Today we dive into our syllabus work. Please start by listening to all-star scholar and coiner of the term 'cruelty-free syllabi' Matthew Cheney's podcast on Teaching in Higher Ed. The information and perspectives in this 45-minute podcast are essential to making your syllabus trauma-informed and the 'meat and potatoes' of this course. 

For today’s activity, you will need the syllabus you have selected to review for this course.  Feel free to use Matthew’s “because I said so” framework to help identify possible areas of cruelty. Make notes or highlight what you find. Please use track changes to highlight what you find and any possible changes you would like to make. We want to be able to view the original content of the syllabus so we can tell what you changed. 

If you don't have access to a syllabus, I have uploaded an old one from a course I used to teach that can be found at the top section of the Moodle - there is certainly lots in it that can be improved on. Similarity, if you feel that the information you are hoping to convey to learners works better in a welcome letter format or other type of communication, you are more than welcome to compose your work that way. For most of us, the syllabus is the logical place to first communicate with learners, but it's more about the message than the medium. 

It’s important to note that how an educator presents themselves and their course though a syllabus is a personal process. We all are in unique places on this journey towards a trauma-informed pedagogy. Awareness is the first step.

There may also be elements of a syllabus that are requirements (or non-negotiables), for a course, program, or field of study. It’s important to check-in with your institution, department chair or teaching team to understand what can and can’t be changed on your syllabus. You may be surprised to learn how much leeway you have.

For example, in my institution, only the learning outcomes and course title are non-negotiable elements on the course outline. All other sections (for example, late assignment submissions) are either determined at the program level or open to change by the instructor. We will talk about the benefit of having consistency across a program or institution a bit later in this course.

There is no forum assignment for today; however I have created a forum for asking questions to the group. This is an optional task. We will continue to work on our syllabi tomorrow. 

Good luck and please reach out if you have any questions.

Matty 

Last modified: Tuesday, 31 October 2023, 10:10 AM