Raise your hand if you have had similar phone conversations with administrators?

Me:  I am being [attacked by killer zombies from outer space] in my physics class what should I do? 

Admin:  What does your syllabus tell you to do in this situation?

Me:  Ah…  Well…  I don’t have this scenario in my syllabus.

Admin:  Please develop a plan for next seminar on how you might deal with this situation and add to your syllabus.  Have a great day.

Ok, so I embellished a bit.  It is unlikely killer zombies from outer space are going to have a negative impact on this semester’s physics class – you never know for certain though.  But in there, somewhere is the point, I think.  Things outside of our control happen in the classroom, in our attempt to create the perfect classroom contract, we cannot hope to devise a game plan to reach out every possible scenario.  And even if we did the end would be a document that is so long, it is effectively useless.  The syllabus is the start of the classroom’s social contract, not the end.  Peeps in higher education, please chill out about the syllabus! There is more to life. 

No killer zombies in class?  How about a student coming to you two months into the semester after class and asking you when are your office hours?  Ugh.  The students should know that by know right?  We can almost, simultaneously, yell the answer we as professors tell the students the answer universally offered is “it’s in the syllabus”.  At least that is the take away I get from the faculty meetings I attend.

The student who is coming to you that late in the semester knows they have dug themselves into a pit and could be genuinely reaching out for help.  Slamming them with the “it’s in the syllabus” line can be enough to derail someone who is attempting to turn a corner.  We all know that there are students who are trying to find an opportunity to manipulate faculty members to get a better grade without learning the material or trying hard.  However, isn’t this the moment when you can actually make a difference in a student’s life; the moment they messed up and they are coming to you for help – some of the time of course.  Either way teaching is not a perfect interaction.  We have to work with students not against them.  Directing a struggling student to a large document instead of taking a moment and answering the student directly is cruel.  It takes time before the moment, when the students are willing to listen and learn.  Take the time to answer your students questions directly, even those that are mundane. 

Earlier this year, in preparing my own syllabus for a class, I added five or six pages of the standard University boiler-plate text.  Then I added my five or six pages of learning goals, assignments, schedules, determination of grades, etc.  The result is a behemoth 11-page document.  I know that’s nothing for the humanities folks but as a simple experimental atomic physicist, I can only get through page three or four before I am sound asleep in attempting to read it.  A colleague recommended that I create a cover sheet for the syllabus that gives quick overview of most important policies for each class.

This past week, I had a couple of students working on homework outside my office.  I popped my head out and asked them what they thought about the syllabus usage in their classes (my formal research for this article).  “OMG, Professor!  You have no idea.  The professor in class X keeps going on about the syllabus.  He keeps changing it every week.”  Isn’t the syllabus supposed to be a static document that lays the ground work for the class?  Why would it need to change?  Isn’t that what the Learning Management System (LMS, e.g., Moodle, Black Board) for?  Shouldn’t we be writing our syllabus in connection with the LMS. In my class the syllabus is used to introduce the students to the class, assignments, and scoring system.  And ultimately, it describes the policies for how the class will end.  But in 2023, most classes happen in the LMS.  These are powerful tools that for better or worse upend the use of the syllabus a tool to manage the day-to-day operations of a class.  Obviously, this wasn’t the case 15 years ago and there will be people who will disagree with me for a host of reasons.  But if you are also using the LMS as a tool, there is no reason to duplicate effort between the syllabus and the LMS.

A syllabus does have a feel that is similar to a contract.  And when you have a contract, as a participating body in that agreement, one tries to hold up their end of the bargain.  And the contract often will handle the situation when one party doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain.  Cut and dry.  Its simple right?  But projects don’t always run on time.  And classes don’t always perfectly fit the schedule.  And students don’t always fit the mold.  And so many faculty are also in violation of the said contract with their students (showing up late to class, etc).   It’s hard enough to write contracts for lawyers who have been trained to do so.  Faculty and administrators just do what they are good at, teaching.  Don’t worry about creating the perfect document.  When a situation arises, the first question that an administrator should ask is how to fix whatever problem arises, not how it fits in with the syllabus. 

The syllabus is an important document.  It contains most of the material that students need to be successful in the class.  It gives us the rules we play by.  But, it is not likely going to save a student undergoing a mental breakdown and its definitely not going to save you if you get attacked by killer zombies from outer space.  It is the start of the social contract that is being created by the professor and the students, not the end.  Yes, work hard to make a good syllabus, but chill out about it.