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Re: Syllabi



On Mon, 9 Dec 1996, Jerry Hester wrote:

As we are required to put more and more "stuff" in the syllabus - where
is the difference between the syllabus and a lesson plan? Will the
syllabus/lesson plan next have to be approved by administration before
we can use it?

Jerry Hester


That is already the case at our university and many (most) others. A
faculty committee is in place to approve these syllabi. There's an
advantage to this. If there are student complaints about the syllabus or
the classroom policies, the burden fallls on the committee (who approved
it) not on the instructor.

The committee can sometimes be nitpicking though. I had one syllabus held
up because it didn't specify the exact number of weeks of instruction. I
had allowed a week of slack since in reality one never gets things done as
quickly as you intend. Such practicality was frowned upon.

The downside is that faculty ignore the syllabi, or change what they do
without rewriting it and getting approval. And the committee does not see
its role as one of a policeman. New faculty often aren't even aware that a
syllabus exists.

-- Donald

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Dr. Donald E. Simanek Office: 717-893-2079
Prof. of Physics Internet: dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu
Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA. 17745 CIS: 73147,2166
Home page: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek FAX: 717-893-2047
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