Your syllabus establishes the structure of your course and communicates the essential information that students will need to be successful. The University of Maryland's policy (updated May, 2024) requires that:
There shall be a complete course syllabus for the current term made available to students no later than the first day of class at the beginning of each undergraduate course. Any changes to the syllabus made after the first day of class must be announced and must be clearly represented with the date of the revision.
The policy also specifies a list of elements that must be included and requires that all syllabi now include a link to course-related policies maintained by the Office of
Undergraduate Studies. This means you should remove any text describing general policies (e.g., academic integrity, excused absences, ADS accommodations) and instead refer students to that page.
To help you get started creating or updating your syllabus, the TLTC Syllabus Template addresses all of the required elements set forth in the updated policy. You are not required to use this template, it is just one sample that you can edit or copy text from. Note that some academic units may also have their own templates or syllabus requirements. You may also find the Office of Faculty Affairs website on syllabi to be a helpful resource.
Before you upload to your ELMS-Canvas site and the campus syllabus repository, be sure that you use Microsoft Word's Accessibility Checker to find and correct issues that would make the syllabus (and all your course documents) harder for screen readers to work correctly. There are helpful guides for using Word for Windows and Word for Mac, but you can always contact the experts in IT to assist you in making your course fully accessible to everyone by emailing itaccessibility@umd.edu.