Will this course transfer? An Analysis of Anatomy and Physiology Syllabi and Instructor Interviews

Background: When a student transfers from one academic institution to another, they submit course syllabi for evaluation in hopes that these credits will transfer and count toward their degree. Currently there is no consensus on how to evaluate the equivalency of integrated anatomy & physiology courses (A&P 1, A&P 2) and stand-alone physiology or anatomy courses. This is partly because the information included in a syllabus depends on instructor priorities and institutional requirements where the course is taught. Despite this variability, the syllabus is the document used to evaluate a course for transfer to another institution and if the transferred course is acceptable for degree requirements. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to characterize a sample of syllabi in terms of information relevant for transfer and compare that information to what components faculty require when making transfer decisions. Methods: This mixed method study included analysis of syllabi and participant interviews. One investigator was responsible for syllabus evaluations and had a repository of syllabi for analysis. In addition, we sent email inquiries to several educator-focused listservs. In our email, we asked instructors to redact and share their anatomy, physiology, A&P1, and A&P2 course syllabi via a Google Form. We developed a data collection tool to organize the following syllabus information: 1) name of course (anatomy, A&P I, A&P II, physiology, other), 2) required or optional textbooks, 3) amount of credit hours, 4) covered topics in lecture and laboratory sessions 5) presence of a core concept approach, 6) details of grade determination and 7) laboratory activities. Through our initial email, we also recruited faculty who evaluate syllabi for transfer credit to participate in a virtual semi-structured interview. During the Zoom interview; the instructor was given examples of redacted syllabi and were asked to discuss how they would evaluate the syllabus and what kinds of information they valued in their determinations in a “think aloud” manner. Results: We collected data from 93 submitted syllabi. The majority of the syllabi were from A&P1 (37%) and A&P2 (29%) courses. The majority of syllabi contained a course description (94%), included a class schedule (82%) and required a textbook (84%).Though 40% of the courses were typically 4 credit courses with lab, another 38% of the syllabi had no information about credits. The major finding is that very few A&P syllabi contained specific information about lab activities such that it was difficult to determine how much anatomy versus physiology occurred in the laboratory portion of the course. Our interview participants reported that determining transfer equivalency was often difficult due to missing information on course syllabi. They noted that some standard information, such as course credits, pre-requisites, and descriptions were desired but often missing. They reported that details about laboratory topics and activities were essential for determining course equivalency. In addition, a designated textbook was stated to be helpful for determining the level of the course. Overall, faculty expressed a desire to make transfer decisions that were in the best interest of the student and their future academic path. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.