While there is latitude for syllabi to look and feel vastly different from one another, some common elements must be contained in all course syllabi at Vanguard. Below is the Vanguard University syllabus template and supporting resources, along with version change notes.
Core Syllabus Components
A syllabus is comprised of the following components:
- Course-specific content
- Departmental / program-specific policies
- University policies
- Tone and writing style
- Formatting
Before embarking on writing or revising a syllabus, please check with your departmental chair or program director for specific requirements and to determine if a sample syllabus already exists for the course you are teaching.
Vanguard Syllabus Template and Supporting Resources
The following university-wide syllabus resources are available to you, after you have checked on the specifics from your department:
- Template: Vanguard University syllabus – fillable fields allow you to customize the template to fit your unique teaching approach and class
- Screencast: Annotated video walk-through (4-min) – watch how to use the syllabus template
- Instructions: Syllabus template – step-by-step instructions on how to use the syllabus template
- Checklist: Foundational syllabus content/elements – Use the checklist to verify that you have all necessary components in your syllabus and copy/paste relevant information into existing syllabi
Syllabus version changes
- Added [fields] that make it easy to tell what pieces to change and can be selected with one click and then easily replaced
- Modified verbiage throughout the syllabus to be more student-centric (less “the student must” and more “this course will help you learn”)
- Created a universal syllabus template, and we hope to move to a far improved system that would even more easily allow “instructors to quickly personalize and publish interactive class syllabi… [pulling] together established institutional data such as policies, learning objectives, and course section content so your staff doesn’t have to.”
- Changed policy wording regarding attendance from ‘may’ fail a course to ‘will’ fail the course, to better align with the stated attendance policy in the catalog. Faculty may elect to soften the wording to fit your specific class’ attendance policy. [change made: 07-22-2022]
- Added Office of the Registrar information [change made: 07-26-2022]
- Fixed Student Resources links [change made: 08-16-2022]
- Added Title IX information [change made: 09-07-2022]
- Supplemental Instruction information removed since it is not longer offered [change made: 08-17-2023]
- SI completely removed. New links for Tutoring, Success Coaching, Writing Center. Updated language for Veterans. Updated language for Career (now inclusive of Career Closet) [change made: 8-6-2024]