A clear syllabus can help both you and your students avoid unwelcome surprises and to share a clear understanding of expectations.
Core syllabus statements that apply to all classes at UCF are contained in Simple Syllabus.
Below is a list of sample statements addressing a wide range of issues that may be relevant to your course, including class-specific issues such as fieldwork or service learning study. Feel free to use these statements as they are or to modify them for your purposes. If you would like to add or share a statement here, please email it to fctl@ucf.edu.
Optional Syllabus Statements: UCF Resources
SARC
The Student Academic Resource Center (SARC) provides several exceptional resources and services proven to help undergraduate students earn higher grades in UCF courses and graduate on time. SARC’s services are free to UCF students and are available throughout the week, including evenings and weekends. The following is a list of SARC resources available to UCF students each semester:
- Peer Academic Consultations: SARC’s Academic Consultation & Engagement (ACE) Program assists UCF students in developing academic and life skills through peer academic consultation sessions. Topics include study skills and test prep, time management & organization, motivation & goal setting, textbook reading & note-taking, stress management, succeeding in an online course, and more. Visit SARC’s website to learn more about academic consultations and schedule an appointment.
- Academic Success Workshops: Intended to help UCF students enhance learning and study skills. Workshops are 1-hour in length and available in-person and online. Visit SARC’s website to view the schedule of workshops.
- Online Learning Resources: Designed primarily for UCF students who do not take course on the main campus, SARC offers extensive online resources through its website, YouTube channel, Zoom recordings, and handouts that can help students succeed in UCF courses. Visit SARC’s website to access these tools.
- Peer Tutoring: Peer tutoring is available in many general education and lower division courses through one-on-one appointment-based tutoring and group drop-in tutoring. Visit SARC’s website for a full schedule of times, locations, and courses.
- Supplemental Instruction (SI): Participate in collaborative group study sessions led by an SI leader to reinforce key concepts and enhance learning. SI leaders are assigned to specific sections of courses. The SI schedule is posted on the SARC website and will also be communicated though UCF Webcourses announcements and in-class announcements by the SI leader.
Academic Advocacy
The Office of Academic Advocacy proactively works with students to remove barriers adversely affecting retention (the ability to return each year), persistence (the ability to not skip terms), and timely completion of degree (the ability to graduate). Undergraduate students may receive direct outreach from an Academic Advocate as result of active monitoring of student academic behavior information or referrals by Faculty, Staff, or other members of the UCF community.
Trevor Colbourn Hall (TCH) 133
https://academicsuccess.ucf.edu/ssa/academic-advocacy
407-823-2996
advocacy@ucf.edu
UCF Creed
Integrity, scholarship, community, creativity, and excellence are the core values that guide our conduct, performance, and decisions.
Integrity
I will practice and defend academic and personal honesty.
Scholarship
I will cherish and honor learning as a fundamental purpose of my membership in the UCF community.
Community
I will promote an open and supportive campus environment by respecting the rights and contributions of every individual.
Creativity
I will use my talents to enrich the human experience.
Excellence
I will strive toward the highest standards of performance in any endeavor I undertake.
Ethics
An ethics statement shows the guidelines by which your class will be run. This statement discusses plagiarism, cheating, honor, and what is expected of students with respect to these aspects. The following two sample statements may be displayed:
A short version:
As reflected in the UCF creed, integrity and scholarship are core values that should guide our conduct and decisions as members of the UCF community. Plagiarism and cheating contradict these values, and so are very serious academic offenses. Penalties can include a failing grade in an assignment or in the course, or suspension or expulsion from the university. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with and follow the University’s Rules of Conduct (see https://scai.sdes.ucf.edu/student-rules-of-conduct/).
A long version:
UCF faculty support the UCF Creed. Integrity – practicing and defending academic and personal honesty – is the first tenet of the UCF Creed. This is in part a reflection of the second tenet, Scholarship: – I will cherish and honor learning as a fundamental purpose of membership in the UCF community. – Course assignments and tests are designed to have educational value; the process of preparing for and completing these exercises will help improve your skills and knowledge. Material presented to satisfy course requirements is therefore expected to be the result of your own original scholarly efforts.
Plagiarism and cheating – presenting another’s ideas, arguments, words or images as your own, using unauthorized material, or giving or accepting unauthorized help on assignments or tests – contradict the educational value of these exercises. Students who attempt to obtain unearned academic credentials that do not reflect their skills and knowledge can also undermine the value of the UCF degrees earned by their more honest peers.
Turnitin.com
If your course is using Turnitin.com as a form of detecting plagiarism, students would find this information useful for checking their own work. Information that may be included is information related to using turnitin.com, such as specific login accounts available to them.
The following is a sample Turnitin.com statement (for Canvas submissions):
In this course we will utilize turnitin.com, an automated system which instructors can use to quickly and easily compare each student’s assignment with billions of web sites, as well as an enormous database of student papers that grows with each submission. Accordingly, you will be expected to submit assignments through the Canvas Assignment Tool in electronic format. After the assignment is processed, as an instructor I receive a report from turnitin.com that states if and how another author’s work was used in the assignment. For a more detailed look at this process, visit http://www.turnitin.com.
For those classes where you want to selectively use Turnitin.com, here is a sample syllabus statement:
In this course we may utilize turnitin.com, an automated system which instructors can use to quickly and easily compare each student’s assignment with billions of web sites, as well as an enormous database of student papers that grows with each submission. Accordingly, you may be expected to submit assignments in electronic format. After the assignment is processed, as an instructor I receive a report from turnitin.com that states if and how another author’s work was used in the assignment. For a more detailed look at this process, visit http://www.turnitin.com.
Copyright
This course may contain copyright protected materials such as audio or video clips, images, text materials, etc. These items are being used with regard to the Fair Use doctrine in order to enhance the learning environment. Please do not copy, duplicate, download or distribute these items. The use of these materials is strictly reserved for this online classroom environment and your use only. All copyright materials are credited to the copyright holder.
Invitational Rhetoric
The nature and intent of this course is one that invites open dialogue about complex, difficult, and often controversial topics. Through these conversations it is tempting to debate through the lens of traditional rhetoric, which has the end goal of persuading others.
While I acknowledge that persuasion and persuasive theory is a fundamental part of communication theory, it can also create an obstacle if the focus is on winning the debate, rather than critical analysis of both the topic and viewpoints of all members participating in the discussion.
For this reason, discussions in this class will encourage participants to engage in invitational rhetoric. Unlike traditional rhetoric, this approach is grounded in equitable distribution of time, the value of the other in the discussion, and civility in conversation. This requires an open dialogue where all participants to invited to give personal testimony, practice mindful listening (which looks for and acknowledges their own bias), and ask questions with the goal of understanding the perspectives of every member of our community—even if in the end you choose not to agree.
The civil nature of invitational rhetoric does not mean we will avoid conflict, but that space is made for all perspectives to be heard, considered, and respected.
Service Learning
For students who are new to service learning, this statement provides insight into service learning in general. You can help students introduce what service learning is, why you chose it for this course, and how will it be built into the course. You may also explain in further detail what kinds of projects can the students get involved in, such as the organization(s) the students will be working with, what will the projects(s) involve, what kinds of extra-curricular work would be required, and whether the project(s) will be done individually or in a group. If done in groups, you may add a Learning Teams statement as well.
Note: “Service Learning” courses must be designated as such by the UCF Service Learning office. See https://academicsuccess.ucf.edu/explearning/faculty/service-learning-course-criteria/.
The following is a sample service learning statement:
Service learning gives students a venue to apply what they learned in the classroom to a real-life setting, giving them valuable experience in the field. Your service-learning project will involve making a website for an organization that will be assigned to you. You will be responsible for content, graphics, design, and other aspects of this project, and I highly recommend you to be in constant communication with your Organization contacts for developing and feedback. T