2 Syllabi Requirements and Tutorial
Note that these guidelines reflect what needs to be in faculty’s course syllabi. All faculty are expected to utilize the Concourse syllabus located in Canvas— a different syllabus should not be created and distributed to students.
At a minimum, a course syllabus should consist of the following (note that some of these are already prepopulated pre-populated—bolded items below are editable by faculty and should be added to syllabi):
- College Name
- Term and Year
- Course Number, Section, Title and Number of Credits
- Course Meeting Time, Location
- Instructor Name, Office Location, Office Hours
- Instructor Contact Information: office phone number, campus email address, and cellphone (if appropriate)
- Course Description
- Instructional Materials–textbook, supplies, equipment, etc.
- Course Outcomes
- Assessment–A complete description of how grades are calculated (assignments and points) and the required common college grading scale as shown below. Specialized programmatic accreditation standards supersede this common scale and those standards are published in program handbooks provided to students in those programs.
| Letter | GPA | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| A | 4.0 | 93 – 100% |
| A- | 3.7 | 90 – 92% |
| B+ | 3.3 | 87 – 89% |
| B | 3.0 | 83 – 86% |
| B- | 2.7 | 80 – 82% |
| C+ | 2.3 | 77 – 79% |
| C | 2.0 | 73 – 76% |
| C- | 1.7 | 70 – 72% |
| D+ | 1.3 | 67 – 69% |
| D | 1.0 | 63 – 66% |
| D- | 0.7 | 60 – 62% |
| F | 0.0 | 0 – 59% |
| NG | No Grade |
- Course Schedule–A complete topics schedule and assignment/exam dates (with the exception of courses where a topic schedule is not applicable, i.e. music lessons). Of course, other important dates should be included as well. Do not refer students to a separate handout, website link, or other schedule. Note: The more complete this is on the syllabus, the better for transfer evaluation purposes.
- Flexibility statement—the following statement (or something akin to it) needs to be included in your syllabus: “The instructor reserves the right to revise class calendar, modify content, and/or substitute assignments in response to institutional, weather, or class situations. Changes will be announced in class. Students will be held responsible for all changes.” Note: Division offices need to be notified in the event of substantive changes to your syllabus. This does not mean that we need to be notified of minor editing of dates and the correction of other minor editing mistakes. This needs to occur where there has been a significant revision, such as an exam being dropped or added, a module dropped or added, etc.
- Course Policies— late work, attendance, make-up policies, technology/mobile devices policy
- Gateway Course statement (if a Gateway Course) “This course is a designated Gateway course [for students enrolled in ________ program(s)]. Gateway courses are good early indicators of student readiness for further study. Successful completion of this course will provide a solid foundation for next steps in your studies so be sure to take every advantage of the available support and resources provided to you.”
- Tutoring: “FREE Academic Tutoring: Free, unlimited academic tutoring is available to all current NIC students. Visit the Academic Tutoring website to learn more about the tutoring program.”
- Academic Academic Dishonesty Statement
- Student Code of Conduct
- Disability Support Services and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Withdrawal
- Title IX/Nondiscrimination Statement
- Withdrawal Statement
- Institutional Statement: Removal from class for non-attendance
In addition, syllabi might include the following where appropriate:
- Link to web sites
- Incomplete policy
- Extra credit policy
- Technology and/or mobile devices policy
- Statement in regards to the recording of class sessions
- Etc.
For a tutorial on editing, downloading, or importing concourse syllabi, please click here.