Initial Publication Date: June 30, 2026
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Designing a learner-centered syllabus

For instructors of introductory courses, the syllabus may be the last thing they think about when preparing to teach, or may have been handed down over many years. For a student, however, the syllabus is likely to be the first encounter that they have with you and your course. As a result, it sets the tone for the course and plays a critical role in establishing their motivation and expectations. A thoughtfully-developed and learner-centered syllabus can signal your intent to offer an equitable and supportive environment.

Although the role of an introductory course is often perceived as an introduction to the content of a discipline, we envision it as an introduction to an identity and an opportunity to cultivate and nurture that identity through participation in the practices of a discipline. Recognizing that new identity starts with the syllabus: a learner-centered syllabus invites students into your course and helps them envision what they will experience. In a learner-centered syllabus, you:

Set a positive, respectful, and inviting tone.
Make learning goals a central, organizing element.
Provide transparency and structure.

You can read more about how to do each of these things below. You can also assess your own syllabus using the Learning-Focused Syllabus Rubric created by Michael Palmer, Dorothe Bach, & Adriana Streifer at the University of Virginia, Center for Teaching Excellence, which inspired this work.

Set a positive, respectful, and inviting tone

Setting a positive, respectful, and inviting tone in your syllabus fosters students' motivation and their sense of belonging in the course. You can do this by:

Using personal pronouns (you, we, I) rather than "the students". Start with your learning outcomes! Phrasing learning outcomes to say, "By the end of this course, you will be able to..." empowers students, and helps them visualize themselves at the end of the course with the knowledge and skills they have gained.
Focusing on learning and opportunities rather than punitive measures. Describe the things students can do to be successful rather than how they will be penalized. Policies for participation, late work, etc., can be explained in language that allows for students' lives outside of your course.
Describing your expectations for a respectful learning environment and how you can work together to create that environment. Describing respect as a mutual endeavor (again, using personal pronouns) gives students agency and helps them recognize their role as a community member.
Describing what students can expect from you and providing avenues for communication. You undoubtedly have expectations for students, and you should let them know what they can expect from you in return. It's OK to be strict with deadlines if your goal is to give them rapid feedback, for example, and your deadline is timed accordingly. What can students expect when they reach out to you outside of class time?

The tone of the syllabus permeates the whole document. A good test is to ask a friend or a student who is not in your class to read the document and tell you how it makes them feel when they read it. Does it make them excited? Anxious? Do they feel like there are a lot of rules to remember? Is it clear what they would need to do to succeed in the course? Those reactions can help you know if you've set a positive and inviting tone.

Make learning goals a central, organizing element

Most institutions require learning outcomes for courses, and most require those learning outcomes to be articulated in the syllabus. Rather than just listing them, however, you can do more to help students see how the work they will do in the course will help them achieve the learning outcomes. You can make the learning goals and outcomes central to the organization of your syllabus by:

Articulating an overarching course goal that provides a vision

What is your vision for what students will get out of your course? What is the thing you really want them to carry forward into their future? You can think about these as big ideas or enduring understandings. Big ideas are ambitious, they connect and organize facts and skills, they have great transfer value across subjects and into life beyond school. Big ideas inspire you and your students. Putting this overarching goal at the beginning of the syllabus helps motivate them to keep reading.

Show Examples of overarching course goals from TIDeS courses

Course Goal for GEOS 104 Geoscience and Society

The geosciences have an important role to play in many aspects of society including building resilience to natural hazards, food and water security, energy resources, providing raw materials for modern society, and climate change. Understanding Earth history, processes, and how humans interact with the Earth system is important for all citizens to make informed decisions about how they operate in the world. The goal of this course is to give you the opportunity to explore how the Earth system operates, the ways in which the scientific process allows us to understand the Earth system, and the many ways in which humans both depend upon, and impact, the planet.

Course Goal for SCI-104 Physical and Earth Science

The entire goal of science is to describe and understand the way things work. What could be more interesting and exciting?! In this course, you'll learn how energy and forces make things move, and I want you to have at least a few moments to sit in awe at the realization that you finally understand something that you've wondered about since you were a kid. We'll work to build your confidence in science, inspire your scientific curiosity, and prepare you to incorporate science education standards into your future classrooms.

Articulating a handful of course-level learning outcomes that span cognitive and affective levels

Course-level learning outcomes describe what you want students to do, know, and feel by the end of the course. Instructors in introductory courses may feel that introductory courses should focus on lower-order cognitive processes, like recalling and describing. But students are capable of—and motivated by—higher-order cognitive tasks in which they apply their knowledge and skills through analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.

In addition, introductory courses are a great place to include affective outcomes, which can be focused on reflecting, valuing, appreciating, or behaving. Including affective outcomes can help students develop their identity as a scientist and reflect on their learning in the course.

Show Course-level learning outcomes from TIDeS courses

Course-level learning outcomes for the TIDeS Earth Science course

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

Apply science and engineering practices to address questions about Earth and/or planetary systems.
Analyze and interpret data to investigate the relationship between humans and Earth processes and make decisions about societally-relevant issues.
Model Earth processes to make predictions about or connections with Earth and/or planetary systems.
Reflect on your ability to use science and engineering practices.
Work in teams to problem-solve and communicate the results of scientific investigations.

Course-level learning outcomes for the TIDeS Physical Science course

At the end of this course, you will have:

Developed content knowledge in the fundamentals of physics through the practices of science and engineering.
Applied the fundamentals of physics to interpret the processes at work in Earth systems.
Analyzed and interpreted real-world data to develop proficiency, confidence, and independence using mathematical concepts in physical science.
Synthesized and communicated course concepts using the language of the NGSS (specifically cross-cutting concepts and science and engineering practices).
Collaborated with peers to practice science and engineering skills while building an inclusive classroom community.
Cultivated curiosity about the role of scientists in our modern world as well as an appreciation for the diversity of scientists who fill that role.

Showing how your activities and assessments align with the learning outcomes

The syllabus is your opportunity to show students how the work they will do in the course will help them achieve the learning outcomes. This means going beyond listing the assessments and their percentage of the final grade to describing your expectations for assignments, activities, projects, exams, and any other work, and how they will help you assess students' progress.

The relative weighting of assessments should reflect your course-level outcomes, allowing for multiple low-stakes, formative assessments.

Show Example of alignment and description from TIDeS course

This description section comes from the TIDeS Earth Science course:

Course activities, assignments, and assessments

Pre-class work and reading quizzes (150 points): You will have regular pre-class homework assignments that are designed to help you prepare for our in-class activities. These activities will usually be graded on a 3-point scale, and you may earn between 0 and 3 points depending on the completeness and quality (effort) of your work. Some pre-class assignments will include reading assignments and associated reading quizzes designed to help you reflect on your learning of the reading materials. These quizzes will occur approximately weekly, administered through Canvas, and will be open-book, open-notes.

In-class activities and unit assessments (210 points): Every class will involve some activity on your part such as working with peers to answer questions, participating in discussions, etc. You will accumulate your work on such activities and at the end of each unit (see schedule below) you will turn in your in-class activities plus additional end-of-unit summary questions.

Lab activities (200 points): You will complete 11 labs over the course of the semester and each lab will be worth 20 points. You will work on lab activities collaboratively during class, but each student must turn in their own work. Your lowest lab grade will be dropped.

Final Exam (50 points): The final exam will take place in-person during finals week. The final will involve the same kinds of work that we will practice all semester during class activities. You will be asked to analyze and interpret geoscience data and reflect on your thinking. You will be allowed to use your class notes and worksheets on the final exam, but not other resources such as books or websites.

Provide transparency and structure

Providing a well-articulated structure for your course in the syllabus makes it a document that both you and students will want to refer to frequently to support the learning process throughout the course. Refer to this schedule and the document frequently to support students in using it productively. When you are transparent about your intentions and expectations, it is easier to be flexible when changes need to be made, particularly in the scheduling.

You can create a structure that supports learning by:

Including a complete schedule

A complete schedule is more than a list of topics by week: it shows topics and activities that will be covered in class, when assignments are due, when you will give students feedback, when major assessments will take place, and other major events that impact the course (holidays, university events). Building a course schedule in a table is one way to help students see how due dates align with topics. Grouping topics and activities into larger units can help students see the overall structure and arc of the course.

Show Example course schedule from a TIDeS course

This example of a course schedule is from ERTH 121 Earth Sciences for Educators:

Providing explanations that support your design choices

Being transparent about your design choices means explaining how the course structure helps student achieve the learning goals.

Organizing the syllabus into sections that make it easy to navigate

The syllabus can be a lengthy document when you combine all the information you want to share with the required statements from your institution and ways for students to find support. You can help students navigate this information-rich document with clear and consistent headings that help organize a printed document and are correctly formatted for screen readers and navigation through a table of contents in the digital document.

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