Syllabus Redesign

Course syllabi are often policy documents describing course policies, assignment requirements, learning goals and the course schedule and often they look like legal documents, written in small type with dense paragraphs. I’ve been wondering recently if syllabi could be more student friendly. Since I teach in a visual communication program, it also seemed appropriate that my syllabi should demonstrate some understanding of the principles of graphic design.

This fall I redesigned the my syllabus template, trying to create a document that is nice to look at and easy to use. The syllabus is structured so the learning goals, student projects, grading scale and schedule are in the front of the document and the policy information at the end. Additionally, since syllabi are a primary document that represents the college, I worked to have the syllabi be on-brand, using the appropriate typefaces and logos. It’s still early in the term so I don’t have feedback yet from students on the documents but I’m excited to learn how well they work for them.

See the syllabi for two of my courses:

• VCOM207 Digital Design Tools
• ARTD103 Photography and Image Framing (This course is also my first attempt at a competency based grading system. I’m excited to see how this works.)

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