Center for Teaching and Learning Blog

Refreshing Your Course Syllabus

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Are you ready for Fall semester? A new school year brings students back to campus and the chance to review and refresh our courses. Consider taking this opportunity to refresh your course syllabus.

Tone

Take a moment to read over the first paragraph of your syllabus. What is the tone? Does it sound like you are encouraging your students and looking forward to the course? According to Zakrajsek and Nilson (2023), “studies show that students prefer a learning-focused syllabus that states strong student learning outcomes and [has] a positive, motivating-tone over a traditional content- and policy-focused syllabus (p. 66). There is no need to reduce course rigor to create a warmer or more positive syllabus. Instead, focus on introducing course requirements using positive and supportive language.

The President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023) share several suggestions for creating a syllabus with a positive tone. These include:

  • Using friendly language
  • Providing a rationale for assignments
  • Sharing a little bit about who you are
  • Showing your enthusiasm
  • Expressing compassion

For more information about each of these, take a look at the full article Syllabus Language Sets the Tone for Your Course.

What to Include

There are a variety of opinions about what to include in a syllabus and how long it should be. However, Michigan Tech’s Senate Policy 312.1 provides a list of content required in MTU course syllabi. This list includes:

  • Instructor information
  • Course information
  • Grading information
  • A schedule of course assignments
  • References to three university policies
    • Academic integrity
    • Disability
    • Equal opportunity
  • Course policies

To help you create a syllabus that includes this required content, the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning provides a syllabus template that you can use as a starting point for your own syllabus.

Taking time now to review and revise your syllabus can help you set your students up for success by effectively providing them with important information and motivating them to actively engage in your course.

Resources

For additional information about what to include in a syllabus and how to do so, consider reviewing:

If you have questions about creating or refreshing your syllabus, contact a member of the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning team at 487-3000 or ctl@mtu.edu.

References

Michigan Tech University Senate Policy 312.1 (2015). https://www.mtu.edu/senate/policies-procedures/list-policies/312.1/

The President and Fellows of Harvard College. (2023). Syllabus language sets the tone for your course. Retrieved from https://teachingandlearning.knowledgeowl.com/docs/syllabus-language-sets-the-tone-for-your-course

Zakrajsek, T. D. & Nilson, L. B. (2023). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors (5th ed.). Jossey-Bass.

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New tools in Canvas coming this Summer!

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Rich Content Editor – Find and Replace

A longtime requested tool from the Canvas community is nearly here! If you’re a Canvas user and you’ve created a quiz, discussion, or assignment, you’re probably familiar with the Canvas Rich Content Editor tool. Coming next month as a Canvas update, the RCE tool will have a new plugin tool Find and Replace which will work throughout Canvas wherever the RCE can be utilized. It will be similar in functionality to Find and Replace in other applications. When it’s available, choose Tools from any RCE toolbar and enter the text you’d like to find and replace; it’s quick and simple! 

Find and Replace tool in Canvas's Rich Content Editor toolbar.
Find and Replace interface.

Discussion Redesign

This video from Instructure will share with you the updated features to include Full and Partial Anonymity for Graded Discussions, Improved Accessibility, Split View, Reply Reporting, and Quoting and @ Mentions along with all the existing functions! Additional information is available from Canvas here! Whatever your role, this information will ensure you make the best use of the Discussion redesign; stay tuned for more information!

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CTL Technical Workshop: Panopto

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Are you looking for a way to incorporate video recordings to increase student engagement or provide course materials to be viewed in preparation for class? Perhaps you’re seeking a tool to capture lectures or meetings where multiple video sources can be captured at the same time which can be easily edited and shared? Compatible with multiple operating systems and file formats, Panopto is a robust and straight-forward tool to fit those needs and many more.

Join the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning for an Introduction to Panopto workshop on March 28, 2024 at 11am at the Van Pelt and Opie Library Room 242. Workstations (Windows operating system based) will be available if you would like to follow along or feel free to bring your own device! 
To register, please visit this link: https://mtu.libcal.com/event/12254156

For questions or accommodation requests, please contact Jess with the Center for Teaching and learning at jelhendr@mtu.edu or (906) 487-2275.

Flyer for the event. Decorative as the information on the flyer is also found in the paragraph above the flyer.
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Organizing the Canvas Gradebook

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The Canvas Gradebook helps instructors easily view and enter grades for students. Depending on the Grade display type, grades for each assignment can be viewed as points, percentage, complete or incomplete, GPA scale, or letter grade. Only graded assignments, graded discussions, graded quizzes, and graded surveys that have been published display in the Gradebook. Not Graded assignments are not included. (Source: more Gradebook information from Canvas)

Did you know there were several options within the Canvas Gradebook to make the grading process easier and the instructor’s gradebook more organized? Utilizing the Canvas Gradebook keeps your students apprised of their academic standing in the class and keeps the course grades organized and in one place.

Organizing Gradebook columns:

From the Canvas navigation menu, choose the Gradebook. Columns can be arranged to suit instructional needs. Place the mouse cursor over a column, press the left mouse button and hold it, and move the column to the desired location.

There are additional options under the three stacked dots (More Options) on the right hand side of the column header for coursework. Using the Sort by you are able to sort scores in ascending or descending order or by submission status.

From the More Options, instructors can adjust the Grade Posting Policy for that particular assignment or quiz.

Gradebook View Options:

From the Canvas navigation menu, choose Grades and then from the upper right hand choose the Gear\View Options.

The View Options tab allows filtering and sorting of the Gradebook according to viewing options:

  • Arrange By: arrange columns by default, assignment name, due date, points, or module.
  • Show: show or hide the notes column, the unpublished assignments column, the split student names column, hide assignment group totals, and hide total and override columns.
  • Status Color: view and change the color for a grading status (late, missing, resubmitted, dropped, and excused).

New column available in the Canvas Gradebook:

If you’ve looked at your Canvas Gradebook recently, you may have seen a new column just to the right of the student names; the new column is Major and lists the student fields of study.  Please note: the column is not able to be moved or hidden and will be available for Michigan Tech courses starting Spring 2024.

If you have further questions about utilizing the Canvas Gradebook, feel free to reach out to the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning at 487-3000 or email us at elearning@mtu.edu.

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Early Term Surveys

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Is your Early Term Survey ready for your students? The fourth and fifth week of the term is right around the corner and it’s your opportunity to gather valuable and constructive anonymous feedback from your students about your instructional processes; the survey results provide a roadmap for pedagogical adjustments early in the term. Both the Provost and the University Senate (Policy 505.1) advocate for distributing an Early Term Survey.


In each Canvas course shell, an Early Term Survey resides within the Quizzes section. Three default questions are provided; however, instructors have the ability to add, delete, or modify the survey questions based upon the type of feedback they are seeking. Creating a survey question is the same as creating a Quiz or Assignment.

Once an instructor is satisfied with their questions, the quiz can be published and accessed by the students during the allotted time frame. 

After the surveys are complete, instructors are able to see the results through Moderate This Survey.

For more information and general guidelines about the Early Term Survey, please refer to the Faculty Handbook.

If you have further questions about administering the Early Term Survey or would like to discuss ways that you can successfully apply the feedback to your course, feel free to reach out to the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning at 487-3000 or email us at elearning@mtu.edu.

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