A course syllabus is a document that will help the teacher effectively organize work during the course, and students know exactly what to expect.
A syllabus is a curriculum for a discipline, which includes a description of the academic discipline, goals and objectives, content modules and names of lesson topics, the duration of each lesson, tasks for independent work, teacher requirements, assessment criteria, and a list of used literature.
In other words, a syllabus is a personalized teacher’s program for teaching students in each subject, which is updated at the beginning of each academic year.
A syllabus is developed on the basis of educational and qualification characteristics, educational and professional training programs for a specialist of a particular level, and the corresponding educational and working curricula, taking into account the logical model of teaching the discipline.
When developing a syllabus, the department’s teachers adhere to the following structure:
Title page and table of contents. The faculty and department to which the discipline is assigned are indicated; name and code of the discipline, course and semester of study; field of knowledge, code and name of the specialty; form of study; surname, name and patronymic of the teacher who teaches this discipline, his academic degree and academic title, position, contact phone number, e-mail address or personal website.
General information (Description of the academic discipline and annotation). The name and code of the discipline, its characteristics are indicated; number of credits, modules and content modules, total number of hours of studying the discipline (these data are taken from the curriculum of the relevant specialty); year, course and semester of study; field of knowledge, code and name of the specialty; department to which the discipline is assigned; form of the research task, course annotation.
Purpose and objectives of studying the discipline. The purpose of studying the discipline is formed in accordance with the curriculum. This must be a short and clearly formed record of achieving the main result when studying this course. Objectives of studying the discipline. The tasks of studying the discipline are specified in accordance with the specialty and follow from the set goal. A list of knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for mastering the discipline is indicated, as well as a list of specific new knowledge, skills and abilities that the student receives after mastering it.
Learning outcomes (competences)
Organization of course learning. (Calendar-thematic plan). It is drawn up in the form of a table indicating the topic of the lesson, form of work, deadlines for completing intermediate tasks and module control.
Course assessment system. A list of questions and tasks for conducting a final assessment of knowledge is provided. Each teacher sets out for students a system of requirements and rules of student behavior in classes, brings to their attention methodological recommendations for completing tests. All this guarantees high efficiency of the educational process and is mandatory for students.
Scoring policy. The points scored in the current survey, independent work and final testing scores are taken into account. At the same time, the presence of the student in classes and his/her activity during practical classes are necessarily taken into account; absences and lateness to classes are inadmissible; use of a mobile phone, tablet or other mobile devices during classes; copying and plagiarism; untimely completion of the assigned task, etc.
Literature for studying the discipline. The optimal number of sources of basic literature is no more than 3-5 basic textbooks and manuals, necessary regulatory legal acts, standards. (Almost half of professional disciplines are provided with their own manuals of the department’s teachers). The list of additional literature may include 10-15 sources, as well as Internet sources.