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, DeMontfort U)
- 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)
