How Simple is Your Syllabus Solution?
A syllabus is a key tool for most instructors. Course data changes to keep up with ever-changing program requirements and these changes can pose problems for syllabus development. For many organizations—the syllabi don’t keep up. Take this quick assessment to see if your syllabi need a tune-up:
- Are you certain all faculty are using the correct course data—description, outcomes, credits, etc. on their syllabi?
- Are organization guidelines for ADA and academic honesty (just to name a couple) included in every instructor’s syllabus?
- Are threaded outcomes on the syllabus—things like organization-wide outcomes and program outcomes?
- Can you find a syllabus when you need it?
If you answered “no” to one or more of the questions above, you might need a syllabus tune-up. The WIDS Software may be just the solution you're looking for!
Faculty Syllabi are Built From Approved Course Outlines
In WIDS, faculty don’t start with a blank syllabus—they start with the approved course outline information. WIDS populates the most current data in the appropriate syllabus fields. Because that data has been previously approved, you know that the course title, number, description, and learning outcomes are correct and current!
When program courses are updated, so are syllabi. Faculty don’t have to hunt for the right information.
Organization-Wide Guidelines are Easy to Add and Edit
Many organizations have standard guidelines for inclusion in syllabi. Some examples might include:
- Disability Services
- Student Responsibilities
- Acceptable Use
- Policies on course withdrawals and incompletes
When you use WIDS, you enter course guidelines once. Then your guidelines will automatically appear in all syllabi for the course. If your organization-wide guidelines change, you make the change in one place. Then every single syllabus going forward will contain the new information; every single one.
Organization-Wide and Program Outcomes Appear Automatically
WIDS is a mapping genius. You can map organization-wide outcomes, program outcomes, and standards to courses where they will be learned and assessed. Once mapped in WIDS, they can appear automatically on the syllabus. Just mark a checkbox in WIDS, and your outcomes show up. Want to show program outcomes but not standards? No problem. You control what shows. You set up the syllabus template with the data important to your organization.
Syllabi are Archived and Easy to Find
Once you create a syllabus in WIDS, you are prompted to submit the syllabus for archiving. This ensures that you can find any syllabus for any course at any time. Just type in the course title and search for the syllabus date. Presto! You have hyperlinks to all syllabi from that semester. Search the WIDS database for syllabi submitted for any time frame. Store completed reports in the WIDS Documents repository and share the link with administrators and accreditation.
See WIDS
WIDS makes syllabi easy for faculty and administrators. And there are plenty of opportunities for faculty to add their own details to a syllabus; after all, it is their course section. In addition, WIDS syllabi can integrate with learning management systems seamlessly.
Download a WIDS Syllabus Sample to see organization-owned course information and instructor information in one simple template.
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