By Tona Hangen, PhD Your syllabus is one of the first impressions your course will make on your students. Need an “aha” moment to punch up your syllabi? Learn how to transform them from long, boring and text-laden documents to something elegant and engaging that your students will want to read. A well-crafted syllabus invites you to think more intentionally about pedagogy and allows you to center one of the course’s most important orienting experiences around your students and their learning. Rather than just a form of policies and procedures, a syllabus can be both a thing of beauty and a learning tool about your teaching. LEARNING GOALS After viewing this program, participants will be able to: Identify the purpose of the syllabus for learners and instructors Recognize the role of the syllabus as a powerful course learning tool within the course design process Craft a syllabus that establishes pedagogical intent Incorporate font, layout, and graphic choices to elegantly display necessary course elements and communicate those with the student TOPICS COVERED Define a syllabus and its purpose The three steps of building a syllabus Course design Syllabus design Visual design Examples and inspiration for an effective syllabus