Gillings School Syllabus
It often serves as the first point of contact between students and instructors and should be clear and concise. Instructors at Carolina should strive to develop syllabi that are both an effective ‘road map’ of the course’s content and logistics and an invitation for students to actively engage in the learning process.
Below you will find resources to help you design your syllabus and a list of required components that all syllabi should contain. Instructors are expected to have a complete version of each course syllabus prepared and ready to share with students by the first day of class, and make sure to upload a copy of that syllabus to the Online Syllabus Manager (OSM) application for archiving purposes. (Adapted from Office of Undergraduate Curricula Syllabus Guidelines.)
Syllabus Templates
Please note, the following sections were updated for the 2022-2023 academic year: Community Standards in Our Course and Mask Use; Honor Code. The following sections were updated for the 2021-2022 academic year: Accessibility, Attendance/Participation; Counseling and Psychological Services; Inclusive Excellence; Land Acknowledgement; Student Feedback and Equity Concerns; Technical Support; Title IX.
Syllabus Resources
Important note: The following documents marked “Draft” are subject to change after we incorporate feedback from the UNC Digital Accessibility Office.
- Syllabus guidelines from the Graduate School for courses numbered above 700
- Syllabus guidelines from the Office of Undergraduate Curricula with sample language for courses numbered through 699
- Draft Guide to the Syllabus Template
- Draft Optional Sample Expectations, Resources, Policies
- Draft Optional Schedule Details Template
- Draft Optional Sample Assignment Grading Rubrics
- Syllabus resources to audit for inclusive excellence:
Repository of Gillings School Course Syllabi
This syllabus repository will archive course data by academic term so it can be accessed when needed, e.g., for audits, graduate program reviews and accreditation.
Beginning Academic Year 2021-2022, all faculty instructors of Gillings School courses will be required to upload full course syllabi to the Online Syllabus Management repository.
Near the start of each academic term, the Online Syllabus Management system will generate an email to primary instructors listed in the schedule of classes for that term, notifying them to upload the same complete course syllabus they will present to students in the first class session.
Faculty will continue to receive reminder emails until they complete the upload of their course syllabus for the academic term.
Faculty are not expected to upload the course syllabus more than once per term, even if they make changes during the semester.
Uploading a course syllabus is a very simple process, will require just a few clicks and will take you only a couple of minutes.
- Log in to your VPN.
- Next, log in to the Online Syllabus Management system by opening this site: https://osmsph.oasis.unc.edu/osmsph/
- Once there, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click “Get Started”.
- In the repository, select the course to add your syllabus by clicking “Update”.
- After you have selected the course to upload the syllabus, click “Browse”.
- Select the syllabus document from your computer, and then click “Upload”.
- Once the syllabus uploads, you will see “Completed” under the Status heading at the right of your screen.
If you run into any issues, don’t hesitate to contact Danny Collins, Gillings School Registrar.