Authors: William Germano and Kit Nicholls

Generations of teachers have built their classes around the course syllabus, a semester-long contract that spells out what each class meeting will focus on (readings, problem sets, case studies, experiments), and what the student has to turn in by a given date.

But what does that way of thinking about the syllabus leave out—about our teaching and, more importantly, about our students’ learning?

In “Syllabus,” William Germano and Kit Nicholls take a fresh look at this essential but almost invisible bureaucratic document and use it as a starting point for rethinking what students—and teachers—do.