As we turn our calendars to the second half of the year, you may be starting to think about the Fall 2022 semester. What better place to start than with the syllabus? We have two recommended podcast episodes for you this month. Both are from the Teaching in Higher Education podcast and both are focused on the syllabus.
The first episode is Episode 418 – The Self and Syllabus. In this episode, the host (Bonni Stachowiak) talks with Christopher Richman, Assistant Director for the Academy for Teaching and Learning and affiliate faculty in the Department of Religion at Baylor University. In this episode, Christopher shares more about his research study with colleagues on the syllabus and how that document reflects the instructor’s teaching self-perception. The study and podcast discussion share how the language and tone of the syllabus can be an impactful document in any course.
The second episode is Episode 419 – Disrupting the Syllabus. In this episode, the host (Bonni Stachowiak) talks with Julia S. Charles-Linen, an Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado. In this episode, Julia shares how she seeks to disrupt common ideology around the syllabus and not rely on it as a simple contract. She views the syllabus as a tool for engagement for her students and often creates more visually appealing syllabi. Her tweet about one of her course syllabi shows a few images of her visually impactful syllabus.
We hope these two episodes help you to begin to think about your syllabus and possibly different ways to approach the syllabus for your course.
Have a podcast you’d like to recommend? Let us know!
