Sample Syllabus for Online Instruction
University of Nebraska [at Kearney, -Lincoln, at Omaha, or Medical Center….]
School of [….]
Course Title:
Course Number:
Semesters Offered:
Credit Hours:
Prerequisites: [Indicate ‘none’ or specific prerequisite(s)]
Course Website: [If applicable]
Instructor(s)/Faculty: [This section should include contact information and any guidelines for students to
contact the instructor(s). In addition, information on response time for student inquiries should be placed
here.]
Class Days, Times, Location: [If applicable]
Course Description: [should match the course description in the catalogue and on file in the dean’s office]
Instruction:
[Instruction may include modes of delivery and instructional methodologies, such as
independent reading assignments, lectures, small group discussions, case studies, worksheets,
exercise or archived presentation sessions. Describe any online delivery such as completely
online, blended course, synchronous and/or asynchronous elements.]
Course Goals: [Upon successful completion of this course, the student will: Goals should be broadly stated.]
Required Textbook/Materials: [Author, Title, Edition, Date, Publisher, ISBN, or indicate ‘none’]
Recommended Textbooks: [Remove this heading if no recommended textbooks]
Additional References: [Remove this heading if no additional references]
Help Resources: [examples: technical, library, writing center]
Grading System: [Describe the assessment tools used to grade the course work. This might include exams,
quizzes, practica, observation, unknowns, graded worksheets, class participation, assessment rubrics,
guidelines, clinical competency evaluations, proficiency evaluation, and professional behavior evaluations.
Include how the final course grade is determined (weighting) – percentages, total points, pass/fail.]
Grading Scale: [As appropriate per course/program/department on specific campuses]
A+ = 97.00 - 100.00
A = 93.00 - 96.99
A- = 90.00 - 92.99
B+ = 87.00 – 89.99
B = 83.00 – 86.99
B- = 80.00 - 82.99
C+ = 77.00 - 79.99
C = 73.00 - 76.99
C- = 70.00 – 72.99
Failing = Below 70.00
University of Nebraska, Online Worldwide Instructional Design and Faculty Support Community of Practice. October, 2010.
Sample Syllabus for Online Instruction
Grade Requirements:
[Explain what constitutes a passing grade for this course. List all specific requirements that
must be met: i.e. cognitive, psychomotor, and/or affective. Explain the course of action if any
of these minimums are not met. Indicate if the grade minimum is an average of each
component of the grade or if each component must meet the minimum grade for passing. If
the student does not meet this established minimum, what are the consequences? Examples
might include automatic failure, required remedial work of the opportunity to redo the
assignment. If the student is allowed to redo an assignment, how will the assignment grade be
awarded? For example will the student be awarded the actual grade of the redo assignment,
or will they be awarded the minimum score they were to originally achieve, or some other
score? Explain the policy on late assignments.
For example, in some programs a student may be required to achieve a 70% on an assignment
to pass. If the student scores below 70%, they are allowed to redo the assignment. However,
they will earn no higher than a 70% in the grade book, regardless of the score they earn on the
make-up assignment. This indicates that they have met the minimum requirement, but have
not been given credit for the advantage they might have from doing the assignment a second
time.]
Units/Modules: [Subheadings are suggested guidelines, may vary by program, but should contain the
information in some format.]
Unit/Module Topic/Title
[Listing unit objectives is optional, but the topics covered in each unit should be listed.
If you wish to list unit objectives:
Course Objectives or Competencies—list specific behavioral unit objectives [optional]
Objectives should be divided into cognitive, psychomotor, affective domains
Objectives should encompass a range of levels and exam questions should correlate with those
levels
Refer to Goal and Objective Writing Folder]
Class Schedule—[This can take on many forms—tables, listings by week or unit
Class Date [optional] or listing by week or unit/module:
Time [optional]
Topic
Assignments
Assignment due dates if applicable
Give some indication of the flow of the course, how much time spent on each unit/module, where
do exams and other assignments occur in the curriculum?]
Statement of Academic Integrity: Refer to current Academic Integrity statement on your campus
ADA/Services for Students with Disabilities: Refer to current ADA statement on your campus, including
contact information.
University of Nebraska, Online Worldwide Instructional Design and Faculty Support Community of Practice. October, 2010.
Sample Syllabus for Online Instruction
Overall Comments:
Keep in mind: A syllabus is an overall permanent document written for the student to understand the
expectations of the course. It may be used by other institutions to evaluate what a student has learned and
decide if a course is transferable or meets prerequisite requirements for admission to another program.
University of Nebraska, Online Worldwide Instructional Design and Faculty Support Community of Practice. October, 2010.