What should I include in a course syllabus?

The course syllabus is a document that communicates important course information to your students, both before they decide to take your course and while the course is in progress. It should therefore be written in a manner that would pique your students’ interest and clearly state what they can expect from your course. This means that the course syllabus should contain information about your course activities and assessments, and how these support students’ attainment of your course goals.

Below are some sections you should include in your course syllabus.

1. Course Details – Indicate course code and title, course facilitator(s), any prerequisites, or preclusions.
2. Course Overview – Clearly articluate broad questions or topics that your students will examine. Be sure to include the knowledge, skills and attitudes that your students will learn.
3. Weekly Syllabus – Aside from stating each week’s topic, you should craft essential questions that you want students to examine and answer as they complete their weekly tasks.
4. Learning Outcomes – Being clear about your intended learning outcomes helps your students track their own learning.
5. Assessment Mapping Table – Show how each assessment is aligned with your course learning outcomes, so that students can clearly understand the rationale behind each assessment and prepare accordingly.
6. Assessment Components – Give students more details about what they will do in each assessment.
7. Teaching Modes – Provide information on how you plan to teach the course, including the approaches and teaching strategies you will adopt.
8. Teaching Policies – If you have additional policies (e.g., grading procedures, participation policy, accessibility needs statement), you can add them here. It is also an opportunity to clarify your students’ rights and responsibilities. Be explicit about your openness to making changes or accommodation to ensure accessibility.
9. Contact Information – Include information on how, when and where your students can find you beyond class time.
10. Course Evaluation and Feedback – Tell students if, how, and when you will solicit feedback on your course.

See our recommended course syllabus template here. Some examples of how each section should be written are available in the template.