Jl. of Interactive Learning Research (2008) 19(4), 541-550
A Design Framework for Syllabus Generator M’HAMMED ABDOUS AND WU HE Old Dominion University, USA
[email protected] [email protected] A well-designed syllabus provides students with a roadmap for an engaging and successful learning experience, whereas a poorly designed syllabus impedes communication between faculty and students, increases student anxiety and potential complaints, and reduces overall teaching effectiveness. In an effort to facilitate, streamline, and improve overall syllabi quality, this article proposes a design framework for constructing a learner-centered online syllabus generator system. Based on a learner-centered syllabus template, the proposed framework integrates the widely used system lifecycle approach and the idea of peer review in developing a syllabus preparation lifecycle. Guided by this framework, an online syllabus generator system was created to demonstrate the framework’s utility. This online tool enables faculty to easily create, adapt, and share course syllabi, without the inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and time constraints associated with the traditional ways of preparing syllabi. Early results indicate that faculty are highly satisfied with the syllabus generator tool. The majority of the respondents reported that the tool helped them reduce syllabus preparation time and communicate course goals and expectations.
As a learning tool and a contract between the instructor and the students, the syllabus delineates and communicates course expectations, requirements, and accountability agreements (Parkes & Harris, 2002). As a record keeping tool, the syllabus serves accreditation and administrative ends, as well as curriculum planning and faculty evaluation purposes. The act of creating a syllabus helps instructors outline the course rational, structure, and pace (Davis, 1993) and lay down their instructional strategies and assessment preferences. The syllabus provides students with a cognitive map (Matejka & Kurke, 1994; Altman & Cashin, 1992), while conveying instruc-
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tor enthusiasm for the subject (Habanek, 2005). It can also be used as a classroom socialization tool (Danielson, 1995). A well-constructed syllabus signals to students and colleagues the academic seriousness and rigor of the course (Richardson, Newton, & Mathis, 2004) and helps to insure the successful running of the courses. In contrast, an incomplete or poorly-designed syllabus impedes communication between faculty and students, increases student anxiety and potential complaints (Parkes, Fix, & Harris, 2003), and could potentially reduce overall teaching effectiveness. While exemplary syllabi requirements have been studied, the syllabi creation process has received, to our knowledge, little or no coverage in the literature. Although it could potentially reduce not only technical challenges, inconsistencies and inefficiencies associated with syllabi, but also ensure overall quality and completeness of syllabi. The purpose of this article is to share our syllabi preparation experience and a practical design framework for constructing learner-centered online syllabus generator software. Based on this framework, we designed a web-based, learner-centered syllabus generator system. This online tool enables faculty to easily create, adapt, and share course syllabi, without the inefficiencies and time constraints associated with the traditional ways of creating syllabi. SYLLABI CREATION PROCESS
Traditionally syllabi-creation process is done using desktop applications: 1. Word processing applications such as Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or in some cases, LaTeX, to create course syllabi. A more sophisticated approach uses Word templates with embedded macros to facilitate the creation process. 2. HTML authoring applications such as DreamWeaver and FrontPage. In both cases, the syllabi are often converted to Portable Document Format (PDF) format, uploaded to Course Management Systems such as WebCT or Blackboard, or posted on course websites as is. 3. A third approach is also provided by a few institutions to design course syllabi online. A web interface is used to dynamically generate syllabi using XML and scripting languages such as ASP and PHP. However, the first two conventional approaches are time-consuming and challenging for faculty who are not tech-savvy. Besides, faculty have to worry about content and format simultaneously. On the contrary, the online option, where content is separated from format, offers more flexibility to faculty where they can concentrate on content and leave the look and feel to the syllabus generator. Unfortunately, our review of publicly available syllabi generators identified using Google, suggests that these tools are limited, incomplete, and
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inflexible, even hindering faculty flexibility and academic freedom. The user is typically asked to linearly fill-in form fields, without any options to customize, adapt, share, or bookmark syllabi. For example, course schedule information such as dates, topics, and assignments, are manually and tediously entered. A flexible syllabus generator tool should be an incentive to faculty to use it by (a) making the creation process flexible, efficient, and less time-consuming, (b) enabling faculty to tailor or rename categories and subcategories, thus preventing any interference with their independence and autonomy, and (c) prefilling generic information such schedule dates, student help resources and University policies. Furthermore, an effective syllabus generator tool should provide space for sharing and peer-reviewing. In this regard, Johnson and Johnson (2004), suggested that to enhance learning, technology must promote cooperation among users and create a shared experience. Peer-to-peer interaction among faculty is crucial not only for knowledge construction and mutual support, but also for curriculum mapping and knowledge sharing within and between departments. Finally, we believe that an exemplary syllabus generator should enable users to quickly locate and retrieve personal or public syllabi. For this reason, including a browsing and a bookmaking functions is essential. According to Abrams, Baecker, and Chignell (1998), the bookmaking function reduces the cognitive and seeking work required to remember items and provides faster access to previously visited items. Guided by these design considerations and a thorough review of the literature, we came up with a practical design framework for constructing learnercentered online syllabus generator software (Figure 1). Based on a learnercentered syllabus approach (Grunert, 1997; Eberly, Newton, & Wiggins, 2001), the syllabus generator design framework provides faculty with a lifecycle approach to syllabus creation, starting from planning and review of syllabus requirement, to the creation, sharing, and reusability of the syllabus. The framework has the following benefits: • guide and facilitate the syllabi preparation process conducted by faculty; • support faculty to custom syllabus to implement their belief; and • offer better way to collaborate on syllabus development among faculty. It is worth noting that the methodology and ideas we used behind the design framework are not limited to syllabus preparation. They can be applied to other instructional activities such as lesson planning, assessment materials development, and so forth. Guided by this framework, we developed a web-based syllabus generator. The main goals of this step-by-step tool was to (a) improve the overall quality of syllabi at the institutional level, (b) help faculty create flexible, informative, and detailed syllabi, (c) share
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Figure 1. Syllabus preparation lifecycle syllabi effectively and efficiently, and (d) decrease faculty workload by reducing preparation time and fostering reusability. SYLLABUS GENERATOR SYSTEM
The project adopted a rapid application development approach (Robinson, 1995) to develop the syllabus generator. The Syllabus generator (http://www.clt.odu.edu/sgen/) in its present form has been through at least three iterations of “molding” and “tweaking” based on feedback collected from usability tests and faculty reviews during hands-on workshops at the Center for Learning Technologies at Old Dominion University. The following is a brief overview of the key features currently available in the system: 1. Create a new syllabus using a step-by-step approach. Based on a learner-centered syllabus template, the tool provides faculty with an intuitive step-by-step approach to quickly build their syllabus (Figure 2). Faculty can easily customize, delete, and rename the syllabus categories and subcategories, based on their preferences, needs, and requirements. The categories include course and instructor information (contact information and
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Figure 2. Create a new syllabus policy, teaching philosophy), student help resources (online orientation, study guides, technical help, information and citation styles), course readings, description, objectives and expectations, teaching and learning methods, course schedule, grading criteria, student responsibilities, course policies (attendance, tests and make-ups, and course disclaimer), and university policies (college classroom conduct, cultural diversity, honor pledge, special needs, university email policy, withdrawal, and student acknowledgment). After logging into the system, faculty can either proceed linearly or move from one section to the other . Some of the categories such as student help and university policies are prefilled automatically, reducing faculty time finding such resources. The categories are intended to supplement the syllabus with useful and informative resources to aid learning and help the students to be more successful (links to online orientation, study guides, and citation styles). 2. Update, adapt, and delete personal syllabi. The syllabus generator allows faculty to update and delete their personal syllabi (Figure 3). In addition, faculty can adapt or create a new syllabus based on an existing syllabus structure and content. This option is intended to foster reusability and consistency between courses and reduce faculty workload .
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Figure 3. Manage a syllabus 3. Bookmark favorite syllabus and quick access to your bookmarks. Faculty can bookmark and retrieve any public syllabus available system wide. The bookmarking function provides an efficient way and quick access for previously visited syllabi. 4. Generate syllabi schedules and dates. The syllabus generator provides an automated scheduling tool that helps faculty generate a complete schedule, excluding holidays (Figure 4). Faculty can add topics, multiple assignments, and due dates to clarify course expectations and requirements. It provides students with weekly topics, assignments, and due dates. The scheduling tool was also designed with flexibility in mind. Faculty can make changes to all the text on the schedule table as needed to create a flexible course schedule. To accommodate unforeseen circumstances, a flexibility statement is added to inform students that the schedule is subject to change, depending on overall course progress and students needs. 5. Generate Word, PDF, and HTML versions of your syllabi. Using dynamic data from the database, the syllabus generator provides faculty with three saving options, Microsoft Word (RTF format), PDF, and HTML. To facilitate students’ spotting of important information, certain syllabus components are automatically highlighted (contact information, required material, due dates). 6. Share existing syllabi with colleagues and provide feedback on shared syllabi.
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Figure 4. A syllabus schedule with topics, assignments and due dates Faculty can decide to share their syllabi with their colleagues. Moreover, a discussion board is provided to add comments, share thoughts or ask questions on any shared syllabus (Figure 5). Syllabus Generator Technical Architecture The Syllabus Generator is a database-driven tool that helps automate the syllabi creation process. To deploy the system on the Web, Microsoft MSSQL server was used as the backend database environment because of its rich capabilities in supporting the required functionalities. PHP was used as a scripting language to create dynamic web content by querying the database. CSS was used to ensure the overall consistency of the system’s look and feel. Syllabus Generator Evaluation To capture first-hand feedback about faculty experience using the syllabus generator, we conducted a series of hands-on workshops where faculty were asked to create a syllabus without any help or instructions from the workshop facilitator. This approach provided us with intuitive feedback and valuable suggestions. For example, some faculty suggested integrating spell
Figure 5. A discussion board on shared syllabus
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checking function ability into the syllabus generator to avoid embarrassing spelling mistakes in syllabus creation. Other faculty suggested several other features such as adding holidays and breaks into the semester schedule and calendar. We took those suggestions seriously and implemented them in a later revision of the syllabus generator. After going through several iterations of modification of the interface and including suggestions from faculty and CLT staff, an email was sent to all inviting them to use the syllabus generator system. So far, over 130 faculty at Old Dominion University have been using the syllabus generator tool since January 2006. After running and monitoring the syllabus generator for a year, a webbased survey was administered to faculty using the system, to explore their overall satisfaction and usability of the system. In addition to this, the intent of the survey was threefold: (a) understand how faculty are using the system, (b) examine the impact of the system on reducing faculty workload, and (c) survey how the system was contributing to communicate course goals and expectations. The collected data is also expected to inform future development and research on syllabus generator or similar tools. A quick analysis of the data indicates that 29 faculty completed the survey, representing various disciplines and colleges. The majority of the respondents (51.9%) created their syllabi from scratch, 22.2% used a syllabus template, while 18.5% of the faculty adapted other instructors’ syllabi. The data also shows that only 3.6% of the participants used paper and pencil to create their syllabi, where 67.9% of the faculty used Word processing applications. In addition to this, 10.7% of the participants used HTML authoring applications such as Dreamweaver and FrontPage, but only 10.7% of the participants used unique software such as online syllabus creation tools on the Internet. Using a 5-point scale, the participants rated their perceptions about the ease of use, functionality of the syllabus generator as well as the impact of this tool on their workload in syllabus creation. Overall approximately 68% of the participating faculty indicated that they were satisfied with the syllabus generator. Their feedback indicates that the syllabus generator is easy to use (68.18 %) and reduced their time in preparing syllabi (40.91%). The syllabus generator also helped them to communicate course goals and expectations (54.54%). As a result, it reduced students’ questions about course logistics (45.45%). Most participating faculty members (59.09 %) expressed their willingness to recommend the tool to their colleagues. For example, some faculty indicated that the system enabled them to “put more thoughts” into their courses: “Great tool! Easy to use, and the sections caused me to put more thoughts into my course preparation, which was a good thing!”, and “It would be a great service to the teaching community in the surrounding cities if the same or a similar program were offered to public school teachers.”
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The survey results also revealed some usability difficulties for faculty in using the system as well as opportunities for us to improve the system. Approximately 27% of the participating faculty members indicated that more functions and capabilities are needed for syllabus creation. Some system features recommended by faculty include: • tips on HTML coding for enhancements (bolding, bullets, etc.); • needs for professional standards (NCATE, CACREP, etc.); • needs for customized look of the printed syllabus version; and • needs for specific templates of particular programs. As a result of this survey, immediate usability improvements were made in the programming techniques to accommodate faculty needs. We also plan to collect more sample syllabi across different disciplines as templates in this system. To help syllabus generator run smoothly, our CLT staff maintains and updates the university policies, semester schedule and calendar including holidays and breaks on a regular basis. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
In this article, we came up with a design framework for constructing learner-centered online syllabus generator software and shared our experience in developing a web-based syllabus generator. Faculty are now able to create, adapt, and share course syllabi, without the inefficiencies and time constraints associated with the traditional ways of preparing syllabi. Besides, the potential for future use of the design framework is open and are not limited to syllabus generator. They can be adapted for other needs. For example, educational system developers can use this framework to guide their development of other similar systems such as lesson plan generator. The Syllabus Generator system is still evolving. A few universities have already contacted us and expressed strong interest in purchasing this system. We are currently working to commercialize the software so that other universities and schools can take advantage of this innovative tool without reinventing the wheel. We also plan to make the software support open source MySQL database in the near future. References Abrams, D., Baecker, R., & Chignell, M. (1998). Information archiving with bookmarks: Personal web space construction and organization. Proceedings of the ACM CHI '98 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 41-48), New York. Altman, B., & Cashin, E. (1992). Writing a syllabus. Idea Paper 27. Manhattan, KS: Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, Kansas State University. Danielson, M. (1995, April). The role of syllabi in classroom socialization. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Central States Communication Association, Indianapolis, IN. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED387845)
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Davis, G. (1993). Tools for teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Eberly, B., Newton, E., & Wiggins, R. (2001). The syllabus as a tool for student-centered learning. Journal of General Education, 50(1), 56-74. Retrieved September 5, 2005, from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_general_education/v050/50.1eberly.pdf Grunert, J. (1997). The course syllabus: A learning-centered approach. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing. Habanek, D. (2005). An examination of the integrity of the syllabus. College Teaching, 53(2), 62-64. Johnson, W., & Johnson, R. (2004). Cooperation and the use of technology. Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (2nd ed.; pp. 785-811). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Matejka, K., & Kurke, B. (1994). Designing a great syllabus. College Teaching, 42(3), 115-117. Parkes, J., & Harris, B. (2002). The purposes of a syllabus. College Teaching, 50(2), 55-61. Parkes, J., Fix, K., & Harris, B. (2003). What syllabi communicate about assessment in college classrooms. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 14(1), 61-83. Richardson, S., Newton, M., & Mathis, J. (2004). Undergraduate council sub-committee report standardization of syllabi. Retrieved September 5, 2005, from http://www.ugs.utah.edu/ assessment/syllabusPDF.pdf Robinson, J. R. (1995). Radical systems development: An introduction to rapid application development. Chapel Hill, NC: Professional Press.
Acknowledgments We want to thank the staff in the Center for Learning Technologies, particularly Dexter Marcelino for his help in designing the interface. We also wish to thank the faculty at Old Dominion University for their assistance in the design and development of the syllabus generator.
