When a course is offered in multiple sections, sometimes at different locations, and taught by different instructors and worthy of transfer credit, it’s important that the students taking it have the same course experiences. Depending on the course, there may be some or no flexibility with the content and some or no discretion on the part of instructors as to instructional methods, policies, and assessment criteria. Curricular consistency is usually supported with a common course syllabus or syllabus template. The common syllabus usually prescribes everything about how the course will be taught. The syllabus template usually identifies what must be covered and done in the course and what course details are at the instructor’s discretion.
