7 Developing a PWR Syllabus

All PWR instructors must submit their course syllabus by the first day of their class to the PWR Program Coordinator (pwr-admin@uw.edu), and those syllabi should contain the elements detailed below, in accordance with the UW Syllabus Guidelines which state “The general principle behind providing a syllabus is to provide a clear statement of course content and performance expectations from the beginning of a class. This statement should be available in a durable and accessible form, whether on paper or online.”

As course management tools like Canvas grow in importance for communicating with and supporting students, many elements that formerly appeared on syllabi may have migrated to Canvas or now be communicated in other means. However, we still require that you have a formal syllabus document that contains the elements below and which you share with students, at least in part because materials on Canvas will not travel with you when you leave UW and because students regularly need to use course syllabi in a variety of situations (to give just one example, for requesting transfer credit to another institution).

In our Instructor Archive (under “Syllabi by course”–scroll to the bottom) you’ll find a template syllabus for 2 day and 4 day classes that you are welcome to download and customize to your heart’s delight.

Required Elements

The facts

1. Your name
2. Course title (+ subtitle if desired)
3. Course section, meeting days/times, and location, including Canvas link/course website
4. Best way to contact you
5. Office location
6. Office hours (including whether they are virtual, in person, or both)

Course theme and calendar

1. A description of the course
   Note: Describe your class in a way that explains its purpose and is accessible and engaging for students. Consider saying something about yourself as an instructor.
2. Course goals
3. Course outcomes
   Note: for 100-level PWR courses, include the PWR course outcomes verbatim. You are free to also incorporate the outcomes into their course description and other aspects of your syllabus.
4. A description of each major assignment
   Note: This can be detailed, a chart, bullet points – whatever works for you, but students should have a sense of what the major projects are when they review the syllabus.
5. A description of your portfolio assignment
   Note: While not required, we encourage you to include the PWR 100-level portfolio rubric if it aligns with your assessment approach and philosophy. It is also included in Chapter 16 of Writer/Thinker/Maker, 2nd ed.
6. A description of how grades will be figured, including how participation will be assessed
7. A list of readings/texts and materials students will need to access:
   • Writer/Thinker/Maker 2nd edition, if using
   • UW NetID and password
   • Printing services
   • Required technology (Canvas, laptops, internet access, etc.)
8. A course calendar (can be tentative and/or subject to change) that includes major assignment deadlines and the final portfolio submission deadline

Course policies and practices

1. A description of student responsibilities
2. Conferencing and peer review description(s)
3. The “Reaching Out” clause (below)

Note: Your specific course policies may overlap with or be in addition to those outlined for all students in PWR courses and posted here. We suggest that you direct students to the Program in Writing and Rhetoric website somewhere on your syllabus.

Required Clauses (verbatim)

Reaching Out

If you have any concerns about the course or your instructor, please see the instructor about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the instructor or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the following Program in Writing and Rhetoric staff: Director Stephanie Kerschbaum, kersch@uw.edu or Associate Director of Writing Programs, Carrie Matthews, crmatthe@uw.edu. If, after speaking with the PWR Director or Associate Director, you are still not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact English Department Chair, Habiba Ibrahim, hibrahim@uw.edu, (206) 543-2690.

Required Clauses (customize as desired)

Portfolio Grade Syllabus Policy

70% of your course grade will come from your final portfolio, which must follow our course’s portfolio requirements. The emphasis in the portfolio is on showcasing your engagement with the PWR 100-level course outcomes through submitting final revised versions of a selection of your short and major projects, all other completed, unrevised projects, as well as reflections that show how this work connects with our course outcomes. (Optional Addition: In this class, we will use the PWR’s 100-Level Course Portfolio Rubric to assess portfolios, and throughout the quarter we’ll have opportunities to reflect on and make sense of what each of these rubric elements means for your work in our course).

Participation Syllabus Policy

The other 30% of your grade will come from your participation in our class throughout the quarter. Each element of our course’s participation grade connects with one or more of the PWR 100-level course outcomes, and there are multiple ways for you to navigate each element. As you will see below, our class participation policy emphasizes ways that your regular presence and involvement in class activities is important not only for your own learning, but for your classmates’. (Optional Addition: You will submit at the end of the quarter a self-reflection on your participation activities over the quarter, once again connecting those activities with the PWR 100-level Course Outcomes. We will have a class check in around participation sometime close to mid-quarter to give us a chance to think about what is working and what is not working and how we might make adjustments individually and collectively to support everyone’s learning and composing.)

• Engaging in collaborative thinking, composing, and inquiry during our class meetings along with other members of the class community as you develop your own and support others’ writing. This can take a range of forms, including but not limited to:
  • connecting with regular course activities through writing, supporting others’ contributions, speaking, listening, helping organize classroom community, and other means that we will build collectively;
  • engaging in class discussions and community-building (e.g., in writing, by speaking aloud, by synthesizing and sharing perspectives and experiences, by seeking out and sharing additional resources, and/or asking questions about and contributing perspectives on course readings and materials);
  • participating in peer review of classmates’ texts;
  • participating in Canvas discussion threads, collective annotation exercises, and other interactive aspects of our course Canvas site;
  • and/or submitting daily exit tickets.
• Actively participating in two conferences with me over the quarter and bringing to those conferences (or submitting ahead of time) draft materials ready for feedback, questions that would be most helpful for you in thinking about your next steps, and responses to peers’ and others’ feedback.
• Submitting assignments in a timely fashion throughout the quarter such that you are able to receive multiple threads of feedback from classmates and from me, as well as any other audiences you choose to engage with as you develop your ideas.

Note to Instructors: For more on designing your participation framework (including assessment), this Teaching@UW page on promoting attendance and participation offers more on the UW context and some terrific suggestions for meaningful participation activities.

Accessibility Statement

PWR does not have a specific accessibility statement you must include, but you must have a disability/accessibility statement in your syllabus. Disability Resources for Students (DRS) offers this statement as a starting point, and you may use this statement directly or customize it for your syllabus tone and presentation. Recent writing studies research shows that students attend carefully to syllabi as a starting point for ascertaining an instructor’s readiness to support accommodations or access needs that they have for their learning.

Academic Integrity Clause

Plagiarism, or academic dishonesty, is presenting someone else’s ideas or writing as your own. In your writing for this class, you are encouraged to refer to other people’s thoughts and writing–as long as you cite them. As a matter of policy, any student found to have plagiarized any piece of writing in this class will be immediately reported to the College of Arts and Sciences for review.

Late and Missed Work Policy

You can design this policy as best fits your class. We recommend being clear with students around any boundaries you have regarding when assignments can be submitted, while offering what flexibility you can. We also encourage you to design a policy that does not add complexity to your assignment tracking and feedback process. Some examples of things people have done in PWR:

• 2-3 day grace period (no questions asked) for short and major assignments; daily homework or in class writing may be discussed during office hours.
• To get instructor feedback (feed forward) on assignments submitted more than 3 days after a deadline, students must visit office hours.
• If a major assignment is not submitted XX days after the deadline, student must meet with instructor to discuss a plan for getting the work submitted in a timely enough fashion to get feedback (feed forward).
• All late work (e.g., daily work and short assignments) must be submitted by the last day of the quarter; any submissions after that will not be graded. Late major assignments must be submitted at least one week before the end of the quarter to ensure instructor has time to provide feedback.

UW Libraries Research

This course asks you, among other things, to craft research questions, analyze a diverse range of texts, and engage in meaningful “conversation” across ideas, texts, and situations’ patterns with appropriate citational practices. If you’d like assistance, guidance, or a second opinion in doing so at any point, you can book an appointment with one of the Odegaard Library’s peer research consultants here: https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/owrc-research.

Note: We offer many more updated clauses sharing out UW-related resources and organizations in the Template Syllabus, which is updated each year prior to Autumn Quarter.