Motivational and "Cruelty-Free" Syllabi

The idea of a "motivational' syllabus comes from Dr. Christine Harrington's book, Creating a Motivational Syllabus. (Her site, scholarlyteaching.org Links to an external site., has several resources on the topic.) As your syllabus is often the first interaction you have with students, making a clear document - one that introduces your course clearly, sets high expectations, and communicates your teaching philosophy - can set students up for success.

Another great resource is an episode of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast titled, "Toward Cruelty-Free Syllabi, with Matthew Cheney." You can listen from the website Links to an external site. or download the episode.

 

A Non-Motivational Syllabus

Consider the sample syllabus below (courtesy of Tish Lopez from  South Seattle College and Ian Sherman from Green River). Ask yourself - what kind of assumptions are being made by the instructor? what is the tone used? how would you respond as a student?

Sample syllabus with lots of text in red letters, highlighted text, with exclamation points and capital letters.

My concern about this example is not the topics covered; they are all important issues. Rather, my concern is the assumptions and the tone. Telling students that you assume they are lazy or hungover if they are not in class is really troubling...  All the red fonts, highlighting, and multiple exclamation points convey an angry tone (seriously, using three exclamation points in print is yelling!!!). As a first interaction with students, it leaves something to be desired.

Here's an example of a different approach. Instead of the late work policy above, how about communicating why you have the due dates that you have, what your grading philosophy is, how to submit work late, or what students should do if they are struggling? 

Example Statement: Each assignment in this class is designed to build on the next, increasing your understanding of the course learning outcomes. When assignments are turned in on time, you get crucial feedback, and your questions and ideas contribute to your classmates’ learning. The purpose of assignment due dates is to help you manage your time throughout the course. 

If your other responsibilities affect your academic work, please contact me as soon as possible via email, phone, or my office hours about an extended due date. Note: this is not punishment, just communication to help you succeed.

An essential part of motivation is creating a sense of efficacy - a belief by students that they know what they need to do to succeed and that they are capable of achieving those standards. Your syllabus should support students' understanding of how your course works and your belief that - if they do the work - they will be successful. 

To further student efficacy, consider adding information about how to be successful in your particular course. An example of these "Study/Success Strategies" comes from Kathryn McKenna, in SCC's English Department, who adapted information from several colleagues to provide the following list for students:

  • Read/view course materials (e.g. syllabus, Canvas announcements) so as to understand course expectations. 
  • Manage time effectively, which involves checking in with Canvas regularly. You may wish to invest in an individual planner/calendar.   
  • Read assignment prompts carefully before beginning assignment, and once again before submitting assignment.  
  • Ask questions when something is not clear.  
  • Submit assignments on time.  
  • Review all instructor feedback and seek clarification when necessary.  
  • Follow grades in the Canvas gradebook.  
  • Seek support using SCC student resources, such as the Tutoring Center, library, and instructor conferencing.  

 

Cruelty-Free Syllabi

Along the lines of the a "motivational" or "high-hopes" syllabus, one higher ed faculty has developed the concept of a "cruelty-free" syllabus. Matthew Cheney, the Interdisciplinary Studies Director at Plymouth State, has published his slide deck online Links to an external site., sharing various versions of his course syllabi as well as his goals in making more clear his approaches to this key course document. 

Additionally, I would highly recommend an interview of Matthew Cheney Links to an external site. from the podcast, Teaching in Higher Ed. 

If you would like to hear a quick overview of the slide presentation, please watch the following video. 

For more information on this approach, you can read the full article by Matthew Cheney, as well as other scholarly articles on syllabus topics, see the online journal Syllabus's special issue on the syllabus Links to an external site.. 

Tone and "Reach Out" Statements

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently covered research on how the tone of a syllabus affected whether or not students would ask for help. In the March 25, 2021 Teaching newsletter, "How Your Syllabus Can Encourage Students to Ask for Help," Becky Supiano summarizes the research on how using a warm tone (for example, using "we" instead of "you") impacts students. Here's the highlights:

That’s the key finding of a recent study (Links to an external site.) conducted by Regan A. R. Gurung, a professor in the School of Psychological Science at Oregon State University, and Noelle R. Galardi, an undergraduate at the university, published in Teaching of Psychology.

Gurung, who is also the interim executive director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Oregon State, has a research interest in first impressions. Historically, he noted, professors made their first impression on students in person, on the first day of class.

But that has changed — and not only because of remote instruction during the pandemic. Students often have access to their syllabi before the first day of class, Gurung noted. That raises the stakes for the way professors present themselves in writing, before the student has anything else to go on. As a result, he said, the syllabus is “a major tool for the first impression.”

The study is based on an experiment in which 257 student volunteers taking introductory psychology courses at the university read one of four sample syllabi — using a warm or cold tone, with or without a statement explicitly encouraging students to reach out for help — and ranked their likelihood of asking for help in five different scenarios.

Students who read the warm-tone version indicated they were more likely to reach out for help in three of the five scenarios. Those who read the explicit reach-out statement were more likely to ask for help in just one scenario, which concerned having personal issues with friends or family.

Reach-out statements have become a popular way for instructors to signal their support to students. So why was including one less effective than using a warm tone?

There are a few possibilities, Gurung said. First, the reach-out statement was included at the end of the syllabus, and it’s possible that by the time students got that far, they were skimming more than reading. It was also near the “rules and procedures” part of the syllabus, Gurung added — a section students are inclined to skip. Finally, the statement Gurung used is the same one the university uses in real courses, meaning that the students in the study had probably seen it before. It would be interesting, he added, to test the reach-out statement at a different institution, where it would be novel.

Increasingly, Gurung said, colleges and departments are encouraging instructors to use a template to design their syllabi. It’s good to ensure everyone shares the right information, he said. The problem? In many cases, templates “are cold; they are dry; they are boring.” Instructors, he said, can hit all the notes in the template without copying its institutional tone.

I encourage you to think about how you use tone to encourage students to engage in positive help-seeking behaviors when needed.

Syllabus Review

If you are interested in reviewing your syllabus from the lens of support and motivation, I would encourage you to see the “Syllabus Review Guide” from Cuesta College https://www.cuesta.edu/about/documents/vpaa-docs/Syllabus_Review_Protocol_CUE.pdf Links to an external site.. Links to an external site.The protocol was developed by University of Southern California's Center for Urban Education, Rossier School of Education (2017), and it provides a framework for evaluating your own syllabus and samples of supportive statements.

The TLC also runs in-person syllabus review events where you can spend some time with a colleague, providing and receiving feedback on the level of support in your current syllabus. See the main calendar for review. 

 

Additional Resources

The Chronicle of Higher Education has several articles on this topic (remember that we have institutional access to the journal, and you can follow the login instructions from the library's site). I recommend: