The course syllabus will likely play a bigger role in your online course than in face-to-face sections. For one, the syllabus serves as one of your first forays into building an online learning community. How? An effective syllabus for an online course strikes a balance between unambiguous specifics and a succinct yet friendly demeanor. The document is at once more text-heavy (usually) and more personable (often) than its brick-and-mortar counterpart. After reading the syllabus, your students should feel that major questions have been answered, and they should have an inkling what kind of teaching philosophy you will bring to the course.

It's not an understatement to say that time management is a huge piece of the puzzle for student success in online courses, even more so than for in-person classes. An informative yet uncluttered schedule, easy to read at a glance, goes a long way toward boosting students' ability to manage their time.

A well-written syllabus will help your course design fare well against the Quality Matters™ rubric. NNU is a member of the QM organization, which provides internationally recognized, research-based standards for online course design.

The Online Syllabus Template

To save you time and to help your course design meet QM standards, Instructional Design & Technology provides an online syllabus template.

First-Person Singular

To help establish a personal touch, the template uses the first-person singular when describing what you will do as instructor, such as in the Expectations section. For example, think about yourself as a freshman reading the syllabus on a laptop in a cafe. Judge for yourself which of the following sounds more like an individual who will interact with you and help you succeed:

• Unless otherwise noted, the instructor will grade individual assignments within one week of the due date.
• Unless otherwise noted, I will grade individual assignments within one week of the due date.

Second-Person Point of View

Similarly, the template uses the second-person point of view rather than third-person plural to refer to what students will do. Again, consider a freshman reading the syllabus; which of these statements is more likely to encourage her to take responsibility for her own learning?

• By 11:59 p.m. MT Saturday, students will read what classmates have written, respond to at least two people, and reply to anyone who comments on their initial posts.
• By 11:59 p.m. MT Saturday, you will read what your classmates have written, respond to at least two people, and reply to anyone who comments on your initial post.

You are welcome to modify the template to suit your needs, so if you truly prefer the more formal perspective, use it.

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