Project Syllabus: An Exploratory Study of Learner-Centered Syllabi

Recent research suggests that designing a syllabus using learner-centered principles may increase students’ perceptions of their instructor on the characteristics of rapport, caring, helpfulness, willingness to seek help from the instructor, and student motivation. Typically, a learner-centered syllabus is one that presents a positive tone at the point of a student’s first contact with a course and describes collaborative opportunities, repeated opportunities for formative assessment, and a sense of ownership of the learning experience. In the present study, we assessed the learner-centeredness of 109 syllabi sampled from Project Syllabus. Analyses revealed these syllabi to be disproportionately learner-centered on almost all of the factors assessed. In addition, there were moderate to strong associations among learner-centered factors, syllabus length, and use of images in syllabi. Finally, results indicate that syllabi from Project Syllabus have become increasingly more learner-centered over a 19-year period. Implications for a model of learner-centeredness are discussed, including how learner-centered syllabi impact a student’s perceptions of teacher effectiveness and strategies for assessing learner-centeredness.