Syllabi and Learning Contracts
Most faculty are familiar with the traditional syllabus, a contract between the teacher
and student which serves as an outline of appropriate course policies. Even so, Kathleen
McKinney has supplied a useful checklist below. Faculty may be less familiar with the "learning
contract," which James Atherton suggests as a way of establishing more individuated
learning process by allowing students to isolate both their learning goals and appropriate
paths to those goals.
Creating Syllabi & Learning Contracts
- Building a Better
Syllabus (Nutshell Notes)
- Several syllabus building tips accompany a discussion of how the syllabus functions
as a contract and what faculty responsibilities are to students in the syllabus.
- Learning-Centered Syllabi (Lee
Haugen, Iowa State)
- Suggestions on writing a syllabus that does more than just state policies, but
which sets a tone for critical inquiry and engagement for students.
- Learning
Contracts (James Atherton)
- A discussion of how 'learning contracts' differ from syllabi and what they can
mean for transforming learning in the classroom.
- Syllabus Checklist (Kathleen McKinney, Sociology)
- The Importance and Use
of Learning Contracts (Roger Hiemstra and Burt Sisco)
- A book chapter on learning contracts and how various teacher-scholars have defined
the concept, particularly in ways that allow teachers and students to individual
student learning.
Other Resources
- Creating Significant Learning (NEA)
- Designing a Learning-Centered Syllabus (Delaware)
- Learning
Contracts (Western Australia)
- Online
Syllabus Workshop (Brown U)
- Syllabus Design for
an Online Course (CSU Northridge)
- Syllabus Design for Writing-Intensive
Courses (Vanderbilt)
- Syllabus
Templates (Cornell)
- Using Learning Contracts
in the College Classroom (J. Codde, Michigan State)
