Syllabus Guidelines

A syllabus should be made available electronically or in hard copy to students by the first day of classes. Included on this page is the minimum content required in the syllabus for a CHSS Course. The Stearns Center has additional content to consider including in the syllabus, from Mason's Diversity Statement and name and pronoun statement to academic/religious calendars and recommended language for AI policy. Take a look and consider some of the options to make your syllabus a useful tool to communicate your course information.

According to AP 2.5 all course syllabi must have the course-specific structural elements listed below. All new courses proposed in the College must also include these elements in the syllabus submitted with your course proposal.

Cross-level Listed Courses
The university policy on Cross-level Listing of Undergraduate/Graduate Courses contains explicit guidelines for offering cross-level listed courses.

• Specific and unique expectations much be provided for each course, through separate syllabi. Graduate students will not only do more work, but also more advanced work than undergraduate students.
• Assessment measures should be more difficult or complex at the graduate level.
• Learning outcomes must be commensurate with the level of the course. 

A note on consistent course modalities 
Faculty should deliver, and students should attend, each course in the modality/ies officially listed in Banner. Students who prefer or need to study using a different modality should see their advisor about enrolling in a different section or course.

Required Syllabus Information

• Course Number and Title
• Instructor name and contact information
• Course meeting day(s), time(s), and modality
• Course Overview
  A basic description of the class which uses the catalog description as a guideline and adds any specific elements unique to this section the instructor is offering.
• Learning Outcomes
  These are most often stated in terms of what will students know or be able to do at the end of the course: "At the end of this course, students will be able to  ... "
• Artificial Intelligence Tools policy (AI Guidelines - see AI policy examples under AI Guidelines for Instructors)
• Grading Policies
  • Grading Schema
    Numerical breakdown of the ranges used to identify final grades as A, B, C, etc. (GMU does not have a standard schema, but your academic unit might indicate a range such as “83-86% = B”)
  • Grade Weights
    Percentage list of how assignments, exams, and other required actions count for the final grade
  • Policies for what can significantly lower grade
    such as late work or missed exams/rehearsals
• Common Policies

Additional Syllabus Requirements for CHSS Courses

Schedule of Topics and Assignments

• Description of how the course will evolve through semester. Most often this is presented as a class by class or week by week schedule that gives the students a clear idea of the expectations for the work for the course and how the topics of the course will advance through the semester
• Important deadlines so that students have a clear idea of when major assignments will be due

Required and Recommended Readings

• References listed should model the same citation style that is required for the course.
• How students may access readings (readings are linked in Blackboard, readings are library resources, books need to be purchased, etc)

Enrollment Statement to include at least this Information

Students are responsible for verifying their enrollment in this class. 
Schedule adjustments should be made by the deadlines published in the Schedule of Classes. (Deadlines each semester are published in the Schedule of Classes available from the Registrar's Website registrar.gmu.edu.)
Last Day to Add ________
Last Day to Drop ________ 
After the last day to drop a class, withdrawing from this class requires the approval of the dean and is only allowed for nonacademic reasons.
Undergraduate students may choose to exercise a selective withdrawal. See the Schedule of Classes for selective withdrawal procedures.

Attendance and Participation Policy

If participation is to be included as part of the grade in the course, CHSS faculty are asked to specifically define 1) what constitutes participation and 2) how it is measured. You should not grade solely based on attendance at Mason; attendance can, however, be factored into the grade for participation.