CON Syllabus Format

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Faculty Policies

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER COLLEGE OF NURSING
Syllabus Format	Subsection: 4.3.3
Section 4.0 - Faculty Policies	Originating Date: January 1994
Responsible Reviewing Agency: Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Professional Graduate Nursing Affairs Committee PhD Affairs Council Related Documents: Appendix X Syllabus Template Board of Regents Bylaw 4.1	Revised: August 1998 Revised: November 2006 Revised: April 2008 Revised: December 2009 Revised: November 2010 Revised: November 2011 Revised: December 2012 Revised: May 2015 (changes) Revised: May 2022 (changes) Revised: March 2024 (changes)

Purpose

In agreement with the Board of Regents Bylaw 4.1, the College of Nursing is required to “inform students concerning the requirements, standards, objectives and evaluation procedures at the beginning of each course.” The syllabus serves as a formal record of course content in a consistent, summary format, and is used to disseminate information in a structured way for presentation to accrediting agencies, nursing boards, other academic institutions and working committees for use in course and program evaluation. For the College of Nursing undergraduate and professional graduate programs, the policy addendum, division specific addendum, and grading rubrics are attachments that are part of the syllabus, and students are responsible for all information in all of these documents.

Policy

1. All syllabi, addenda, and grading rubrics past and present are stored electronically.
2. PhD program syllabi must follow the guidelines and template provided by UNMC Graduate Studies.
3. College of Nursing undergraduate and professional graduate program syllabi, policy addendum, and division specific addendum must follow the guidelines and outline provided in Appendix X.
   1. Changes to the following items in the syllabus: a) course title, b) course description, c) pre- and co-requisites, d) credit allocation, and e) course competencies/ outcomes/ objectives must be approved by the appropriate curriculum committee.
   2. Standards used for curriculum development (i.e., AACN Essentials, NCLEX) and the College of Nursing Program Outcomes must be matched with the appropriate course competencies/outcomes/objectives in the syllabus.
   3. A Policy Addendum containing all pertinent policies for a program level will be referred to in all course syllabi and be considered part of the syllabus. The Policy Addendum will provide an overview of information for each policy, along with any university required language for a particular policy item.
   4. Each course may elect to have a Division Specific Addendum in addition to the syllabus. The purpose of the addendum is to provide additional, supplemental materials that are specific for the course and/or division. The template for the Division Specific Addendum is included in Appendix X. This addendum will also be considered part of the syllabus.
   5. Evaluation methods/percentages should be included in course syllabi. Grading criteria (rubrics) should be included in either syllabi, addenda, grading documents and/or Canvas and are considered part of the syllabus.
4. The syllabus, Policy Addendum, and Division Specific Addendum (if appropriate) should be developed and updated prior to the start of a course and must be posted in the Learning Management System (Canvas – see Learning Management System Policy X.X) for student viewing no later than one week (7 days) prior to the beginning of the semester.

Procedure

1. The assigned staff member is responsible for sending the syllabus to the cross campus and/or course coordinator for updating. The cross campus and/or course coordinator is responsible for updating the syllabus and send the updated syllabus back to the staff member for final editing and posting.
2. Formatting of syllabi and addenda should encompass accessibility best practices. These should include the following items.
   1. Use a white background with black font (Times New Roman suggested) in size 11 or 12. If using graphics or colors, faculty should adhere/consider accessibility aspects such as images with alt text, relevancy/meaning and colors using color contrast/UNMC brand colors, etc. Margins should be 1” on all sides.
   2. Headers: The course number and semester/year should be included as a header on all pages after the first page. Page numbers should be included in the header.
3. Appendix X contains the outline for the syllabus and the division specific addendum.