Mornin'! So I've been moonlighting as a UX intern with @DukeLibraries for a while, with a focus on web writing for the last year.
Here's my contribution to #AcademicTwitter during syllabus season: insights from user-centered content strategy to syllabus-creation
1/
Good syllabi let people grab and go.
If it's easy to find the right information, then a syllabus can actually be quite lengthy, yet still user-friendly.
If students wanted to figure out the late work policy, could they do it without (re-)reading the whole document?
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If information in the syllabus isn't findable, the blame for that oft-grumbled professorial mantra of 'IT'S IN THE SYLLABUS' is on the writer, not the user, in my very humble opinion.
As a baseline: clear headers, plenty of negative space, & clear prose can do a lot
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Consider intentional use of images
• Icons @ nounproject.com
• Royalty free stock photos @ unsplash.com
• Your institution likely has great campus photography through the communications office. For Duke, find stunning assets @ duke.webdamdb.com
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Don't emphasize everything.
A lot of things are important, it's true.
Unfortunately, if All The Things are bolded, highlighted, and underlined, nothing is salient & the doc isn't readable.
Draw extra attention to the truly unmissable points.
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Is the syllabus accessible to people using screen-readers (visually impaired)?
I take for granted my visual abilities to navigate docs often. Trying to be better!
Using the STYLES for headers & adding alt-text to informative images are 2 easy ways to adapt your syllabus. 6/
Standard design & prose guidelines apply.
Consider a sans serif font with multiple weights
Whenever possible, land on the side of brevity and active voice
Use pronouns like "I", "we," and "you" for clarity & warmth
Good-writing is re-writing
Get feedback from other humans
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Of course, none of this is novel/revolutionary. But with a more user/student-entered approach, we can substantially improve how engaging & useful syllabi are.
They could even maybe occasionally provide a blip of something resembling... delight?? That holy grail of design. ✨
8/
At #elonTLC, I learned it's okay to think of syllabi less as contracts to prevent disaster, and more as a resource guide to support successful student learning & growth.
Wanna trade syllabi for feedback? Wanna share yours for inspo? I would love to hear from you!
Godspeed 9/9
REFERENCES
1 Learned about @scholarteaching's 'motivational syllabus' from Shauntae Brown White at #elontlc
2 @GinnyRedish's "Letting Go of the Words" explains these principles w clarity
3 library.duke.edu/about/content-… Guidelines we wrote for Libraries; not all applies, but much does
7 Finally (and hopefully this is buried hello), I'll put my $ where my mouth is: here is an updating draft of the syllabus I'm currently working on. Class starts on August 27.
Our students come to us with deep, damaging beliefs about intelligence & IQ.
I *really* wanted to teach students about intelligence last fall, but I found myself unprepared. After DAYS learning, I was angry & tired & I dumped everything into the best lesson I could manage then.
These materials are woefully short of perfect. I think that executed wrong, they could be damaging, so I've put off sharing them.
But as educators, we need to ask ourselves:
Are we empowering students to fight scientific racism wherever they see it, including their own minds?
I looked at many cog textbooks. They skirted the hard questions completely.
People I love & respect recommended Ritchie's short book. Here is the page on Galton, a full-blown OG scientific racist who COINED THE TERM EUGENICS, which is positively FAWNING ("a true genius"). 😡