A course syllabus serves multiple purposes, including:
— serving as a contract establishing prerequisites, expectations, requirements, and policies
— addressing what students will learn
— providing course logistics and administrative information such as contact information, meeting information, modality specifics, and access to course materials
— setting the tone for the course
The Faculty Manual provides additional information on syllabi.
Syllabus Templates
Academic Affairs provides a syllabus template that includes both required and suggested language.
Spring 2026
The Spring 2026 Syllabus Template has been updated to reflect the new requirements for publicly available course syllabi.Beginning with Fall 2025, all Core IMPACTS courses as well as School of Education courses are required to use the syllabus template available within the MyCourses Simple Syllabus integration.
All non-Core IMPACTS courses may continue to use the Microsoft Word version of the Spring 2026 syllabus template. Non-Core IMPACT courses may choose to use Simple Syllabus for Spring 2026.
The syllabus must be made available via MyCourses per the Academic Policy Manual Policy 20.2.
Future Semesters
By the start of registration for Fall 2026, the syllabus template for all courses will transition away from using Microsoft Word to the new Simple Syllabus solution. Additional details will be provided as the become available.
More information on Core IMPACTS
More information on Simple Syllabus
Workshops on using Simple Syllabus are now available