:: Instructor Resources

Model Syllabus

The following is a model syllabus for your University Extension classes. The model is divided into two main sections: required inclusions and optional inclusions. Please be sure that you include on your syllabus all information that is required by University Extension and The University of Texas. The optional inclusions are highly recommended.

Required Inclusions

Personal Information:

  • Your name and degrees
  • Office hours (should generally be right before or after class to accommodate evening students, and also “by appointment”)
  • E-mail address (if used)
  • Phone numbers where students may reach you (please indicate whether you do or do not wish to be called at home)

Course Description:

  • Course official number and name
  • Meeting place and time
  • A paragraph describing the course content and goals (may be the same as your “informal description”)
  • Labs or discussion sections required. If the course is actually conducted in a lab, state that it is. If students may do “lab” work via remote access to UT software, state that they may.
  • If there are any field trips or special supplementary sessions, you should state when and where they are, and whether there will be group transportation or individual responsibility for reaching them. Also, are they required or discretionary?

Course Materials: Required and Recommended

  • List books, videos, special supplies, and packets to be used during the semester. If a packet is required, please indicate where it is to be picked up and when it will be available.
  • You must state whether students are expected to have access to a computer to do their work. (UEX students do not have access to general computer labs on campus, only those labs for which we contract with the departments when lab use is a necessary part of course work. It may be necessary for some classes or projects. It seems reasonable to tell students that you expect their papers to be typed and, in certain cases, that they must find a computer to work on.)
  • You must also state whether special software programs or compilers are required, and whether students must purchase them on their own or can obtain them through University Extension. (This decision should have been made with the director before listing the course.)

Class Attendance

  • State explicitly what you expect regarding attendance and state exactly how students’ attendance will or will not affect grades.
  • State any times you expect class not to be held (see Expectations of University Extension Classroom Instructors).
  • State the policy on absences for religious holidays (see policy further down).

Method of Evaluation (Grades)

  • List each graded assignment, its deadline for submission, and the percentage it will count toward the final grade.
  • Give your grading scale. (e.g. Do you grade on a curve only? What does an A, B, C, D mean to you beyond what is in the general University Catalog’s definitions?)
  • Give your policy on makeup procedures. (Evening students may need a bit more leeway on this than regular UT students, but not to the point of exploiting you. Only one make-up final exam date is allowed each semester for all University Extension students. That date is published in the calendar page of the Extension Web site.)
  • Give your policy on incompletes.
  • Note that for University Extension the rule on holding exams on “no-class days” does not apply. (In fact, we are obliged to schedule our final exams on UT’s “no-class days” to minimize schedule conflicts for our UT students.)

Retention of Students’ Coursework:

Include where they should go to pick up papers and exams at the end of the semester, and until what date they can do so.

Policy on Academic Honesty

The General Information catalog states that students must be informed that all written work handed in by them is considered to be their own work, prepared without unauthorized assistance.

A suggested general statement for syllabi follows:

UEX Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty:

In promoting a high standard of academic integrity, the University broadly defines scholastic dishonesty—basically, all conduct that violates this standard, including any act designed to give an unfair or undeserved academic advantage, such as:

  • Cheating
  • Plagiarism
  • Unauthorized Collaboration
  • Collusion
  • Falsifying Academic Records
  • Misrepresenting Facts (e.g., providing false information to postpone an exam, obtain an extended deadline for an assignment, or even gain an unearned financial benefit)
  • Any other acts (or attempted acts) that violate the basic standard of academic integrity (e.g., multiple submissions—submitting essentially the same written assignment for two courses without authorization to do so)

Several types of scholastic dishonesty—unauthorized collaboration, plagiarism, and multiple submissions—are discussed in more detail on this Web site to correct common misperceptions about these particular offenses and suggest ways to avoid committing them.

For the University’s official definition of scholastic dishonesty, see Section 11-802, Institutional Rules on Student Services and Activities.

Policy on Accommodation of Disabilities:

State that the university’s policy on accommodation of disabilities will be followed.

Optional Inclusions

Prerequisites for the course are published in our bulletin and on the Web. If you wish to stress anything beyond these, please note that on the syllabus under “Course Description.” This should be your own statement of the kind of knowledge the student should already have mastered to do well in the course, not just the “official” UT prerequisites that are in the UT Catalog.