You will develop a syllabus for an 8-week undergraduate nursing course in your area of interest that conveys the essential components of that course to the learner. Schools commonly establish guidelines and formats for information to be included in all syllabi developed for nursing courses. To deter misunderstandings, many institutions require all syllabi to include specific statements about institutional, departmental, and course policies on academic integrity, students with disabilities, and diversity.
For the purpose of this assignment, required information to be included in your course syllabus is minimal. However, syllabi do not have to be simple, typed documents. You may choose to incorporate additional information (graphics, photos, comics, or designs) and other creative elements. However, be sure your syllabus includes at least the required information listed under the assignment guidelines section below in order to be considered for full credit.
Please note: You may not copy a syllabus to turn in. Make this syllabus your own ideal of teaching your chosen course. Have fun and be creative with this assignment. You will be utilizing your developed syllabus in weeks 6 and 7 to develop a teaching plan and mini-presentation,
Assignment Guidelines
When preparing your syllabus, pay attention to the organization and layout to ensure it is easy to read. Your syllabus should set the tone for your course and convey enthusiasm for the course topic; show how your course fits into a broader picture; communicate what, when, and how students will learn; clarify what students need to do to be successful; and communicate your expectations of student performance to satisfactorily complete your 8-week course.
Your course syllabus should include:
- General information about the course: The instructor’s name (you), course title, course number, course credit hours, class days and time period (start and end times), class location (room number), and any prerequisites. You may also wish to include your office hours and contact information.
- A course description: A description of the course and how students will benefit; this is similar to a catalog description of a course.
- Course outcome objectives expected: A list of outcome statements describing the knowledge and skills that you expect students to have learned after completing your 8-week course. Your objectives should be:
- Appropriate to course and educational level
- Realistic and clear
- Stated in measurable terms
- Required materials and learning resources: Textbook(s), supplies, and anything you may require students to bring to class each day
- Instructional methods and activities: List the teaching strategies and approaches you plan to use for students to achieve the learning objectives (e.g., lecture, games, inquiry, discussions). If appropriate, you may want to include any special events or activities (e.g., field trips, experiments, guest speakers, projects). Note: This section is a list of your instructional methods and activities and not an explanation or description of how they will be implemented.
- Classroom policies or rules: This section should include any policies or rules that are specific to your course (e.g., classroom behavior, absenteeism, tardiness, late assignments, makeup work, and tests).
- Evaluation methods: This section should include all graded course requirements with the percent value (of the total course grade) for each requirement. This is where you list each of the course requirements or means of evaluating student learning (e.g., tests, quizzes, assignments, presentations, group work).
- You do not need to provide a rubric for grading each of the course requirements, guidelines, and grading criteria.
- You do need to provide the total percent value or the grade weight of each requirement.
- If using tests or quizzes, state the number of tests or quizzes and the grade weight for each.
- Note: As part of your teaching plan and presentation during weeks 6 and 7, you will provide guidelines and grading criteria (a rubric) for one of your required assignments.
- An outline and general time line of the course content: This section should be a table or flowchart depicting a schedule of the content to be covered over the 8-week period. In addition to the content, your table or flowchart should include:
- Estimated dates for when you plan to cover the content. Specific dates are not necessary, but some time line estimate should be provided (e.g., week 1 or class 1)
- Any activities, assignments, and tests, etc., with corresponding due dates
- Required readings for each date and any supplemental or suggested readings you may want to list
