What is a "Liquid" Syllabus?

A "liquid" syllabus is a living document that is made available online in the public domain for the purpose of connecting students to their instructors in a more engaging way. Liquid syllabi often integrate text with photo, audio, video, and other graphic materials related to the content of the course, and they can be made available to students beyond Canvas even before the start of the quarter. 

Michelle Pacansky-Brock was a keynote speaker at the Washington Annual Canvas Conference (WACC) 2023 and also at our very own CCS eLearning Academy 2023 where she graciously shared numerous resources with our faculty. She has openly published a tremendous volume of content related to the benefits of liquid syllabi to humanize the online learning experience--and has published a helpful site for educators in the public domain. Feel free to check out some of her work and faculty support resources at: https://brocansky.com/ Links to an external site.

The CETL at SFCC and TLC at SCC have hosted several Liquid Syllabus Communities of Practice, funded by the CCS Innovation Grant. Several of our faculty participants have graciously volunteered to share their work via this TLC Canvas Professional Development module (see below). 

ESL Instructor and 2024 TLC Fellow Qiqi Cheng:

ESL 1 Reading and Speaking, Author Qiqi Cheng Links to an external site. Links to an external site.

SCC Communications Instructor Amy Anderson:

CMS 227 Syllabus, Author Amy Anderson Links to an external site.

SFCC Geography Instructor Cameron McCormick:

Geography 100 Intro to Geography, Author Cameron McCormick Links to an external site. Links to an external site.

ABE Instructor Kari Hubbard:

Career Transitions, Author Kari Hubbard Links to an external site.

 

Note: All of the above examples were developed using Google Sites available at https://sites.google.com Links to an external site. Google Sites offers templates that are easy to work with and publish--even for beginners--but the concept of publishing an online syllabus in the public domain is certainly not limited to only this platform.