The syllabus for my Psychology of Learning is complete (P325 Syllabus Summer 2023).
It doesn’t look like a typical syllabus. It will let any student know immediately that the course they signed up for is something different. It took a look of extra time and effort. However, now comes the hard part… choosing to ship the work.
Choosing to ship is hard because my syllabus doesn’t look like the typical syllabus a student is familiar with. Lack of familiarity might lead to instinctive rejection, which could cause backlash.Choosing to ship is hard because it might not work, it’s not based on an existing, proven template. This might cause confusion, which could cause backlash.Choosing to ship is hard because the extra time and effort spent on creating this syllabus could have been spent on other aspects of the course. A student that struggles with another aspect of the course might then become frustrated, wondering why this time wasn’t spent improving that area, which could cause backlash.Choosing to ship is hard because the file size is larger than average… backlash.Choosing to ship is hard because the students might not like the pictures… backlash.Choosing to ship is hard because any other thing might not work… backlash.
A typical, run-of-the-mill syllabus would definitely work. A typical, run-of-the-mill syllabus would avoid most backlash.
However, a typical, run-of-the-mill syllabus guarantees a typical, run-of-the-mill reaction from the student. No chance for wonder. No chance for delight. No chance to let students know they’re in for something different.
So there’s the choice, avoid backlash or risk for wonder and delight.
It’s time to make the generous choice… and ship it.