Syllabus Policy & Standards
Why every course must have a syllabus, why every UMF syllabus follows the same standard template — and the one rule about instructor information that keeps the document accurate.
The syllabus is the single most important document in a course. It is the agreement with the student, the record of what the course actually delivers, and the first document an accreditor asks to see. Because it carries that much weight, UMF uses one approved syllabus template per program — and every course uses it without alteration.
It is the agreement with the student
It tells the student exactly what they will learn, what they must do, how they will be graded, and what is expected of them. When a grade or a requirement is later disputed, the syllabus is what the decision rests on. If it is vague, the institution has no ground to stand on.
It is the proof of credit-hour compliance
Under the Carnegie Unit and 34 CFR 600.2, each credit hour represents roughly 45 hours of total student work per semester. The syllabus is where that work is laid out week by week — it is the evidence that a 3-credit course genuinely asks for about 135 hours.
It is what MSCHE reads first
MSCHE Standard III — Design & Delivery of the Student Learning Experience is assessed largely through syllabi. Reviewers use them to judge academic rigour, learning outcomes, faculty expectations and whether the credit awarded is justified.
It carries required institutional policy
Attendance and participation (defined for online study under 34 CFR 600.2), academic conduct, plagiarism and grading scales are all stated in the syllabus. Every student receives them in every course — which is exactly what the institution must be able to demonstrate.
Students always know where to look
A student moving from one course to the next finds the grading table, the weekly outline and the attendance rule in the same place every time. Consistency removes confusion — and confusion is a leading cause of avoidable student failure.
Nothing required can be left out
When every syllabus is built from the approved template, the mandatory sections cannot be forgotten. A free-form syllabus is where required policy quietly goes missing — and that is exactly what gets flagged in a review.
It makes review fast and defensible
A reviewer checking fifty courses can verify compliance quickly when all fifty documents share one structure. Inconsistent formats force a slow, document-by-document hunt and invite findings.
It makes updating possible at scale
When federal regulation or institutional policy changes, a single standard means the change is made once in the template and applied consistently across every program — instead of chasing dozens of one-off documents.
Instructor information does not go in the syllabus
Instructors must not add their name, email address, phone number, office hours or any other personal contact details to the course syllabus.
All instructor contact information is maintained in CampusOS, in the dedicated instructor section of the course. That is the single source of truth, it is visible to every enrolled student, and the instructor updates it there — not in the syllabus.
Why the policy exists:
- The syllabus is an approved document of record. Editing it to add personal details creates unofficial versions that no longer match what was approved.
- Teaching assignments change from term to term. Contact details inside the syllabus would make the document wrong the moment a course changes hands.
- Details get forgotten and go stale — leaving an official document showing a phone number or email that no longer reaches anyone.
- If contact details lived in the syllabus, every instructor change would require re-approving the document. That is unsustainable.
- Students get one reliable, always-current place to find their instructor, instead of a PDF that may be a year out of date.
- It keeps the syllabus focused on what it is actually for: the course, not the person teaching it this term.
- Course identification — program, course name and number, credit hours, prerequisites, modality, date prepared and revision date.
- Course description — the approved catalog description of the course.
- Student learning outcomes — what a student will be able to do on completing the course.
- Recommended textbook — title, ISBN and access link.
- Recommended supplemental resources — videos, virtual library, research articles and other approved materials.
- Instructional delivery method — how the course is taught and what participation is expected.
- Out-of-class learning activities and assignments — the out-of-class work that supports the credit hours awarded.
- Evaluation criteria — participation 10%, out-of-class work 20%, labs and quizzes 20%, midterm 20%, final 30%.
- Grading policy — the university letter-grade and quality-point scale.
- Institutional policies — attendance and participation as defined under 34 CFR 600.2, and academic conduct including plagiarism.
- Course plan — suggested learning approach — the shared DO / DON'T guidance given to every student.
- Course outline — the full week-by-week plan: topics, lectures, discussions, required readings, writing assignments and quizzes.
{{placeholder}} fields — do not change the section order, the evaluation weighting, or the institutional policy text, and do not add instructor details.