Designing Web-Based Training: How to Teach Anyone Anything Anywhere Anytime

9.4. PUBLISH A COMPREHENSIVE SYLLABUS

For virtual classroom courses, the syllabus is the skeleton that articulates the course. It serves as both menu and home page. It lays out the schedule, requirements, and activities of the whole course. The syllabus may be long, but it should be clearly organized and attractively formatted.

Here is a sample that contains most of the elements needed for an effective syllabus. The notes on the right Label the content and suggest alternatives.

Title and identifying information

Links to each week's events and to other materials

Because the syllabus may be quite long, include a local table of contents with entries linked to sections of the page.

Objectives

Remind learners what the course is all about.

About the course

Link to materials about the course that the learner may need to refer to before or while taking the course.

Week identifier

Events, readings, and activities

Events are real-time meetings. They can include videoconferences, chat sessions, and other live events.

Readings are materials learners must read or view. They may include local or Internet materials. Some may be simple Web pages, while others are elaborate multimedia productions.

Activities are things people do. Activities may have deadlines, but learners can generally complete activities on their own schedule. Activities include tests.

In Events or Activities, include milestones ...