Dr. Anthony Gregorc, creator of the Gregorc Style Delineator, would describe my approach to learning as Concrete Random.  While I like to be rooted in the present, I tend to wander through the learning process going from one pretty object to the next.  People with my style care that students meet course competencies, but we do not really care how those competencies are met.

Although my dean covers her ears and starts to hum whenever she hears me say it, I have never viewed my syllabi as strict legal documents in which everything is spelled out in specific, unchangeable detail.  Instead, I consider my syllabi as starting points for classes; living documents that can be modified throughout the semester based on the needs and interests of the students.  For this reason,  I have always kept details about assignments and grading sparse.

One of the unfortunate consequences of No Child Left Behind is that we have produced a generation of students who have been trained to simply complete standardized tests.  My minimalist syllabi have become more and more problematic for students whom have been taught to avoid experimentation and risk taking; students who have difficulty answering the simple question, “What interests you?”

Even though the class notes I regularly e-mail to students include the information they need to succeed, the level of anxiety faced by students reached such an unacceptable level that I needed to consider producing more traditional syllabi.

During my break between Fall and Winter semesters, I did a massive revision of my syllabi by including specific details concerning assignments and how those assignments met course competencies.  The details for assignments were summarized in the grading rational section of the syllabi and expanded in individual sections—one to two pages per assignment.  I also included handouts—specifically on how to use the Schoolcraft College databases and Google books—and other materials I would ordinarily have distributed throughout the semester as part of the syllabus.  Revised syllabi ran from 20-24 pages.

With my massive syllabi, I had two concerns:  (1) that students would be overwhelmed and (2) that I would be so locked into the details found in the syllabi that I would be unable to make modifications that fit the personality and interests of the students enrolled in each section.  Ironically, specificity actually made it easier to follow our interests and to modify syllabi.

Because the students were presented with a detailed plan, they remained comfortable even as we deviated from it.  Throughout Winter semester, we combined and modified and eliminated and added new assignments with the same concrete random approach that I had previously used.  To my surprise, during final conferences, many students complimented me on how organized the class had been and how much they appreciated the syllabus even thought we did not follow it exactly.

I am very random in my teaching and learning, but I like the concrete expectations spelled out in the course description, course competencies, and grading rationale developed at the departmental level.  In the same way, the No Child Left Behind generation appreciated the detailed syllabi that made taking responsibility for their own learning less scary.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Spring 2013 Syllabi:

• HIST 151
• HIST 137
• HIST 138