Introduction:
In the Spring of 2020, I lead a Community of Practice working group called “Rethinking the Syllabus.” The goal of the group was to explore redesigning syllabi so that they prompted more engagement with our students and be treated as “living” documents, rather than short-term contracts. The scholarship that we explored included engaging more welcoming language within our syllabi based on James Lang’s The Promising Syllabus; exploring Tona Hangen’s Syllabus Design templates to engage a more visually engaging syllabus; using “Student Impressions of Syllabus Design: Engaging Contractual Syllabus” as a framework to shift the syllabus from contract to conversation.
The Open Syllabus Design:
In addition to redesigning the layout and language of my syllabi, one meaningful revision that I undertook engaged students with collaborating on certain policies. I did this to offer students more agency in how they learned and also to increase engagement with our course policies throughout the semester, by having students vote on changes to course policies throughout the semester. Below are some of the exercises we used to co-create new policies within the class syllabus.
Open Syllabus Introduction Exercise
Overview:
Students often view a syllabus like the generic "terms of service" contract you have to sign in order to download a new app or start a service. Most people don't read it, but you should! Not only is a syllabus like a contract between you and your fellow students, but it is also a guiding tool for your success in this class. In order to give you an opportunity to have more control and input on your learning, you as a class will create certain policies on our syllabus. This is your introduction to a concept called open-pedagogy. Open-Pedagogy is all about involving students in their learning. The University of Texas Library defines OP as: “the practice of engaging with students as creators of information rather than simply consumers of it. It's a form of experiential learning in which students demonstrate understanding through the act of creation. The products of open pedagogy are student created and openly licensed so that they may live outside of the classroom in a way that has an impact on the greater community.”
You will notice a number of items on our syllabus marked “Open Policy.” These items are not set in stone and each student will be invited to comment and help shape those policies as the course progresses. Your voice matters to your learning, so I am interested to know how you would like to shape some of the policies in this class and what they mean to you in the context of your learning. Below is a tentative list of open policies that will likely change as the semester progresses.
Open Policies:
Attendance
Participation
Class Expectation
Extra Labor
Directions:
We will review the policies together as a class throughout the semester. You will get into groups and read the syllabus together, considering what aspects of the policy you find helpful to your learning, and what you think could be improved upon. Once we've discussed these policies as a class, you will need to click on the title of this Blackboard post and use your go.olemiss.edu credentials to log into the Google Form. Once you are logged in, fill out directions and select different options.
Course Expectations Exercise Hybrid 102
Learning Goals
Today we’re going to be discussing the ideal learning environment we would like to be a part of for this Hybrid 102 course. We will share our top expectations which we think would lead to an ideal learning environment, then the best ones will be chosen to create our classroom contract. We will question, build on and challenge each other's ideas in a respectful manner.
Expectations: What Are They and Why Do We Need Them?
What's an expectation?
Expectations are how we expect each other to behave in our class community. Expectations are created and communicated so we are clear on how we should behave and we can take responsibility for our own actions.
Why do we need class expectations?
Each of us has different learning needs and a positive environment can help each of us succeed. By working together to establish expectations, we can ensure that we agree and are held accountable to each other throughout the semester.
Discussion:
Everyone has different ideas about their ideal classroom. By sharing them in this discussion, we can understand more about how our ideas differ from one another and how we can still learn together in a cohesive class community.
Work in groups to try and answer the following questions below:
How do you like to be treated by your classmates?
What type of learning environment do YOU want to learn in?
What expectations lead to an ideal classroom?
What expectations should our class have in the classroom contract?
Draft Two Expectations:
Once you've discussed the questions with your group, write down 2 classroom expectations that you think would be important in an ideal learning environment. After stating the expectation, explain why you think this is important and why it should be in our class contract. Title your expectations so you can easily copy and paste them into the shared Google Form.
Expectation #1: Explain why it is important
Expectation #2: Explain why it is important
