So what should your syllabus cover?
- Reading assignments and due dates
- Late-work policy (i.e., if it's accepted, whether points are deducted for late work, how many points are deducted each day, at what point late work will not be accepted)
- Attendance policy
- Policy on academic dishonesty
- Grading policy (i.e., how will students' work be evaluated?)
- Test dates
- Makeup policy.
Class Preparation: Practice Moderation
It's easy to let teaching take precedence over research because teaching is a scheduled activity whereas research is more flexible. Remain disciplined, however, because class preparation can take as much time as you allow. Perfection isn't possible when it comes to teaching, especially while balancing an active research and publication program, but it is possible to teach well without overinvesting your time.
Most new instructors overprepare for classes, notes Robert Boice in Advice for New Faculty Members. New instructors tend to rely on "extensive, painstaking preparation with a focus on understanding and covering everything--especially on avoiding criticism about a lack of comprehensiveness" (p. 13). Unfortunately, this approach tends to generate too much material to cover in a given class period, resulting in too fast a pace of presentation to permit discussion and student participation, and ultimately leading to poor comprehension and stressed, unhappy students--and professors.
Boice and the successful professors he has studied recommend preparing for about an hour and a half (and no more than2 ) for each hour in class. Prepare in 20- to 30- minute sessions throughout the week, rather than in a long marathon session. This allows you to add examples as they come to you, rather than forcing them. Don't write out your lecture: Prepare an outline of your major points, discussion questions, and activities, but leave room for flexibility and spontaneity.
**This article first appeared in Science's Next Wave
