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Ep. 002: Syllabus - The Big Picture

We often think a syllabus as a contract with our students. But who wants to read through a contract? In this episode, we take a “big picture” perspective of the course syllabus. Discover ways to tap into your students’ natural interest in the course by making the syllabus about them… and not just about the rules and policies of your class.

Listen to this episode

Show Notes

Here are some additional resources:

  • an op-ed piece from the Chronicle of Higher Education outlining one educators attempt at putting Ken Bain’s idea of a Promising Syllabus in action
  • Simon Sinek’s 2009 TED Talk about the Golden Circle (How Great Leaders Inspire Action)

A captioned version of this episode is available through this YouTube playlist.
Download a transcript of this episode in Adobe PDF format.

 

2025-11-19T16:09:59.452259781-08:00 2025