The Syllabus is the roadmap of the class. In the old days before internet, face to face teachers would hand out the syllabus (list of assignments and tests) to the class on the first day of class. Then the face to face teacher would spend the first day of class going over the syllabus, going over assignments, test dates and holidays. He would also go over expectations he wanted from the class. When I was in France, on the first day of class, the French Literature Professor asked us not to smoke in his class because he had asthma. At that time in France, students smoked in restaurants, in classrooms everywhere.
In an online class, I usually send my online students before class start a Welcome email where I introduce myself, talk about the core concepts of the class, give my contact information and availability as well as remind students to download their syllabus. However, with an electronic syllabus, there is no need for students to download the syllabus as the syllabus is an embedded webpage inside the classroom that opens right up so the student can see right away what is expected of him in the class.
Advantages of an Electronic Syllabus over a Paper Syllabus
1. There is no need for faculty to personalize the syllabus. Usually I would get 3 new classes each month and I would normally have to personalize each syllabus by putting in my intro and contact info but with the electronic syllabus no more need for me to do that anymore! Saves me some work and anything that saves me work is great!
2. Any change the Course Lead makes in the Model Site to the classroom is automatically updated in the electronic syllabus. I no longer have to scroll through different parts of the classroom and read through each lesson to make sure my instructions are consistent with the changes I made. All I have to do is make the change in the classroom and the Electronic syllabus updates the instructions right away.
3. If I make changes in the Grade Book, and I change the forum percentage from 20% of the grade to 30% of the grade, then the electronic syllabus automatically records the change in its grade book graphic and no need for me to make a separate table in Word to write the percentages. I just have to wait overnight and the Electronic Syllabus does it for me.
4. If a student wants a printed version of the electronic syllabus, there is an option for students to print out the electronic syllabus, so they can have a hard copy to take with them everywhere.
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