Improving Classroom Communication: The Case of the Course Syllabus

Because syllabus-related questions are often on forms designed for students' evaluation of teacher effectiveness, we undertook a study to ascertain the value of course syllabi to college students. Educators generally suspect that students cannot recall certain syllabi information. This study aimed at finding specifically how much information students can recall from the course syllabus, how often they refer to the syllabus, which part of the course syllabus they refer to the most, and whether differences exist in recall, reference, and usage between students responding to the questionnaire early in the academic term and those responding to the questionnaire later in the academic term. Specific strategies are presented to enhance the communication value of course syllabi in today's classroom.