Navigating Stanford University Courses: A Guide to Syllabus Exploration
Stanford University offers a diverse range of courses, and understanding the syllabus is crucial for students to make informed decisions and succeed in their academic pursuits. A syllabus serves as a roadmap, outlining course expectations, grading policies, and important deadlines. This article provides a comprehensive guide to finding and effectively utilizing syllabi at Stanford University.
The Importance of the Syllabus
A syllabus is more than just a document; it's a guide to a course and what will be expected of you throughout the quarter. Generally it will include course policies, rules and regulations, required texts, and a schedule of assignments. Some like to say that a syllabus is essentially a contract between the professor and the student, detailing both what you can expect of this course and what will be expected of you. A syllabus can tell you nearly everything you need to know about how a course will be run and what will be expected of you.
Deadlines and Policies
A syllabus provides important information about what is expected from students taking the course. It details the course requirements, your assignments and their deadlines, participation and attendance expectations, and how your grade is calculated. When are the exams and major assignments due? Are assignments due in class or electronically by a certain time? What is the late policy? Be sure to check all the deadlines for all your courses to see whether you are committing yourself to four midterms in the same week or two problem sets on the same day every week (and reconsider, if you are). Your decision to take the course implies that you have read and understood the syllabus, and that you will accept the requirements and the grading policies spelled out there. So be sure to read the syllabus carefully before making your enrollment decision!
Where to Find Syllabi
Stanford offers multiple avenues for students to locate syllabi, both before and after enrolling in a course.
ExploreCourses and Navigate Classes
Look up the course in ExploreCourses or Navigate Classes and read the course description. Navigate Classes has links to syllabi for many courses, as does Explore Courses. If it is available, it will be in the Additional Resources section for both sites. Be sure to click on the blue "Schedule for [course]" link to see if there is any important information in the notes. Here you can often find important information such as whether a class is limited enrollment, or perhaps a link to the syllabus.
Read also: Stanford Admission GPA Guide
Syllabus Archive
Check the Syllabus archive. You can search by quarter and by department--if looking for previous syllabi, you can use ExploreCourses to see when the course was last taught. A recent syllabus can be tremendously useful. Check out the Syllabus Archive to see if you can find a previous version of the course syllabus.
Contacting the Instructor or SSO
You can also contact the instructor and/or the SSO (Student Services Officer) in an academic department/school to inquire about the availability of a syllabus, or ask to see a previous syllabus.
Canvas Syllabus Tool
Adding your syllabus in the Canvas Syllabus Tool gives it a consistent location labeled “Syllabus” in the navigation bar of your Canvas course. Syllabi uploaded to Canvas via the Syllabus Tool are, by default, accessible to all authenticated Stanford users at ExploreCourses and syllabus.stanford.edu, even before publishing your Canvas course.
Physical Copies
Many instructors will hand out physical copies of their syllabus on the first day of class. If you are joining the course later than the first day, be sure to ask if there are any handouts (like the syllabus) you might have missed.
Utilizing the Canvas Syllabus Tool
Using the Syllabus Tool makes it easier for enrolled and unenrolled students to find your syllabus. Most instructors share their syllabi in the Syllabus Tool, but some only share their syllabus in Canvas Files, Pages or Modules. Students’ most frequently mentioned frustration in using Canvas is that it is hard to locate essential items like syllabi in Canvas because the content is not in a consistent location. Even if you already share your syllabus in Files, Pages or Modules, adding your syllabus link or file in the Syllabus Tool makes it easier for prospective students to find your syllabus. If you only want your syllabus available to enrolled students, you can modify the Syllabus Visibility setting.
Read also: Explore Stanford
How to Read a Syllabus
A syllabus is a very valuable tool, underused by many students. All professors will write and use their syllabi differently. Problem set and exam-based? Reading and discussion with papers? A variable-unit class with a variable workload should explain the difference in the syllabus.
Continued Guidance
During the quarter, the syllabus continues to guide you. The syllabus reflects the way the class is organized. The titles for each class meeting will often identify the main themes of that class, and may help you focus your reading for that day in order to prepare for class, as well as guide your studying for exams.
Researching a Course Before It Starts
You can research a course before it even starts!
Course Description
Look up the course in ExploreCourses or Navigate Classes and read the course description.
Required Books
The required books will be available in the Stanford Bookstore a couple of weeks early, and browsing them can give you a sense of the level of the course, how much it interests you, and also whether there may be prerequisites that aren’t spelled out in the course description.
Read also: Navigating Stanford Scholarships
Informational Sites
Informational sites such as Carta can also be very useful, though should always be taken with a grain of salt. For instance, don’t just blindly follow the quantitative information they include about the course. Try to put that information in context: What kind of students typically take the course? What are their reasons for taking it? Read through student comments and try to assess what the course was like, how it was taught, and how it may fit with your own learning style. Your goal is not just to see what other students thought of the course, but try to assess how YOU will experience it. A conversation with an advisor can be helpful in learning how to interpret information on these sites.
Week One Research
Continue to research the course during Week One. Ask the instructor about the course. Briefly explain who you are and why you are taking the course, and ask the professor if it sounds suitable, or if there is background knowledge that you may not have.
Important Considerations
Syllabi Subject to Change
Heads-up! Syllabi are always subject to change, especially if a different instructor is teaching a course. However, even looking at a previous year's syllabus can give you valuable information as you are evaluating a course.
Hang Onto Your Syllabus
Hang on to your syllabus and refer to it throughout the quarter.
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