Course outline website may deliver syllabi a few weeks early

By Sean Sullivan, July 31, 2014 —

If you’ve ever been surprised by course requirements on the first day of class and regretted enroling in a course then a new University of Calgary website might be exactly what you’re looking for.

U of C vice-provost for teaching and learning Lynn Taylor, in discussions with Students’ Union vice-president academic Hana Kadri, agreed to develop a new website that will host outlines from U of C courses.

“[Taylor] is very much in support of having course outlines out before classes begin. She believes that students have the right to know what kind of workload will be expected of them going into the semester,” Kadri said.

University professors will not be required to upload their outlines to the website. Instead, they can upload their course outlines on a volunteer basis before the semester.

Once a website is in place Kadri said she and Taylor are hoping that some professors will begin posting their course outlines.

To make posting easier, the website will provide electronic forms that professors can fill out with important information such as assignments, grading schemes, due dates and exams along with the professor’s contact information.

Students won’t be able to look back at course outlines from past years. Since courses change from year-to-year — assignments change as well as what percentage of the final grade those assignments are worth — the plan is to delete old outlines before sending out a message to professors saying it is time to upload new course outlines.

Don’t expect to see the website this year. The site is still in development and no release date has been set.