The Visual Syllabus

Why yes, that does look pretty nice!

People think about this stuff. They even research the topic.  "The syllabus creates a first impression about you as the instructor, your attitudes toward teaching, and expectations about the class climate (Grunert, 1997; DiClementi & Handelsman, 2005)." Yep, those people are right. And yes, it does look better than 10,000 words in Times New Roman. 

From the University of Texas, Austin, the CTL there notes, “Combining text and graphics allows communicators to take advantage of each medium’s strengths and diminish each medium’s weaknesses” (Miller & Barnett, 2010, p. 63). When you offer choices to students in how they interact with and consume content (i.e., when you present images and text to convey the same information), you are engaged in effective Universal Design for Learning strategies." Yep. That is true.

You can use tools like Canva to create a more visually pleasing, and more understandable, look for your syllabus.