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A guide to creating a high quality syllabus designed for a rich student learning experience

Chelsea Wilson avatar
Written by Chelsea Wilson
Updated over 3 months ago

Summary

  • Students will get access to your course Home on your student portal open date.

  • Organize syllabus modules around your course outcomes.

  • Add a course start and end date to get started with your Syllabus.

  • Design lessons with readings, videos, and more to supplement live sessions.

  • Add projects to help students apply their learning in authentic ways.

  • Add event slides and recordings so students can review material on their own.

Home overview

Home is where students go to find everything related to your course. It offers an at-a-glance view of your live course workshops, the asynchronous resources and lessons, and course projects.

Your course Home is populated by the information you input in the Syllabus tab.

  1. Create the schedule of live workshops.

  2. Add lessons and projects organized by modules.

Home is automatically organized by week to help guide students through your course. Students can track their progress through the course by marking lessons and projects as complete. Your thoughtful organization will communicate the value of your course and guide students to achieve your course outcomes.

Your course syllabus

As you build out your course syllabus, you'll focus on organizing your modules, designing lessons, and adding projects. Read on to learn Maven's tips for designing a top-notch learning experience through your syllabus.

Organizing modules

Modules organize your course. A module represents a collection of events, lessons, and projects. We recommend organizing modules by learning outcomes and sharing the objectives of each module in the description. Doing so will help students see the value of your course content and connect their learning to the course goals.

Based on your course's start and end date, Maven will automatically separate your course modules into pre-, during, and post-cohort sections. We've also created a helpful pre-course welcome module to help you orient students to Maven and your course. This module is completely customizable, and it's available in every course.

Adding lessons

Within each module, you'll have lessons and projects. You can share readings, videos, images, templates, and more in your lessons. We recommend building as much as you can within Maven so students get all the information they need without having to visit external links or documents hosted on external sites. Your syllabus will be their one-stop shop, so make it easy for them to navigate and refer back to it often.

How many lessons you have in each module will be largely influenced by the style of your course. If it's a mostly live course, you may not have as much asynchronous material for students to engage with outside of your live sessions. If it's a hybrid course, you'll want to invest heavily in the lessons and projects since both will provide the bulk of their learning and the perceived value of the course. You can read more about Maven's recommended course structures here and more about how to design lessons here.

Adding projects

Projects are a key part of the course experience. We've found that the highest-rated courses on Maven have more projects. Students value the opportunity to apply their learning and create an artifact. You can read more about the benefits of using projects and how to design projects that students love here.

For a great example, check out this detailed project from Jeremy Kirshbaum and Lev Gorlev's Generative AI Masterclass.

Course events

The live events you host for your cohort will be created in the Syllabus tab. You can add them inside or outside of modules.

As a resource for your students, you can add slides before or after an event. Upload or automatically share recordings with students by integrating with Zoom. Read more about how to create your Events here.

The student experience

Once enrolled, students can access your course Home on the student portal open date. You can further gate modules by setting a release date for each in your Syllabus. When students log into your course Home page, they'll see a weekly overview of your course with lessons, projects, and events. As they progress through lessons, they'll be able to mark their items complete and celebrate their progress in your course.

You might want to let students know of a new resource you added or direct students to a session recording - if so, you can share a direct link to each module. Just copy the link from within the syllabus using the link icon. Here's a screenshot for reference:

FAQs

  1. Do I have to share resources with students? Can I only plan to host live sessions?

    1. You'll need a syllabus with lessons and projects to ensure your students have a meaningful and rich learning experience. Cohort-based courses are premium products, and your course content should reflect that value. Asynchronous lessons and projects help students solidify their learning and come to live sessions prepared to dig deeper.

  2. Do I have to have course events?

    1. Yes, all courses on Maven should currently have some live element. Some instructors chose to host office hours. Others decide to host full workshops. You do not need to have an event each week.

  3. Can I copy my syllabus and cohort events from one cohort to another?

    1. Yes, you can! Check out more about creating new cohorts here.

  4. Are students notified when items are due in the weekly schedule?

    1. Yes, you can read more about student notifications here.

If you have any further questions about the student Home page, please contact [email protected].

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