty and staff.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion

Also evaluate the content of prospective course materials for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Consider (among other things):

• Who is represented in images, case studies, scenarios?
• What author identities are present, and what author identities are absent?
• What systems of knowledge are used to engage with content, and what systems are not?
• Are gender-neutral pronouns used?
• If language is outdated or currently considered racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise problematic, how will you address this with students if you plan to still use that material?

Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources (OER) are materials used for teaching and learning which are openly licensed. These can include textbooks, readings, or teaching materials like slides and rubrics. Many high quality open textbooks are available, which your students can access free of charge. Some also come with teaching materials like slide decks. For help finding OER for your courses, visit the Libraries OER webpage.

Another major benefit to OER is their adaptability. Due to their open licenses, they can be edited and reorganized to adjust to your courses, your students’ needs, and local contexts that can’t be addressed by commercial textbooks. There are usually some restrictions to adaptation of OER based on licensing; visit the Libraries Creative Commons license guide to learn more.

For support with navigating OER, please contact your liaison librarian.

Technology

There are various learning technology tools supported by the University of Manitoba. These include UM Learn, Webex, Zoom, Yuja, iClicker, Respondus, Microsoft 365, Mentimer, and Yuja Panorama. Visit The Centre’s Teaching and Learning Technologies website to learn more.

The Centre has prepared the following statements instructors can add to this section of their syllabus if they plan to use these tools in their course:

• iClicker
• Peerceptiv

Are there heavier weeks that students should be alerted to in advance? Is there a way you can distribute work more evenly? Can you avoid times in the semester where students typically have many deadlines (e.g., mid-semester)?

You can also suggest a weekly schedule for students to help them organize the course’s requirements with other obligations. For instance:

• Thursday – Monday: complete weekly course readings and post questions in discussion forum
• Monday: class
• Tuesday: take weekly quiz in UM Learn (due by 5pm Tuesday)
• Wednesday: class
• Tuesday – Thursday: complete weekly assignment (due by 5pm Thursday)
• Friday: tutorial

You should also ensure that assignments, tests, etc. do not fall on major faith dates. If this is unavoidable, provide an alternative for students who practice these faith traditions. A multifaith calendar with major faith dates is available on the Spiritual services website.

From a learner’s perspective, assessments are the primary way that they demonstrate their learning and receive feedback. With this in mind, assessments should be closely aligned with the course learning outcomes, meaning that each assessment should measure one or more course learning outcomes, and that all course learning outcomes should be measured through at least one assessment. (For more on this principle, called constructive alignment, see this resource provided by The Centre: https://umanitoba.ca/centre-advancement-teaching-learning/support/course-alignment

In planning your assessments, keep these principles in mind:

• Weighting: what percentage of the total grade is each assessment worth? Try for a balanced approach, with neither too many nor too few assessments, and where no one assessment is worth around 30% of the total grade.
   
• Assessment type: tests and exams are often traditional assessments, especially in large courses, but they are only one of many options. If you choose to emphasize tests and exams, consider The Centre’s resources on Teaching with Tests and Exams and Creating Multiple Choice Tests. If you are interested in exploring creative options that more accurately reflect the sorts of tasks typical in your discipline/profession or that enhance student motivation by providing choice or creativity, consider The Centre’s resource on Alternative Forms of Assessment.
   
• Groupwork: many courses include a group project or other groupwork tasks. If this is true of your course, consider The Centre’s resource on Assessing Group Work. The Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University also has a helpful website all about Using Group Projects Effectively (including assessing them).
   
• Feedback and grading: consider whether your assessments provide formative feedback (i.e., in-progress feedback, usually ungraded) or summative feedback (i.e., end-of-task feedback, usually graded). If your assessments are primarily summative, where will students get feedback on their learning in the initial stages and be able to use that feedback to modify subsequent work? Visit The Centre’s resource page on Providing Feedback to Students for some helpful ideas and strategies. Also ensure that students (and you!) know what you’re looking for in each assessment. A rubric is a great way to communicate your expectations; a helpful resource on Grading with Rubrics is available through The Centre.

   

Providing a summary

It is helpful for students to see a summary of all of the assessments they will be expected to complete, when they are due, and how much each is worth toward the final grade. This information can be provided in multiple ways such as in a table or in a pie chart. To ensure your syllabus is as accessible as possible, consider providing this information in multiple formats (at least one being fully accessible).

Expectations

See the section below on setting expectations in the syllabus pertaining to the course more broadly, as those principles largely apply here as well.

Lab schedule

See the section above about the course schedule for some important considerations to keep in mind.

Consider whether your assessments provide formative feedback (i.e., in-progress feedback, usually ungraded) or summative feedback (i.e., end-of-task feedback, usually graded). If your assessments are primarily summative, where will students get feedback on their learning in the initial stages? Visit The Centre’s resource page on Providing Feedback to Students for some helpful ideas and strategies. Also ensure that students (and you!) know what you’re looking for in each assessment. A rubric is a great way to communicate your expectations; see The Centre’s resource on Grading with Rubrics.

Grading is one of the primary ways that instructors hold power over students, and many instructors seek to re-balance this power with a variety of strategies. Some offer students opportunities to choose which assignments to complete; others provide flexibility through deadlines. Some allow students to self-grade portions of their work, and others go further to embrace the practice of ungrading. For a couple of resources on these options, see below.

• “Grading is Ineffective, Harmful, and Unjust—Let’s Stop Doing It” by Amy J. Ko (2019)
• “Finding common ground with grading systems” by Robert Talbert (2021)
• “Alternative Strategies for Assessment and Grading” by Duke University Leaning Innovation (n.d.)
• “Cinderella Deadlines: Reconsidering Timelines for Student Work” by Susan Spangler (2020)
• “Second Changes for Failing [STEM] Students” by Maria Carrasco (2022)
• “’It made me feel like it was okay to be wrong’: Student Experiences With Ungrading”  by Tim Gorichanaz (2022)
• “Is Specifications Grading Right for Me?: A Readiness Assessment to Help Instructors” by Adriana C. Streifer and Michael S. Palmer (2021)
• “Ungrading: An Introduction” by Jesse Stommel (2021)
• “Labor-Based Grading Resources” by Asao B. Inoue (n.d.)

If you are interested in exploring alternative grading strategies beyond the resources listed above, you are welcome to request a consultation from The Centre.

Some instructors go further to address power dynamics by framing this section as “community agreements” or “classroom guidelines” that are co-created with students. This also reduces the sense of the instructor as a police officer enforcing rules on students; instead, everyone in the course is expected to both adhere to the guidelines and alert others when guidelines are not being followed. Community agreements are often written as action statements using “we” so that everyone in the course is included (e.g., “We will focus on the impact of our actions while assuming good intentions”). Guidelines typically address things such as how individuals will interact with each other, what behaviours are encouraged, and what behaviours are discouraged.

A set of community guidelines, included with permission from Robin Attas (music theory instructor) is included below as a starting point for your own discussions.

In preparation for a conversation with students about mutual expectations and/or community agreements, take some time to consider what behaviours or agreements you need to have to be an effective instructor (your “must-haves”), and also what behaviours students typically need to succeed in the course (or ones similar to it). This will allow you to suggest some ideas to students if the conversation stalls, or if students are not suggesting things that you need to have included.

As part of your conversations and syllabus statement, be sure to address not just expectations or guidelines, but also what will happen if expectations are not met or guidelines are not followed.

The University of Manitoba’s Engaging in Respectful Conduct website is an excellent resource directed at students.

Below are some additional resources to help you think through some of the details. Staff at The Centre are also happy to meet with you to discuss ideas.

Academic integrity [ROASS]

Where possible, use asset-based language that explains what you want to see in terms of student behaviours, rather than deficit-based language that describes poor practices. Similarly, aim for supportive language that encourages students to reach out for help when issues arise, rather than punitive language emphasizing punishments or threats.

Below are some examples of disciplinary specific academic integrity statements:

• Architecture
• Biological Sciences
• Computer Science
• Electrical/Computer Engineering
• Fine Arts
• UM Faculty of Science
• UM Mathematics

Knowledge Nuggets is a collection of learning resources for promoting academic integrity and related topics (e.g., citing and referencing) that is curated within UM Learn.  These resources include content in various forms and sample learning outcomes, learning activities, and quizzes.  Instructors can select and import chosen resources into their own course shells and modify them to suit their specific course needs. To access Knowledge Nuggets, contact Brenda.Stoesz@umanitoba.ca. You may already be enrolled in Knowledge Nuggets, click here to confirm.

Additional strategies and supports can be found on The Centre’s Academic Integrity teaching resource page.

Attendance [ROASS]

As you craft your attendance policy, consider the needs of students as well as yourself. Is attendance truly necessary, or can learners make their own choices? Are there options for online attendance or asynchronous equivalents? Whatever your attendance policy, explain the reasons for it as well as the policy itself.

Below are some resources to consider when crafting your attendance policy:

• “Should Class Attendance Be Mandatory?” by Aida Alanzi and Mélina Lévesque (2021)
• “Attendance Policies” by The University of Colorado’s Center for Teaching & Learning (n.d.)

Assignment extension and late submission [ROASS]

One silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to emergency remote teaching was the way that instructors and students alike recognized the impact that life outside of a course has on students’ ability to complete course requirements. Flexible deadlines, a standard grace period, options to revise and resubmit: all of these approaches can help students achieve course learning outcomes while recognizing that life happens, and yet still recognize instructors’ needs for timely receipt of assessments in order to manage workload. A more flexible late submission policy can also eliminate unnecessary barriers to learning, in line with a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach.

At the very least, your assignment extension and late submission policy should be written in clear, simple, and respectful language. If you want to discuss options further, contact The Centre.

Class communication [ROASS]

All email communication must conform to The University of Manitoba’s Communicating with Students policy. Consider creating a communication plan for yourself and sharing it with students. Many instructors send a weekly email with tasks and announcements, use announcement features on UM Learn, and also designate particular times for additional course communication.

Recording class lectures [ROASS]

Keep in mind that some students may need to record class lectures for accessibility reasons and/or official academic accommodation purposes. Rather than forcing these students to reveal their accommodation needs by banning all recordings, you might make a recording available to all students in advance of or after a class period, and include a copyright statement instead. Many students, even those without accommodation needs, appreciate having recordings to refer to at a later date.

Referencing style

As part of your conversations around reference styles, be sure to share with students the purpose of references and citation practices in your discipline. Often academic integrity violations around plagiarism are rooted in a lack of information about the specific disciplinary and cultural practices for citation.

Technology use [ROASS]

Instructors and students alike have preferences about the use of technology in learning spaces. Sometimes the use of technology is mandatory; some instructors regularly ask students to consult information or respond to polls using specific devices; some prefer not to have the distraction of devices around them. Rather than insisting on a particular behaviour. Consider dedicating a “device-free zone” in the classroom, so that those who wish to use devices can continue to do so, and those who find them distracting can avoid them.

Responsibilities of Academic Staff with Regard to Students (ROASS)

The ROASS policy, procedure, and Schedule “A” requirements can be found on the University of Manitoba’s Governing Documents: Students website.

Sample ROASS Schedule “A”

The Centre provides a Sample ROASS Schedule “A” document that can be used to fulfill the ROASS requirements listed in the “Schedule ‘A’: Policies and Resources” document.

According to section 2.6 of the ROASS procedure, the information required according to Schedule “A” is to be provided to students within the first week of classes, either through a paper copy and/or a University of Manitoba student information system (including Aurora or UM Learn).

The sample provided by The Centre includes two sections—UM Policies and UM Learner Supports—that together meet the requirements of Schedule “A” and has been provided in a format that enables instructors to provide the document directly to students without requiring additional changes. However, instructors can also copy and paste sections directly into their syllabi under the UM Policies and UM Learner Supports sections as well.

Remember to make time to ensure that students understand policies and refer back to them often as appropriate.

Responsibilities of Academic Staff with Regard to Students (ROASS)

The ROASS policy, procedure, and Schedule “A” requirements can be found on the University of Manitoba’s Governing Documents: Students website.

Sample ROASS Schedule “A”

The Centre provides a Sample ROASS Schedule “A” document that can be used to fulfill the ROASS requirements listed in the “Schedule ‘A’: Policies and Resources” document.

According to section 2.6 of the ROASS procedure, the information required according to Schedule “A” is to be provided to students within the first week of classes, either through a paper copy and/or a University of Manitoba student information system (including Aurora or UM Learn).

The sample provided by The Centre includes two sections—UM Policies and UM Learner Supports—that together meet the requirements of Schedule “A” and has been provided in a format that enables instructors to provide the document directly to students without requiring additional changes. However, instructors can also copy and paste sections directly into their syllabi under the UM Policies and UM Learner Supports sections as well.

Beyond Schedule “A”

Instructors are encouraged to extend beyond Schedule “A” to consider supports that could be beneficial to learners holding particular identities or facing particular challenges to learning. Students hold a range of visible and invisible identities, and so instructors will never be completely certain what supports are needed by which students. Encourage all students to connect with available supports: academic supports, for instance, can help all students to improve, not just those who are struggling; supports for students with particular identities often have programming to help students who don’t hold those identities broaden their horizons.

It is also important to recognize the strong connection between academic success and general student well-being: struggling in one sphere often impacts others. Thus, “support” is taken broadly here to mean everything that might lead to a greater sense of holistic well-being both inside and outside your course.

A great central resource to point students towards is the University of Manitoba Everything You Need to Thrive website. The website includes those supports listed in The Centre’s Sample ROASS Schedule “A” document as well as others you may want to share with students.