What to Include and What to Cut from Your Syllabi

In this episode of the Prof Talk Pod, Katie is back to tackle the topic of the course syllabus. Should it be a graphical, engaging roadmap or a traditional, standardized contract? Katie and I share what we think are the essential components of an effective syllabus and how to navigate adding university policies.  I share my strategy of writing the syllabus directly to the student to build buy-in, while Katie and I emphasize the critical rule: the syllabus is a contract, so only include policies you are willing to enforce. We break down how to structure your syllabus around three key questions of what, how, and when students will learn and why you must include university-required boilerplate content verbatim. Finally, we agree that including an explicit AI disclosure policy is critical right now to clearly communicate student expectations and force you to think critically about AI use in your classroom.