Syllabus Requirements for Online Classes

This information should be in the syllabus or the course orientation module. The syllabus should be in the Syllabus Tool within Canvas. The course orientation can be a stand-alone module or an ordered collection of pages in the first course module.

A. Course Basics

1. Material from the Official Course Outline.

   1. Course Description

   2. Number of units & transfer status

   3. Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

   4. Everything here must match exactly, so copy and paste from the Official Course Outline.

2. Link to the Student Academic Policies & Procedures page.  

   1. This page will be updated by the college; so be sure to link to the page rather than copy the information.

   2. Do not use old links, pdfs, or any other source for this information.

3. Link to Student Services.

4. The amount of time students can be expected to spend on the class.  Students should spend 51 hours per unit per semester. Do NOT designate “in class” or “out of class” as these don’t relate to online classes. For example: a 3 unit class is a total of 153 hours per semester. This is 9 hours per week for a 17 week semester.

5. Identify course requirements such as textbooks, software, access codes, calculators, etc.

   1. If students need to record video or you are using proctorio, be sure to include a webcam as a requirement.

   2. Include links to digital textbooks and/or information on how students can purchase the textbook

6. Since some students may be from out of the area

   1. For course times - use AM and PM; and list times as PT (Pacific Time).

   2. Use area codes with phone numbers

7. Let students know they have free access to the full suite of Office applications to use on personally owned technology through their association with Butte College.

B. Instructor Information & Where Students Can Get Help

1. Introduce yourself.

2. How should students contact you?

   1. Canvas Inbox is the best option.

   2. You can also list you Butte email account as a secondary source

   3. Do NOT use external email accounts; these create FERPA and Accreditation issues.

   4. If you have other means of communication, such as a Q&A forum in Canvas or telephone, list those as well

   5. If you have office hours, list the time and location

3. When can students expect to hear back from you when they message you?
   

   1. Be specific. For example: I will respond to emails within 24 hours during the week and 48 hours on the weekend.

   2. Balance what is reasonable for your workload with an understanding that students may be working on assignments at different times.
      

4. How will you reach out to the class?  Will you send announcements or class wide emails?  How else will you initiate contact with students? If you are using the announcement tool, encourage students to set up Canvas Notifications so they receive your announcements.

5. Department contact information (in case you are unavailable). Include the name of the department; name of contact; office number; phone number, with area code; email address.

6. If there are other places that students can go to get help, please list those as well. For example: tutoring center, computer labs, etc. You may also want to encourage students to use the NetTutor feature built into our Canvas courses.

7. Let students know about the resources found in the “Help” icon in the Canvas Navigation.

C. Grading, Participation & Rules

1. Outline due dates and how the assignments in the course are organized.

   1. Canvas lists all the due dates at the bottom of the syllabus.  Make sure these are accurate. But, this isn’t enough. Also provide students a broad view of the “rhythm” of the course.  For example: assignments are due every Wednesday, and a quiz is due every Sunday. Or: There will be an assignment due every Tuesday, a discussion every Friday, and a test every other week.

   2. Avoid having things due at 12 PM or 12 AM as these can be confusing.  Use 11:59 PM instead.

2. Define how students will be graded.  

   1. Describe the types of assessments and how much each is worth.

   2. List the grading scale and points needed for each grade.

   3. Also explain how students will be graded on assignments.  If you use rubrics in Canvas, let students know that this information is available to them.

   4. Remember that what you have in writing is the ONLY THING students will see (you can’t explain nuances in person).  

3. Participation and Drop Policy

   1. Students that don’t participate need to be dropped; and you have to define what “non-participation” means. For example, you could state that participation is defined as turning in at least one assessment and 1 quiz per week. Students that don’t submit any assessments or the quiz will be dropped.  Participation should be more than just a quiz. It’s too easy for a student to just randomly click through the quiz and therefore remain in the class.

   2. Also, participation cannot be based on grades (so you can’t say that students must earn a “C” to stay in the class). This policy prevents students from being enrolled in a class that they are not attending. But there should be some flexibility in case students have an emergency or miss some work. The question to answer is - what is the MINIMUM work a student can do and still be counted as part of the class?

   3. Here's an example of verbiage you could use: "Federal law requires active participation if a student is to continue to receive financial aid. I define active participation as the timely submission of at least one graded assignment per week. Students who miss the requirement two weeks in a row, without instructor consent, may be dropped."

4. Identify what constitutes participation during the first week. Students who don't meet this requirement shoudl be dropped as no-shows. First-week policies might include things such as:

   1. Completing all off the assignments in the first module

   2. Participation requires you to respond to any messages sent by the instructor within (timeframe)

5. How long will it take for assignment to be graded?  How will students get feedback on assignments?

6. Explain late work, extra credit, and make-up work policy.

7. Define any rules for the course.

   1. Netiquette rules and appropriate language for discussions - this is especially important if students are discussing sensitive or controversial topics.

   2. Communication rules to you and other students, such as the appropriate use of slang and text-speak.

   3. Rules on what constitutes cheating or plagiarism.