Running head: SYLLABUS_CRITIQUE_DAVIS
Syllabus Critique
Deborah Davis
Liberty University
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Abstract
This syllabus critique was a review of a provided exemplar syllabus reviewed against a diversity
of resources. Deficits were the focus and are described in detail. The syllabus is a primary guide
for the course. It provides the basis of all communication and sets the tone for the course. The
Graduate Business syllabus provided lacked many things, but did provide a brief outline. In the
same way that the Holy Bible provides guidance and foundation for communication with God, its
ultimate author, so the author of any document has the opportunity to provide guidance and
communication with that author. A syllabus also represents its school, and its university. For
the students, it must be a roadmap, providing routes and waypoints toward the destination of
greater knowledge.
Keywords: syllabus, college curriculum, syllabus design
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Syllabus Critique
Nothing is perfect. In the best written anything, there is room for improvement. A
college syllabus is no different. Elemental to the syllabus writing effort must be an
understanding that there are “a whole series of expectations, requirements, and restrictions from
a series of stakeholders that must be met” (Riley, 2010, p. 50). Students, teachers, departments,
schools, universities and outside sources all depend on the elements defined within a syllabus.
For purposes of this assignment, a sample syllabus has been provided and will be attached as
Appendix A to this paper. That sample syllabus will be edited for clarity. A variety of research
implements will be reviewed to support the changes to be made, and those will be explained
within this document.
General Syllabus Contents
Every syllabus should have information about the course, the professor, and the
assignments (Nilson, 2010). There are as many ways to present this information as there are
people who teach. While the exemplar syllabus provides the name of the course, it fails to give
any form of course number identifier. Further, it does not identify the professor or teacher nor
how to contact that person for information about the course. As compared to the listing within
Nilson (2010), most of the areas are covered, but a major deficit is the lack of plagiarism or
academic integrity statement. Obviously, the schedule is also missing. A legal disclaimer,
teacher background and philosophy, as well as pre-requisites and academic requirements this
course meets are all not included in the sample.
Consequently, a fundamental change to this syllabus would identify the professor,
professorial goals, background, and philosophy, and contact information. Course information
would need to include academic requirements met as well as those required, and a schedule of
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course activities with a legal disclaimer. A plagiarism statement is a critical component that
needs to be added to this syllabus.
Assignment Parameters
As to the elements of the assignments themselves, the parameters include diversity,
difficulty, and clarity. Kalchman (2011) advocates the teacher doing the assignment before
assigning it to the student. The four basic assignments in the sample syllabus require, in short,
discussion boards, a group paper, a literature review, and an annotated bibliography. Diversity
within assignments is address as variance in methodology by Bautista, Brizuela, Glennie, and
Caddle (2014). The three papers and discussion boards are all submitted electronically, and all
require the use of scholarly resources in support of a position. There is little variance in an
objective review of the assignments as stated in this syllabus. As such, diversity of assignments
within this syllabus does not provide students with opportunities to shine in differing aspects and
skills.
The sample syllabus is presented to be at the graduate level. As such, the use of twelve
scholarly resources seems appropriate. There is, however, annotation that the two assignments
using twelve resources would use the same twelve resources. The timeline for submission of
these assignments is not presented. As a Liberty University Online course, it may be presumed
to be on the eight week cycle. If that is so, then the completion of four substantial assignments
would seem reasonable for a graduate level course. The discussion boards would be presumably
interspersed.
Many aspects of the assignments are unclear. The discussion board presentation of a
“key topic submission” does not define the nature of the submission. The student cannot know if
it is necessary to inform, argue, discuss, present, etc. The first part of the Discussion Board
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assignment does not indicate length, resources, nor any other parameters. With the second part
defined as it is, the third part is again, deficit in these areas. Clarity is also absent in the
Annotated Bibliography as this assignment preceded the Literature Review, but is linked to it.
The assignment topic and details should be prescribed in the Annotated Bibliography as it is the
first assigned. The group assignment to relate the Bible to topics is particularly vague, and
considering the topics of world markets, to address this topic in a 1000 word paper seems to have
little depth.
Course Parameters
Within the course, there should be cohesiveness within the assignments, relevancy to the
outcomes expected within the course, as well as relevancy to the description of the course. Point
distribution and practical notions of the course, housekeeping per se, will also be covered within
this section. Within the assignments presented, the Annotated Bibliography and Literature are
decidedly linked, and cohesively presented. These two assignments are also directly relevant to
the course as described within the syllabus. Further, these two assignments, and the Faith and
Learning Assessment appear to be directly related to the specified learning objectives for the
course. The Discussion Board assignment is so vague that there is no way to determine its
cohesiveness nor relevance. The Faith and Learning Assessment does not appear to be in
confluence with the course description.
The point allocations for these assignments feel out of balance. The 1000 word group
assignment is a major work, and should have heavier weight. The Literature Review is a final
assignment, and should also have heavier weight. Within the corrected syllabus, I have modified
the point values accordingly. As for practical notions for the course, it should be noted that the
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Bible is not listed either as a required text nor an additional material, yet it is required for the
Faith and Learning Assessment.
Conclusion
The syllabus is the guideline and foundation to the execution of the course. From the
identification of the course and the professor, it sets the tone for the course and for the expected
nature of communication within the course. Perhaps more than in a brick-and-mortar school, and
online program relies on the syllabus to ensure that students know what to plan for and how to be
prepared to succeed in the course. This syllabus provides a vague outline with few specifics on
which the student may rely.
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References
Bautista, A., Brizuela, M., Gkennie, C., & Caddle, M. (2014). Mathematics teachers attending
and responding to students' thinking: Diverse paths across diverse assignments.
International Journal For Mathematics Teaching & Learning, (July 2014), 1-28.
Kalchman, M. k. (2011). Do as I say and as I've done: Assignment accountability for college
educators. College Teaching, 59(1), 40-44.
Nilson, L. (2010). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors (3rd
ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Riley, C. C. (2012). Learning from the learners: A student centered syllabus in preparation for
the real world. Quality Assurance Review, 4(1), 50-60.
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Appendix A
Sample Syllabus
(Note – font changes in header and footer did not transfer)
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COURSE SYLLABUS
ALTON W. AND LOIS H. OVERTON GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
BUSI 604
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
MICHAEL WALKER, B.A, M.B.A., D.B.A.
434/123-4567
MWALKER@LIBERTY.EDU
INSTRUCTOR CONTACT
Contact via email anytime – expect a response within 12 hours. Contact via the Discussion Board if the
question is one that may pertain to the entire class. Again, expect a response within 12 hours. Call if
you are urgently concerned about any matter, but please, be respectful of my family. My phone is off if
I am in a meeting or class, but I check messages and return calls quickly.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of international financial markets and how they
operate and interrelate. The structure, characteristics, and issues for markets in the Americas, Europe,
Africa/Middle East, and Asia/Pacific will be identified and explored. The inter-relationships between
these markets will be a focus of this course.
RATIONALE
This course explores the view that the world is moving towards a single global market and provides a
broad and balanced introduction to financial markets across the world. Within this context, the course
culminates in providing the student with skills for examining how an international business can raise
capital to fund projects in a foreign market of its choice. Perhaps more importantly, this course
encourages students to focus on the Biblical integration to international financial markets.
I.
PREREQUISITES
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Graduate standing and admission into the Alton W. and Lois H. Overton School of Business
As stated in the Liberty University Catalog, it is the student’s responsibility to make up any prerequisite
deficiencies that would prevent the successful completion of this course.
REQUIRED RESOURCE PURCHASES
II.
The Holy Bible – edition of student’s preference
American Psychological Association. Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association. (current ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Molyneux, V. (2000). An introduction to global financial markets (4th ed.). New York, NY:
Palgrave McMillan. ISBN: 9780230243095.
Disclaimer: The above resources provide information consistent with the latest research
regarding the subject area. Liberty University does not necessarily endorse specific personal,
religious, philosophical, or political positions found in these resources.
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS FOR LEARNING
III.
A.
Computer with basic audio/video output equipment
B.
Internet access (broadband recommended)
C.
Microsoft Word
(Microsoft Office is available at a special discount to Liberty University students.)
MEASURABLE LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
V.
A.
Compare the roles of central, commercial, and investment banks.
B.
Evaluate securities markets, money, bonds, stock exchanges, hedge funds, and private
equity.
C.
Appraise the effectiveness of the foreign exchange, European economic and monetary
union, and derivative products.
D.
Examine the New Tiger Economies and key trends in global financial markets.
E.
Integrate biblical principles within the field of global financial markets.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND ASSIGNMENTS
A.
Textbook readings
B.
Discussion Board Forums (4)
Each Discussion Board Forum in this course allows the student an opportunity to apply
what they have learned from the Reading & Study. There are 2 parts to each Discussion
Board Forum. Each Discussion Board is a unified assignment and both parts must be
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posted in order to earn credit. The first part is the key topic Discussion Board post. This
initial entry must be at least 350 words in length, citing 5 recent scholarly articles and the
primary reading for the week. These are due by Thursday night at 11:59. The second part
is the response to at least two classmates. Responses must be a minimum of 150 words
and include 2 scholarly references. The Bible may be one of the scholarly references for
any submission within this class. The responses are due by Sunday night at 11:59 pm.
While it is not necessary to reply to the responses, do remember that multiple responses
to a singular submission are to be responses to the submission and not to prior responses.
These will be due during weeks 1, 3, 5, and 7. Further details on this assignment will be in
Blackboard.
C.
Annotated Bibliography
The student will complete an Annotated Bibliography to be used for the Literature
Review. There should be at least 12 annotations which are at least 150 words each. This
assignment will be due Sunday at 11:59 pm of week 4. Within the assignment portion of
Blackboard, there will be an exemplar for this assignment. It will only contain a couple
of annotations, and yours must contain 12. It should, however, be sufficient to model
the assignment for you.
D.
Literature Review
The student will write a Literature Review on a topic relevant to the course. The paper
will be a comprehensive thematic review of the scholarly literature related to the
selected topic. The paper must be written in strict conformance to current APA format
and contain at least 16 pages of content (excluding the title page, abstract, and
references) utilizing at least 12 scholarly references – it is presumed that these
references will be in concert with the prior submitted annotated bibliography. The
assignment must be submitted through SafeAssign by Sunday at 11:59 pm of week 6.
Further details on this assignment will be available via Blackboard.
E.
Faith and Learning Assessment
By Module/Week 4, the student will be assigned to a group. The group must briefly
describe how the Bible is related to the topics covered in the course. Work in the Group
Discussion board to compile a minimum 1000-word essay using at least 4 scholarly
references in addition to the Bible version of the group choice (your text may be one of
your resources). While consistency in Biblical version is not required, and parallele
citations may be needed for clarity, a singular version should be selected by the group
for the primary use. .An integration of the Bible must be explicitly shown in relation to a
course topic in order to receive pointsWhen complete, a member of the group will post
it to the Discussion Board for class review by 11:59 pm on WEDNESDAY of week 8. All
class members should make a brief (50 word or more) response to others posts.
Further, this assignment must be submitted by each group member to SafeAssign by
11:59 pm on FRIDAY of week 8. More details on this assignment will be posted to
Blackboard.
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VI.
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COURSE GRADING AND POLICIES
A.
Points
Discussion Board Forums (4 at 100 pts ea)
400
Annotated Bibliography
150
Faith and Learning Assessment
200
Literature Review
250
Total
B.
1000
Scale
A = 940–1000 A- = 920–939 B+ = 900–919 B = 860–899 B- = 840–859
C+ = 820–839 C = 780–819 C- = 760–779 F = 759 and below
C.
Late Policy
All assignments are to be completed on time. No late work will be accepted unless prior
approval from the professor has been granted. If you believe you have an issue that will
create lateness on an assignment, contact me immediately!
D.
Disability Assistance
Students with a documented disability may contact Liberty University Online’s Office of
Disability Academic Support (ODAS) at LUOODAS@liberty.edu to make arrangements
for academic accommodations.
E.
Plagiarism
According to the plagiarism policy on academic integrity, plagiarism may result in failing
the course. Plagiarism can also result in dismissal from the program. Please see the APA
Manual for information about plagiarism (including self plagiarism) and how it is defined.
Additionally, academic misconduct includes not only plagiarism, but academic dishonesty
falsification. See The Liberty Way for specific definitions, penalties, and processes of
reporting.
F.
A course schedule will be posted to Blackboard separately.