The Harper College Teaching and Learning Newsletter

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Well-crafted Syllabus Reduces Conflict

Today's students seem increasingly to be savvy about their rights as individuals, as students, and as citizens. As a result we often see them being more assertive if not more confrontational when it comes to their grades or to how they feel they are treated in the classroom. As an academic administrator, I see many more students skipping right to the President or members of the Board of Trustees with their complaints of real or perceived wrongs in the classroom. These complaints are often accompanied with demands for the "administration" to change a grade. (By the way, no CAO I know of will succumb to such a demand.) While these events seem to consume more and more of my days, they also have the effect of occasionally creating a negative tension between the CAO and the faculty. The tension arises because the CAO often needs to mediate a situation that could have been avoided had the faculty member written a very clear syllabus that employed multiple measures of assessment. A clearly written syllabus gives the CAO the necessary basis from which to make decision that the syllabus supports. In other words, a decision from clear data that the student knew about in advance.

Have you ever heard the expression that the syllabus is the instructor's contract with the student? Indeed, during disputes, legal and informal, the syllabus is often the final word. Attached to this web site is a Syllabus Checklist. It certainly isn't exhaustive, but it might help any faculty member, new or seasoned, avoid one of those unpleasant meetings with the student and his parent, or lawyer, or big brother, or … I've seen them all. When you go to the check list, take a special look at items relating to how students will be evaluated. It has been my experience that many complaints can be quickly put aside if these items receive attention in advance. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating for militaristic absolutes, but for reason and clarity. Humane practices and a caring attitude (Faculty are famous for caring.) will still carry the day. But just in case, you might check the list. -Margaret M. Skold, Ph.D., Vice President of Academic Affairs (CAO/VPAA)

-Margaret M. Skold, Ph.D., Vice President of Academic Affairs (CAO/VPAA)

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New Faculty Fall 2007

New Faculty Spring 2007

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