Making a STEM syllabus: how do instructors and students’ perspectives differ on what makes a good syllabus?
Session Type
Presentation
Room
Physics and Astronomy, room 106
Start Date
16-7-2025 2:00 PM
End Date
16-7-2025 2:30 PM
Keywords
syllabus, course outline, communication, inclusive teaching and learning
Primary Threads
Teaching and Learning Science
Abstract
The course syllabus, often the first source of communication between instructors and students, serves as a roadmap to outline learning outcomes, grading schemes, and course expectations. Previous studies (e.g., Keller et al.,2014), have noted discrepancies between student and instructor perspectives of syllabi. However, much of this data comes from non-STEM disciplines such as accounting, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of how syllabi are perceived and used in STEM education. Our study addresses this gap by investigating STEM student and instructor experiences with, and attitudes about, science course syllabi through student-mediated focus groups and interviews. Understanding these differing perspectives of what a course syllabus should contain is essential for fostering a more inclusive learning environment, as it offers valuable insights into the expectations and needs of each group. By identifying what students and instructors perceive as important for success, educators can design syllabi that are more responsive, supportive, and reflective of learning priorities and support student success. We will provide data on instructor and student perspectives of syllabi and begin a dialogue about how differences between these can be resolved by refining a syllabus template to ensure the needs of both are satisfied. Ethics certificate e2024-025.
Please bring a connected smartphone, tablet, or laptop so that you can participate in polling during the session.
Elements of Engagement
Prompts will be used to guide audience reflection and discussion on practical ways to bridge the gap between student and instructors’ perspectives on syllabi elements. Specifically, we envision three major questions guiding the discussion: 1) How do differing perspectives on science course syllabi impact student-learning, and consecutively instructor-teaching? 2) What are the barriersexisting to bridging the gap between the differing perspectives? 3) In your own teaching, which elements of a syllabus lead to the most discrepancies between instructors and students' perspectives?
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Making a STEM syllabus: how do instructors and students’ perspectives differ on what makes a good syllabus?
Physics and Astronomy, room 106
The course syllabus, often the first source of communication between instructors and students, serves as a roadmap to outline learning outcomes, grading schemes, and course expectations. Previous studies (e.g., Keller et al.,2014), have noted discrepancies between student and instructor perspectives of syllabi. However, much of this data comes from non-STEM disciplines such as accounting, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of how syllabi are perceived and used in STEM education. Our study addresses this gap by investigating STEM student and instructor experiences with, and attitudes about, science course syllabi through student-mediated focus groups and interviews. Understanding these differing perspectives of what a course syllabus should contain is essential for fostering a more inclusive learning environment, as it offers valuable insights into the expectations and needs of each group. By identifying what students and instructors perceive as important for success, educators can design syllabi that are more responsive, supportive, and reflective of learning priorities and support student success. We will provide data on instructor and student perspectives of syllabi and begin a dialogue about how differences between these can be resolved by refining a syllabus template to ensure the needs of both are satisfied. Ethics certificate e2024-025.
Please bring a connected smartphone, tablet, or laptop so that you can participate in polling during the session.