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Written Resources

Some instructors choose to make lecture notes, outlines, or other written resources available to their students. Including lecture notes or objectives for each class session demands a great deal of early preparation on your part, but gets easier after you have taught a course once or twice. This resource is a great help to students who must miss a class period and makes the syllabus a helpful learning aid which students can use to review before class sessions.

Written resources which are sometimes referred to or included in University of Minnesota syllabi include:

  • lecture outlines
  • objectives for each class session
  • pretest questions to review before the lecture
  • study guides to be used in conjunction with the text book
  • general suggestions or advice for being successful in this class
  • past exams, papers, or projects
  • web addresses for online services and information

Example

Past examinations are on file in 109 Eddy Hall, 190 Coffey Hall, in the Smith Hall tutorial room, and on reserve in Walter Library. Audio cassettes and a color video tape series are available in the Walter Library and St. Paul Learning Resource Centers. A summary of these tapes accompanies the syllabus.

- J. Roberts, Chemistry 1004 

Online Resources

You may want to provide students with information on how to access university-wide on line services which would be helpful for this class, such as Lumina, University of Minnesota Library home page, an online dictionary, and the University of Minnesota homepage. You might also want to include the URL for your department or college homepage. Of course, you will also want to include access information for any sites which have been designed specifically for this class.

Example

As part of a CLA experiment in on-line learning, there will be Web components to the course. Those of you who are familiar with the World Wide Web can check out the site anytime you want. [Your TA will give you the password you need for access since it is a protected site.] For those of you who are not familiar with the Web, don't worry: there will be an introduction to the Web site and course components at the first section meeting of Week 2. We hope that this Web site will enrich the course for you and add to your World History resource base.

- Mary Jo Maynes and Ann Waltner, History 1012: Introduction to World History 

Advice to Students

Some instructors also include a section in which they share some general advice about how students can be successful in their course. This section may contain general admonitions such as "avoid cramming," "seek help when you need it," "keep up with the reading," or "start papers and projects early" as well as discipline-specific advice for successful problem solving, appropriate writing style, approach to the readings, and so on. This section is most appropriate for undergraduate introductory classes--graduate students and upper division undergraduates are already experienced in these areas.

Examples

Learning how to solve problems is an important life skill which takes practice and patience. There is not always just one way to solve a problem. However, some simple general guidelines can often lead you to the right answer. When confronted with a challenging problem, the most important step in solving that problem is to first make sure that you understand the exact nature of what the problem is asking. I then find it useful to make a list of what information is given to me (the "haves"), what information is wanted (the "wants"), and what concepts I think are involved in the problem. Then, I sit back and work out a plan of attack for the problem (often going so far as to write that plan down on paper), working from the "haves" toward the "wants" and vice versa, trying to find a path which will link up both ends. Only after I have a fully developed plan do I attempt to plug in numbers and actually solve the problem.

- Author, Chemistry 110, an accelerated general chemistry course offered at Vassar College

The paper is weighted somewhat more than even the final exam. That's because it's an assignment you pursue over a long period of time, not in a prescribed on-hour or two-hour period. You have time with the paper to read, think, write and re-write, without the sort of pressure an exam presents. Thus I cannot urge you strongly enough to begin the paper as early in the term as possible, in any event no later than the fourth week of the semester. Take time to see me or the TAs from time to time as you are working on the paper.

- Frederick Asher, Art History 3014