Course Catalog Number/Name
Instructor Name
Instructor Phone Number
Instructor email
Office Hours
Course Description
This can be copied from the course catalog, or may be a more detailed description written
by the course instructor.
Required materials (i.e. textbooks, software, etc)
List all textbooks, software, or other materials that must be purchased or otherwise
obtained by the student to complete this course.
Note: It is not necessary to list every required reading for the course - only list the
required/recommended materials that are not provided by the instructor, or major
readings that will take more than one lesson/week to complete.
Prerequisites
Examples:
 There are no prerequisites for this course
 Senior status in good academic standing and referral by a professor of Border and
Homeland Security or Criminal Justice.
 This course is for Border and Homeland Security majors only
 BOR 3320 or CRIJ 3320
Technical skills required for the course
Examples
 As with any online courses students must be able to operate a computer and have
the necessary technical skills to navigate around a web page.
 Students must be familiar with Microsoft Excel or similar spreadsheet program.
 Students wishing to do well in this course should already have a fundamental
knowledge of FEMA National Incident Management System ICS processes at the 100
(IS-100.b), 200 (IS-200.b), 700 (IS-700.a), & 800 (IS-800.b) levels.
Time spent on this course
How much time should the student expect to spend on course and activities.
Examples:
 Students can expect to spend a minimum of 6 hours per week to complete all the
readings and assignments.
 The time needed for adequate study and understanding of the course material, as
well as discussion posts and critical thinking for all exercises and papers amounts to
between six and seven hours per week.
Goals, Objectives, and Outcomes
In general, Goals are where you want to go, Objectives are how you get there, and
Outcomes are proof that you've arrived. The various governing documents are pretty
vague on these, so it's likely that you don't have to provide all three in your syllabus.
Course Goals
What do you want the students to know and know how to do. Goals should be specific and
convey expectations for this class. Should be concise.
Course Objectives
Objectives provide the goals and intentions of the instructor who teaches the course.
Objectives focus on content and skills that are import within the course. Objectives can be
thought of as inputs into the course. Typically you should have about 5 or 6 objectives.
Learning Outcomes
In general, these should be statements that describe desired knowledge, skills or attitudes
of the students.
Example:
When you complete this course, you should be able to:
 Knowledge and comprehension: define, list, explain, identify, recognize
 Application and analysis: choose demonstrate perform, compare, categorize
 Synthesis and evaluation: critique, evaluate, design, organize, rank.
Avoid words such as understand, appreciate, become familiar with, be aware of. These are
vague ideas and are not observable or measurable.
Method of Assessing Outcomes
Examples:
 Student learning outcomes will be assessed through a combination of written
assignments and active participation in the cohort discussions established through
discussion board questions each week.
 This course employs writing assignments and weekly discussions to measure
student learning.
Grades
Grades
THECB recommends listing "major assignments", which they define as anything that would
count for more than 10% of the final grade.
Example:
Your grade will be based on the following:
Assignment
Percentage Due
Discussion
20%
Weekly
Written Assignment
25%
Week 4
Final Project
Final Exam
30%
25%
Week 7
Week 8
Angelo State University employs a letter grade system. Grades in this course are
determined on a percentage scale:
Undergraduate
A = 90 – 100 %
B = 80 – 89 %
C = 70 – 79 %
D = 60 – 69 %
F = 59 % and below.
Graduate
A = 90 – 100 %
B = 80 – 89 %
C = 70 – 79 %
F = 69 % and below.
Final Exam
Examples:
 This course does not require a final examination, as such, but does require a
submitted final project. This project will be due the Monday of finals week.
 The comprehensive final exam will be available during the last week of class and
will be due on Thursday, December 13.
Course Outline
THECB requires "… a general description of the subject matter of each lecture or
discussion". ASU Policy requires " The course outline, including each major assignment and
examination". Examples:
Lesson 1: Introduction to Weapons of Mass Destruction
Lesson 2: Religious Terrorism. Writing Assignment 1 due
…
From the wording of the THECB requirement and the ASU Operating Procedure, it doesn't
appear that this needs to be a detailed description. THECB acknowledges that this may be
difficult to predict, so a statement such as "Discuss current events related to human
trafficking" would be sufficient.
Since only assignments worth more than 10% of the grade need to be listed, individual
discussion questions or items such as "research topic" or "workbook exercise" do not need
to be included.
Note that both THECB and TTU acknowledge that instructors have the right to modify the
syllabus during the semester as needed.
Administration
Communication
How often should the student expect to communicate with the instructor (including email,
feedback, chat rooms, discussion boards). Example:
 Students are expected to participate regularly through the course discussion forum.
Students may receive occasional emails from the course instructor and are expected
to respond promptly.
Is synchronous communication required? (i.e. face-to-face, phone, Skype/chat) Date and
time? Example:
 This course requires participation in a live streaming video lecture on September
23rd at 3:00pm CST.
Policy on absenteeism/non-communication example:
 This is an online course and attendance is not taken. However, failure to participate
or communicate on the part of a student will result in an appropriate reduction of
your grade and possibly in your failure of this course.
Late work
Examples:
 Late work will not be accepted. If your assignments are not submitted by the posted
deadline, you will receive a zero for that assignment.
 Late work will be accepted, however 10 points will be deducted from the
assignment grade for every day it is late.
 You must contact your professor before the assignment is due if you believe it will
be late.
Policy on incompletes
Examples:
 From the ASU Catalog:
 The grade “I” is given when the student is unable to complete the course because of
illness or personal misfortune. An “I” that is not removed before the end of the next
long semester automatically becomes an ”F”. Students will be allowed one year to
remove a grade of “I” before it automatically becomes an “F”. To graduate from ASU,
a student must complete all “I”‘s.


From the College of Nursing and Allied Health:
Under some circumstances (i.e., reasons other than lack of adequate effort), if all
assignments in a course are not completed before its conclusion, the student may
request the instructor assign an Incomplete for the course. If the instructor agrees, a
symbol of Incomplete is recorded on the student's transcript. The student is urged
to complete the course work as quickly as possible. An incomplete in a prerequisite
course will prohibit enrollment in courses requiring the prerequisite course. Work
must be completed within one calendar year to be converted to a letter grade by the
instructor. If work is not completed within one year, the Incomplete automatically
converts to an "F."

From BOR6302
The University policy on grades of "Incomplete" is that the deficiency in
performance must be addressed satisfactorily by the end of the next long (16 week)
semester or the grade automatically becomes a "F". Grades of "Incomplete" will only
be awarded to students who have demonstrated sufficient progress to earn the
opportunity to complete the course outside of the normal course duration. The
award of an "Incomplete" will only be made in rare circumstances, with the
concurrence of the student and the professor on what specific tasks remain and
when they are due for the grade to be changed to a higher grade. The determination
of the need to award an "Incomplete" is entirely up to the professor's personal
judgment.
Add/Drop dates
Students may add this course up to August 29, 2013.
Students may drop this class or withdraw from the university until September 4, 2013.
University Policies
Academic Integrity
Angelo State University expects its students to maintain complete honesty and integrity in
their academic pursuits. Students are responsible for understanding and complying with
the university Academic Honor Code and the ASU Student Handbook.
Accommodations for Disability
The Student Life Office is the designated campus department charged with the
responsibility of reviewing and authorizing requests for reasonable accommodations based
on a disability, and it is the student's responsibility to initiate such a request by contacting
the Student Life Office at (325) 942-2191 or (325) 942-2126 (TDD/FAX) or by e-mail at
Student.Life@angelo.edu to begin the process. The Student Life Office will establish the
particular documentation requirements necessary for the various types of disabilities.
Student absence for religious holidays
A student who intends to observe a religious holy day should make that intention known in
writing to the instructor prior to the absence. A student who is absent from classes for the
observance of a religious holy day shall be allowed to take an examination or complete an
assignment scheduled for that day within a reasonable time after the absence.