Syllabi Options

There are a number of ways to compose and distribute the syllabus for your course.  You can pick from any of the following methods, and even use more than one.

Using Moodle

Moodle is our online Course Management System, and a place where you can store files, create new text, set up interactive assignments, and more.  For the purposes of posting your syllabus, Moodle is a great way to get your syllabus in a location readily accessible to students.  There are a number of ways to display your syllabus on Moodle, and it depends on your style.  You may:

  • put the syllabus content on the main page for your course, which can get really clunky if your syllabus is many pages in length
  • create a new page in Moodle with your syllabus and link to it from the main page
  • upload the syllabus as a document (a PDF or in Word) and link to it
  • put daily assignments in the correct week, and put the rest of the syllabus information at the top of the page or on separate linked pages
  • mix and match from the options as you like

To learn more about Moodle, visit our pages on using Moodle or ask an AT about getting started.

Print a Document

The simplest and most familiar method is to type your syllabus in a word processing program, and then print it and distribute it in class.  The downfalls of this method are that students can lose the paper (or say that they did), and that it isn't as readily available.  However, printing and passing out syllabi allows you to go over the syllabus as a class much easier, and many people prefer to have the syllabus available in paper. 

We recommend that if you print the syllabus and hand it out in class,  you also make the syllabus available through one of the online methods, so students have easy access to it whether or not they lose the paper copy.

Sending through E-Mail

Another way to distribute a syllabus is through e-mail.  This saves paper, but is also easy to lose or delete.  Also note that not every student consistently checks email (hard to believe, but true!).  We generally advise against using e-mail as the primary means of distributing syllabi, though it works fairly well for most other information. If you do use email and really prefer not to use Moodle, using your class mailing list is recommended. Information on how to use this is available here.

Putting Document in Network Folder

On campus, we have a set of shared network folders, the most common of which are called Collab, Home, and Courses.  Each class has a folder in Courses for sharing files. Students can view files placed in the folders inside your designated class folder, but can only edit or add items to the Common folder.  This is a good alternative to Moodle if you prefer not to use Moodle, but really has the same sort of functionality.

If you would like to use your Course folder, there is more information about accessing and using your course folders here.