When you submit a course proposal, the syllabus is reviewed by several committees. If your syllabus meets the minimum requirements when it is first submitted, there should be fewer requests from the committees to modify it.

  1. Start by reading the Syllabus Minimum Requirements
  2. Select the appropriate syllabus template:
  1. Update the template to include your course information
  2. Contact Meili Gunawan, Curriculum Coordinator, if you have questions.

Syllabus Tips

The items listed below frequently are omitted from syllabi, resulting in committees sending syllabi back for revision. Including this information the first time should make your syllabus review go more smoothly.

  • For courses taught on-campus, include the class meeting times. Ensure the class meeting time follows the credit hour guidelines in the course credits policy.
  • For online courses, indicate the number of hours on average that students will interact with course materials. For example, "This course combines approximately 90 hours of instruction, online activities, and assignments for 3 credits”. Note 1 credit = 30 hours.
  • If there is no prerequisite, state “Prerequisite: None”.
  • Indicate if Learning Resources are Required or Optional. The rationale for this is to make cost requirements transparent to students.
  • Include strong Course Learning Outcomes.
    • Start outcomes with action verbs from the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy.
    • Use measurable verbs. Avoid using non-measurable verbs such as understand, demonstrate understanding, demonstrate knowledge, learn, know, or appreciate.
    • Use verbs that appropriately reflect the course level. Upper-division courses are expected to use verbs that mostly demonstrate higher cognitive levels as stipulated in the upper-and lower-division course policy.
    • Include, for slashlisted courses, additional graduate-level learning outcome(s) that emphasize the developing skills in analysis, synthesis, and/or evaluation as stipulated in the slash courses policy.
    • Be prepared to indicate the alignment between the course learning outcomes and assessment as reviewers may ask for that information. For example: Which assessment measures CLO #1?
  • Include the five required University-wide course statements
    • The Student Learning Experience survey statement is optional, but if you include it, be sure to use the most current language from the Syllabus Minimum Requirememts.