The Most Disrespected Document in Higher Education

“The college syllabus is dead.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/08/college-syllabus-courseware/675069/

“You may remember the syllabus. Handed out on the first day of class, it was a revered and simple artifact that would outline the plan of a college course. It was a pragmatic document, covering contact information, required books, meeting times, and a schedule. But it was also a symbolic one, representing the educational part of the college experience in a few dense and hopeful pages.

That version of the syllabus is gone. It has been replaced by courseware, an online tool for administering a class and processing its assignments. A document called “syllabus” persists, and is still distributed to prospective students at the start of each semester—but its function as a course plan has been minimized, if not entirely erased. First and foremost, it must satisfy a drove of bureaucratic needs, describing school policies, accreditation demands, regulatory matters, access to campus resources, health and safety guidelines, and more.”

 

I can't read the article since I don't have a subscription to The Atlantic, but yes syllabi are getting longer and longer. You've got 2 pages of information on the required books, course schedule and professor contact information and 10 pages of boilerplate. It is a bit much.

 

It becomes part of the contract between the school and the student. Most unfortunate. More work for University Counsel.

 

On IU Applied Sciences there's is a Syllabus for your entire degree, it is 400-600 pages long, depending on the degree taken.

 

Wild! Is this super-syllabus the course outlines of every course in the program? It reminds me of the academic calendar common to many programs.

 

Yes, for example, here's one for BS Business Management: https://res.cloudinary.com/iubh/image/upload/v1662461240/15%20-%20Dokumente/Modulhandbuch/ba_management_fs-oi-eu-baman-240_en.pdf