Project Syllabus Guide and Template
INTRODUCTION
It is important to set expectations for students early in the project process. While Bass Connections is not a standard class, you might consider creating a project syllabus to lay out the general parameters of the team’s work in the beginning. Previous students in Bass Connections have noted that they struggled with the high degree of ambiguity at the outset of their project experience. While this ambiguity also provides a meaningful learning opportunity for students, a syllabus, or some other tool, can provide enough structure to help team members feel comfortable engaging in the work at hand.
Below, you will find a checklist for important aspects and components of a syllabus, followed by a template that you are welcome to adapt to create your own syllabus. You are welcome to use an alternative form if you prefer.
You may note that there is some overlap between the items covered here and the Project Team Charter Template. The syllabus is meant to set general expectations before your team begins its work, while the team charter is meant to help your team further scope out its work together. You may choose to use one, both, or neither of these documents.
SYLLABUS CHECKLIST
Project title
Project description
Goals of Bass Connections and explanation of Bass Connections project teams
Project goal(s)
Learning objectives
Grading (if applicable)
Explanation of crediting mechanisms and time expectations
Deliverables and grading rubric
Policy on late/missing deliverables
Policy on academic dishonesty
Project management
The contact information and roles of team leaders, members, team mentors, and external partners
Team meeting location
Team meeting process (agenda, materials, preparation, decisions)
Team meeting roles (scribe, time-keeper, facilitator, etc.)
Required materials (if applicable)
Team resources
How will announcements be made?
How will files be organized and shared?
How will literature references and data sources be collected, organized, and stored?
Where will the primary calendar for the team reside?
Will there be a team website, if so, where?
Preparatory materials
Reading materials
Expectations for project preparation
Project team schedule
The date of all planned meetings
The general content of each meeting (with the understanding that this will evolve)
Team-building opportunities
SYLLABUS TEMPLATE
Note: Text in italics is included for explanation and clarification, and should be removed or replaced in the final version of your syllabus.
Project Title
Project Description
The text from most project proposals, or online project descriptions, will provide sufficient information for this section.
About Bass Connections
The vision of Bass Connections is to create a distinctive new model for education, one that explores societal and cultural challenges through collaborative, problem-centered learning.
The goal is toelevate the importance of exploring societal and cultural challenges in higher education by:
- Engaging faculty and students of all levels – undergraduate, professional, and graduate – in teamwork;
- Integratingdifferent disciplinary approaches and professional practices within teaching, learning, and research; and
- Teaching students to applyknowledge, research, and skills from across the disciplines to solve real-world problems.
Project teams are an essential and novel element of Bass Connections. Teams connect students and faculty throughout campus, along with partners from outside the academy, to engage with complex issues of societal import. Participants in Bass Connections experience the complexity of global, societal problems in their real-world form, the value of integrating bodies of specialized knowledge, and the imperative of teamwork to finding solutions to the most pressing problems of the day.
Project Goals
A high-level goal can help focus and form the team. Projects also need goals and milestones to mark progress and motivate students.Faculty leaders may consider engaging students in a discussion about the project goals and objectives. The team may also collectively refine and re-scope this goal and/or create sub-goals to maintain momentum and adapt to changing circumstances. Project goals may also encompass an “If time permits” section, with tentative outcomes to complement project completion, such as published work or additional project applications.
- What are your aspirations for the project and anticipated outcomes?
- What impact do you want to achieve with your project?
Learning Objectives
This section would include what you expect students to learn from their team experience. It may also be helpful to work with students to create individual learning and development goals so that they can make the most from their experience and you can plan learning opportunities.
- What will students be able to do or know as a result of this experience?
- What perspectives and insights do you hope students will gain from this unique experience?
- Are there particular skills students may develop as a result of working on this project team?
Credits (if applicable)
You should also confirm the credit options available (full or half credit) and your expectations for work, time in meetings, and deliverables for each level of credit. Typical time expectations per credit are:
Full credit = approximately 10 hours of work per week
Half credit = approximately 5 hours of work per week
It may be possible for students to participate through other crediting mechanisms including departmental independent studies or the fulfillment of curricular capstone requirements. To explore these options, students should consult their advisor and/or director of undergraduate/graduate studies.
Grading(if applicable)
Grading a team-based project can be difficult for faculty, and frustrating for students. It’s important to explain up front how students will be graded. Issues to address may include: How will you give feedback and measure participant’s contributions to the project?How will you separate out individual effort from the team’s effort? What if the project does not achieve the intended goals? How will you provide feedback throughout the year so students have a sense of how well they are doing?
You might consider some or all of the following deliverables/graded components:
- Team meeting attendance
- Participation in meetings
- Peer feedback and ratings
- Individual work and group work
- Personal learning / reflection logs
- Final presentation/poster and/or report
Consider how each of these components will be graded. Will the grades be subjective? If so, how will you clarify expectations from the beginning? Greater clarity for those expectations will lead to greater student buy-in and satisfaction with structure of the project.
Late/missing Assignments
Please include your policy on late or missing assignments.
Academic Dishonesty
Adherence to the Duke Community Standard is expected. To uphold the Duke Community Standard:
I will not lie, cheat, or steal in my academic endeavors;
I will conduct myself honorably in all my endeavors; and
I will act if the Standard is compromised
Anyone found in violation of the Standard will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct.
Accommodations
If you need special accommodations due to physical or learning disabilities, medical needs, religious practices, or other reasons, please inform us as soon as possible so we can work to accommodate those needs.
Team Leaders
These faculty/staff will attend all team meetings and be available for students regularly.
Name / Email / AffiliationPoint of Contact** / / School and Dept OR Institute
Leader2 / / School and Dept OR Institute
Leader3 / / School and Dept OR Institute
**denotes team point-of-contact
Team Members
These students will attend all team meetings.
Name / Email / AffiliationMember1 / / School and Dept OR Institute
Member2 / / School and Dept OR Institute
Member3 / / School and Dept OR Institute
Member4 / / School and Dept OR Institute
Member5 / / School and Dept OR Institute
Team Mentors
These individuals will occasionally attend team meetings, and be available to support the team as needed.
Name / Email / AffiliationMentor1 / / School and Dept OR Institute
Mentor2 / / School and Dept OR Institute
External Partners
Please describe the role of external partners in your project if they exist.
Name / Email / AffiliationPartner1 / Partner1@... / Organization
Partner2 / Partner2@... / Organization
Roles and Responsibilities
Clear roles and responsibilities are important to helping the team work effectively together and enabling all students to contribute. You may wish to outline initial roles to give team members a sense of how they might contribute to the project and allow them to consider these opportunities in advance. As your team begins to form and get to know one another, these roles can be shaped further and assigned to specific individuals or groups.
You may also wish to assign specific roles related to meeting maintenance such as taking notes, facilitating the meeting, keeping time, etc.
Project Management
Long-term team projects require active project management in order to keep the team on track. How will your team keep track and manage progress against the timeline to achieve the goals of the project? Will one person be responsible for project management or will you rotate this role? Are there specific tools that you plan to use?
Team Resources
- How will announcements be made? (e.g., team email listserv)
- How will files be organized and shared? (e.g., Google drive, Dropbox, a shared webserver)
- How will literature references and data sources be collected, organized, and stored?
- Where will the master calendar for the team reside? (e.g., Outlook, Google)
- Will there be a team website, and if so, where? (e.g., Sakai, Duke Wordpress, custom website)
We have compiled a list of resources that might be helpful to team leaders here.
Meeting Times and Location
Finding a day and time to meet may be challenging so it’s important to establish a rhythm up front. Some teams have had to vary meeting days and times to get maximum participation. A Doodle poll can help the coordination process.
Typical Meeting Process
How will you structure the typical meeting? Will you have different types of meetings to meet different objectives? Will there be an agenda, other materials, required preparation, a process for decision making? If so, please describe the expectations for these components.
Required Materials
List any texts, software, or specific equipment that the student will need to provide.
Preparatory Materials
Please establish any expectations for preparation prior to the start of the project. For example, please list any readings or data sets that students should prepare before the first team meeting. This is an opportunity to list reference materials, books, websites, and other forms of media that would be useful resources throughout the project.
You may also want to consider pointing students to some background videos on basic research methods. We have already identified several videos for team leaders that cover common research methods and may be useful to your team. Those videos can be found here.
Project Team Schedule
Since most projects occur over nine to twelve months, and are fluid in nature, it may be difficult for you to set a schedule for the entire project, but you can use this section to set general expectations for team meetings, the content of those meetings to the extent that its known, other team events (such as trips or meetings with external partners), and team-building opportunities.
2014-2015 Academic Year Example
Fall Semester
Date / Day / Activity8/25 / Monday / First Day of Classes
8/26 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 1
8/28 / Thursday / Team Meeting 2
9/2 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 3
9/4 / Thursday / Team Meeting 4
9/5 / Friday / Drop/Add Ends
9/9 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 5
9/11 / Thursday / Team Meeting 6
9/16 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 7
9/18 / Thursday / Team Meeting 8
9/23 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 9
9/25 / Thursday / Team Meeting 10
9/30 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 11
10/2 / Thursday / Team Meeting 12
10/7 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 13
10/9 / Thursday / Team Meeting 14
10/10 / Friday / Fall Break Begins
10/15 / Wednesday / Fall Break Ends; Classes Resume
10/16 / Thursday / Team Meeting 15
10/21 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 16
10/23 / Thursday / Team Meeting 17
10/28 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 18
10/30 / Thursday / Team Meeting 19
11/4 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 20
11/5 / Wednesday / Registration Begins for Spring 2015
11/6 / Thursday / Team Meeting 21
11/11 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 22
11/13 / Thursday / Team Meeting 23
11/18 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 24
11/19 / Wednesday / Registration Ends for Spring 2015
11/20 / Thursday / Team Meeting 25
11/20 / Thursday / Drop/Add begins for Spring 2015
11/25 / Tuesday / Last Day of Classes (Graduate)
12/9 / Tuesday / Finals Begin
12/14 / Sunday / Finals End
Spring Semester
Date / Day / Activity1/7 / Wednesday / First Day of Classes (Monday Class Schedule)
1/8 / Thursday / Team Meeting 26
1/13 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 27
1/15 / Thursday / Team Meeting 28
1/19 / Monday / Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday: No Classes
1/20 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 29
1/21 / Wednesday / Drop/Add Ends
1/22 / Thursday / Team Meeting 30
1/27 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 31
1/29 / Thursday / Team Meeting 32
2/3 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 33
2/5 / Thursday / Team Meeting 34
2/10 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 35
2/12 / Thursday / Team Meeting 36
2/17 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 37
2/19 / Thursday / Team Meeting 38
2/24 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 39
2/26 / Thursday / Team Meeting 40
3/3 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 41
3/5 / Thursday / Team Meeting 42
3/6 / Friday / Spring Break Begins
3/16 / Monday / Spring Break Ends; Classes Resume
3/17 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 43
3/19 / Thursday / Team Meeting 44
3/24 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 45
3/26 / Thursday / Team Meeting 46
3/31 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 47
4/2 / Thursday / Team Meeting 48
4/7 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 49
4/9 / Thursday / Team Meeting 50
4/14 / Tuesday / Team Meeting 51
4/15 / Wednesday / Last Day of Classes (Graduate)
4/27 / Monday / Finals Begin
5/2 / Saturday / Finals End
Adapted from Bass Connections in Energy1