Quick tip: Syllabus

A syllabus is a planning tool for course purposes. It helps the instructor to organize the course, define goals and student learning outcomes, and plan the course assessment and the calendar. The syllabus is also a guide for the students who take the respective course. It should communicate in a clear and detailed manner the course content, teaching approaches, requirements, and expectations in the course. Since the syllabus is a document that communicates with a larger audience (colleagues, administrators, accreditation agencies) it is also a reference guide.

In the process of planning the course and building the syllabus the instructor must decide which topics will be covered in the course, and for each what is the expected learning level that will be demonstrated by the students. Based on that decision the instructor will plan appropriate assessment measures. The purpose is to have a good balance of learning outcomes adequate to the importance of the different topics taught by the instructor. The instructor is the one who decides on which topic students should demonstrate a higher levels of thinking and the instructor would plan accordingly the appropriate assessment measure for the respective levels.

A very useful tool in planning for expected levels of teaching, learning, and assessment is the table of Bloom’s taxonomy. Bloom’s taxonomy gives a useful guide to map out the instructor’s plans for the course and provides an easy way to think about appropriate assessment tools. Bloom’s revised taxonomy defines learning as a two dimensional process: cognitive and knowledge based. This takes into account the learners’ thinking and knowledge based abilities.

Bloom classified the cognitive skills in six levels from lower (remembering, understanding, and lower level of applying) to higher levels of thinking (applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating). Below in this document you will find detailed descriptions for each level.

When planning activities and assessment for course purposes the first step the instructor would take is to map out each topic studied in the course at the desired level of thinking and knowledge. Then the next step the instructor would derive the learning outcomes and matching assessment type for each topic.