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Re: Syllabi



On Sat, 7 Dec 1996, Jon Bell wrote:

B. Esser <besser@creighton.edu> wrote:
My perception is that many of today's students would not agree with this
statement. The typical course syllabus does not contain any reference
to "work habits" as one of the expected outcomes of the course.

Is anyone else bothered by the trend towards increasing detail in course
syllabi? This includes not only schedules, assignments, objectives, etc.,

For some years now I have inserted occasional (no more than two) lines of
the following sort,
"When you have read this sentence, please drop me a line (e-mail)
indicating that you have done so and the general topic of the previous
sentence."
in syllabi, communications to administrators, whatever I think
important enough my communicants should read what I had troubled to write.
This results give me an idea who is or is not reading what, and alerts
thoughtful readers to the notion there might be other tripwires further
(back) down the line.
The stats are also interesting, who and what fraction read what. One
adminstrator was infuriated: he hadn't the time to read all the writing
he asked us to do!

John Cooper, Chemistry, Bucknell University, Lewisburg PA 17837-2005
jcooper@bucknell.edu 717-524-3673