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Sample Syllabus Statements and Policies

Although it is always important that your syllabus (or your Moodle site, or wherever you communicate course policies and expectations to students) be clear, pandemic teaching taught us that it is critical that your syllabus communicate your expectations unambiguously and offer a perspective grounded in care and community. The syllabus is also an important place to share Macalester’s academic integrity policy. 

Below are links to resources and suggestions for communicating with your students and for developing specific course policies. This is not, of course, an exhaustive list of policies and resources you might include in your syllabus. The College Transition Collaborative developed this guide to creating student-centered course policies. You may also want to consult EPAG’s policy decisions and recommendations.

Communicating with Your Students

Communicating with your students (and encouraging them to communicate with you)

Posting in the “Announcements” forum on your course Moodle page automatically sends an email to your class, and keeps a running list of course communications. Using this is best practice, especially if there are situations in which students can’t access their Macalester email. 

You can also email your class email list (for Fall 2024 classes, your class email address is [email protected], where xxxx is your department abbreviation, and 000-00 is your course and section number).

You can simplify sharing Google Drive files and folders by making a Google Contacts label for your class. (You can share a folder or document with a Contacts label just like you would an individual person).

Be clear about how students should contact you (email only? via Moodle? by leaving a voice message on your office phone? by text or voicemail on your personal cell phone?), and when they can expect you to answer email. It is not your responsibility to be “on call” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If students know when they can count on a response to their questions (e.g., “I will answer email every weekday afternoon between 3-5 p.m.”), they are less likely to expect that you will answer them instantaneously, or at 2 a.m. You can also mitigate that expectation (of you and of your colleagues!) – even if you actually are answering email at 2 a.m. – by using the “schedule send” function in Gmail.

Setting up Student Drop-in Hours

If you want to hold virtual drop-in office hours (which you could call “student drop-in hours” to make their intention more clear), set up a recurring Zoom meeting with a waiting room.

Dr. Vanessa Dennen at Florida State University developed some excellent tips on hosting remote office hours, that are worth taking into consideration as you plan out how to meet with your students.

Consider strategies that invite all students to your drop-in hours by making it clear what they are for and that all students are welcome and encouraged to take advantage of them. Here’s an example from Adam Heidebrink-Bruno’s post in Hybrid Pedagogy – Syllabus as Manifesto: A Critical Approach to Classroom Culture:

“You all enter this classroom with […] different sets of skills. In virtue of this fact, I open my office to you as an extension of the classroom, including scheduled virtual meetings and individualized tutoring in the vast areas of academic writing and critical literacy skills. There is no shame or embarrassment in asking for help, although it is common to feel anxious in approaching one’s teacher. To enter my office and ask for help is an act of bravery. To enter and chat about nothing in particular often leads to new insight. Both are valuable. Both show that you trust me. I promise to respect you and earn that trust through compassionate listening and understanding…”

Course Policy Guidelines and Sample Syllabus Statements

Accommodating disability

Sample disability accommodation statements from Disability Services

Attendance and Participation

As a residential liberal arts college, we place a premium on “being there” and recognize that learning at Macalester requires being present in class. At the same time, we know that there are many reasons for which a given student may not be in class on a given day. Please ask yourself the following questions and consult the following resources as you develop an attendance policy:

  • How can I create and support a maximally flexible attendance policy that honors both the work that is happening in the classroom in real time and the complexity of students’ lives? Do I have to require attendance as part of my course grading system? If yes, why? If not, why not?
  • Might I consider ways to assess student engagement that doesn’t count being in a particular place at a particular time as part of the grade? (see below for sample participation policy language)
  • Developing attendance policies (from Refocus 2.0: A Disability Resource Professional’s Toolkit)

Sample attendance policy language:

Attendance plays an essential role in learning; you are warmly invited, encouraged, and expected to attend all class/lab meetings. Attendance will be important not only for your learning, but also for our ability to build a community together and maintain a sense of connection and commitment to one another during the semester. Your presence in class matters.

I recognize that there are unavoidable circumstances that sometimes make it impossible for you to attend class. If you will not be in class for any reason, it is your responsibility to inform me in advance via [*be explicit about how students should inform you: via email? Moodle? Some other method?*]. Students with disabilities should discuss their accommodations with me early in the course to work out a plan that aligns with maintaining course expectations and goals. 

Sample participation policy language:

Participation is distinct from attendance and is also an essential part of this course. In-class discussions, on-line discussion forums, responses to brief ungraded writing assignments, etc. will be factored into your participation grade. Engaging with the (real and virtual, synchronous and asynchronous) classroom space — including by helping to create an environment where all of us can learn and think well about one another — will also be factored into participation. 

[*For courses that require in-class discussion, some colleagues add language such as this (merci, French Department!)*:] It is important to remember that we all have different styles of expression. If you have not been able to participate in a class discussion for any reason but want to demonstrate your active engagement, please send me an email after class with a comment or an idea you had that you would have liked to share, but were not able to during class. 

Students with any concerns, questions, or need for consideration for flexibility should connect with me as soon as possible to determine an appropriate plan. 

Please note: It may be that illness or other unexpected situations will require you to be away for class for more than half of the semester, necessitating that we consider the possibility of withdrawal or an incomplete. We will stay in contact, and will seek support from colleagues in Student Affairs and in Academic Advising, should that situation arise.

Bias Response

Macalester’s Bias Response Team

Expectations for Online/remote Class Engagement’

If you are doing any remote teaching or are allowing (occasional) remote participation in your classes, it will be important to engage your students in a discussion of your shared expectations related to a variety of ways of being and sharing information in the remote and online environment (some of these issues are captured under the [admittedly complicated] concept of “netiquette”; there are lots of examples out there, here’s one from UIC that I think is pretty useful). Some questions to ask yourself – and your students – as you develop expectations or provide guidance/policy via your syllabus include:

  • Do I want to develop – with my students – a set of shared expectations or guidelines for discussion and other forms of engagement? If so, how can I be sure that the guidelines don’t prioritize the protection of some students over others? 
  • Do I want to discuss with students the ways in which Macalester’s community standards apply to the various forms of virtual engagement that will happen in this course? 
  • What – if any – digital information can be shared beyond the class? Will you disallow taking screenshots? Sharing screenshots? Under what circumstances and with whom?
  • What should I do about students who do not turn on their video during Zoom classes?
    • Although it can be challenging to engage with a screen full of still photos or names, expecting students to have their video on during Zoom or other videoconferencing sessions is quite complicated. In addition to general concerns about privacy, during the spring of 2020 we heard about students from working class/poor backgrounds who were so self-conscious and stressed about how their space looked that they spent considerable effort “designing” their study space to look more middle class. Bandwidth challenges can also make it impossible for some students to have their video on continuously, and not all students will be participating from a private space. This is an important opportunity not only to remind students that you understand that they are joining your class from a wide range of spaces, but also to name and interrupt classism and internalized classism. Acknowledge that the multiple perspectives students bring from a wide variety of backgrounds and life experiences enrich the intellectual community of your classroom.  Cathy Davidson (CUNY) offers a compelling case for making “video on” optional, as does this piece by Marquart and Russell.

Generative AI

Sample AI syllabus statements and other syllabus resources

AI Literacy and Critical Thinking

Grading

As always, be sure your syllabus clearly describes your grading policy.

For some colleagues, the current teaching and learning context – in which many factors may continue to compromise students’ ability to do their best work – raises concerns about the meaning and role of grades and grading practices. Under the best of circumstances, grading is typically not professors’ favorite aspect of teaching. Indeed, the entire concept of grading is contested, controversial, and – for some – deeply problematic (causing colleagues in the latter group to abandon the practice altogether). 

Nevertheless, we give students course grades at Macalester, and it’s important that students know what components of their learning will be assessed in what ways, and how that will be factored into their course grades. The use of rubrics can help you clarify your expectations to students (and may also save you some time!). Many of our colleagues have adopted a contract grading system. You might also consider specifications grading or “ungrading.” If you’re interested in seeing a syllabus that uses a contract grading system, or in connecting with a colleague who has incorporated that process into their courses, please contact Joan Ostrove ([email protected]); please also check out the resources on the assessment and grading page of the Serie Center website.

Health and wellness

Sample health and wellness statement (other versions are available via the Hamre Center):

  • I strongly encourage you to make your well-being a priority. Investing time in thinking well about yourself will help you engage more fully in your academic experience. Remember that beyond being a student, you are a human being with your own experiences, thoughts, emotions, and identities. It is important to acknowledge any stressors you may be facing; these can be emotional, physical, cultural, financial, etc., and can affect your academic experience. I encourage you to remember that you have a body with needs. It is important to eat when you are hungry, drink water, use the restroom, and step out of (or away from) class if you are upset or need some air. Please do what is necessary so long as it does not interfere with your or others’ ability to be present in the course. Outside of the classroom, strategies to support your well-being include eating and sleeping well, moving your body, and connecting with others. If you are having difficulties, please don’t hesitate to contact me and/or find support from other resources, including those offered by the Hamre Center.

You might also want to remind students about Macalester’s Open Pantry.

Library Resources

Sample syllabus statement [amend for your particular discipline]:

Working to integrate the disciplinary literature into your research can be a complex process. Consulting with the research and instruction librarians for the discipline(s) in which you are studying will save you time and help you discover better, more scholarly sources. You can make an appointment using the Ask Us page on the library website, which can be accessed at https://www.macalester.edu/library/askus/, or email your librarian(s) directly.

MAX Center Resources

Sample syllabus statement:

The MAX Center is Macalester’s academic resource center. I strongly encourage you to take full advantage of any and all of the excellent resources they provide there, as they are committed to supporting all students to succeed at Macalester.

Recording Class Sessions

If you are planning to record class sessions (either in-person or virtual) to accommodate students who will not be able to attend in real time, please carefully review Macalester’s recording policy. 

A sample syllabus statement regarding recording classes could read (perhaps with a preamble that explains your reason[s] for recording):

  • I plan to record our class sessions in a manner consistent with Macalester’s classroom recording policy. I will also notify you of the plan to record classes via email. I will share these recordings in a password-protected (and not public) place. If you download any class recordings, you must store them in a password-protected file or on a password-protected site. Please note that the recording policy clearly states that you may not share, replicate, or publish any class recording, in whole or in part, or use any of the recordings for any purpose besides knowing what happened during the class period, without my written approval. If I use any recorded content from any of our classes for purposes beyond our class, I will – in accordance with the policy – obtain your written permission to do so.  

Please go to this MacDigital page on storing and sharing recorded class sessions for instructions on how to store recordings via VoiceThread, Google Drive, or YouTube (in private mode) and then share them via Moodle. If you have questions, or want to store and share recordings another way and need some assistance figuring that out, please contact your AIA.

Religious Observance

Sample syllabus statements:

Students may wish to take part in religious observances that occur during the semester. If you have a religious observance/practice that conflicts with your participation in the course, please contact me before the end of the second week of the semester to discuss appropriate accommodations.

In an effort to respect religious diversity, I request that students who plan to observe a religious holiday during scheduled class meetings/ class requirements talk to me about reasonable consideration by the end of the second week of the course.

Sexual Misconduct / Title IX Statement

Macalester is committed to providing a safe and open learning and living environment for all students, staff, and faculty. Any community member experiencing sexual misconduct including sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, dating/domestic violence, or stalking, is encouraged to seek help and support. 

Please be aware that as a faculty member, it is my responsibility to report disclosure about sexual misconduct, to the Title IX Office. The purpose of this report is to ensure that anyone who may be impacted receives the resources and support they need. I will keep this information private and I will not share beyond this required report. 

You may also contact Laura Creech, Macalester’s Title IX Coordinator, directly (phone: 651-696-6258; e-mail: [email protected]); she will provide you with your rights and options as well as information about supportive measures, resources, and referrals. Additional information about how to file a report (including anonymously) is available on the Title IX website. 

If you prefer to speak with someone confidentially, or need 24/7 support, there are resources available on- and off-campus to assist you: