Project Syllabus

[Excerpt from Fall 2008 PTN]

Project Syllabus is a free service provided by the Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology (OTRP), a product of APA Division2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP). Our database holds 163 syllabi in 35 categories, from A (Abnormal) to W (Women and Gender). What makes Project Syllabus so valuable is the peer review process. Our reviewers evaluate all submissions before selecting syllabi for posting.

If you have not visited Project Syllabus or if you have not visited recently, point your browser here: http://teachpsych.org/otrp/syllabi/syllabi.php.

In March 2007, STP’s website underwent a major renovation. The new website provides an easy-to-use interface for finding OTRP resources, including syllabi in the Project Syllabus database.

When you visit the Project Syllabus opening page, you will see the categories of courses down the left side. Clicking on any one of those will bring up a page that lists the syllabi in that category. You will get the title of the course, the term the course was offered, the author, the author’s affiliation, and a way to access the syllabus. Most syllabi are available in PDF and RTF; the latter is most easily managed by word processing programs like MS Word. You will also see that some syllabi have an “internet” button. Because some syllabi are only available by web link or because some authors provide a number of additional resources on their websites, the “internet” button provides an easy way to access those syllabi or additional content.

Are you looking for a new design for your course calendar? Do you need a new attendance and class participation policy? Do you want to set expectations for classroom behavior? Are you considering explaining to students how class time will be spent? Are you ready to revise your course objectives? When you visit Project Syllabus, notice the category called “Best Practices.” Several of our reviewers examined our entire database for five common syllabus components and identified the best examples of presenting calendars, explaining attendance and participation policies, setting expectations, explaining class time, and communicating course objectives.

When looking at the syllabi listings, you should notice that some syllabi have special designations. All syllabi that are for online or hybrid courses can be found by clicking on the “Online/Hybrid” category, but these syllabi are also cross-listed by course. Graduate courses do not have their own category, but within each category, you can find the graduate courses by looking for the “Graduate” designation. When submitting their syllabi, some faculty also choose to have them evaluated by STP’s Diversity Committee. The Diversity Committee looks for assignments or class activities that support an understanding of multiple cultures. Syllabi that meet the Diversity Committee’s criteria receive the special designation of “Diversity.” You can find all “Diversity” syllabi under that special category label.

Submissions to Project Syllabus are always welcome! Email your syllabus as a Word or RTF document to syllabus@teachpsych.org. Within a few days, it will be sent to our reviewers who typically take 2 to 3 weeks to complete their assessment. As with journal submissions, you will receive feedback and have an opportunity to revise your syllabus to address reviewers’ suggestions.