The Components

Your goal is to create and publish a public Liquid Syllabus created with Google Sites that serves as a supportive and welcoming pre-course resource for students. The Liquid Syllabus is intended to be emailed to your students the week before instruction begins. The Liquid Syllabus you design should be part of your overarching goal to ensure your students enter a learning environment that is safe, structured, and predictable. These characteristics support traumatized adult learners.

What does your Liquid Syllabus say to your students?

Your Liquid Syllabus cues students that:

1. You are a partner in their learning;
2. Diversity is an asset in a learning environment;
3. They are valued members of a learning community; 
4. Success in the course is achievable to all students

What will your Liquid Syllabus include?

In this course, we aim to provide a guide that will support you in the development of your equity-minded Liquid Syllabus. You may choose to follow the guidance in this course precisely. You may also choose to develop the ideas for your own course needs. 

This course will encourage you to develop the following content items.  

A homepage that contains:

1. A brief (2-3 minute) welcome video, hosted on YouTube.  The video breaks down the hierarchy between you and your students and cues students that there is a live, human on the other side of the screen who is there to support them.
   • While there are many workflows for hosting videos, Google Sites will only embed videos from YouTube. The video you embed will need to be shared on YouTube as Unlisted (only those with the link can view it) or Public (is retrievable in web searches and publicly visible on your YouTube channel).
     
     
2. How This Course Works section that clearly communicates where and when (if applicable) students are expected to participate in your course. This section should clearly describe how the course is organized and whether or not there are required synchronous (live) meetings.
   
   
3. My Teaching Philosophy section that is student-centered, includes supportive language and promotes confidence while engaging in rigor. Conveys high expectations while incorporating information about how you will support students to achieve academic success. 
   
   
4. A Learning Pact that lists expectations that your students can expect from you and that you will expect from them. The pact cues students that you will play an active role in supporting their learning.
   
   
5. How to Get Your Questions Answered section. This includes your instructor communication policy that clearly lets students know how they should contact you (and includes both an asynchronous option like email and a synchronous option like Zoom or phone) and what your response time is.
   
   
6. How to Get Into Our Course section. This includes a button that links to the Canvas login portal for your college and a link/information about how to get help with Canvas.

Additional pages that may include:

1. Course Essentials (course description, outcomes, textbook, listed of other required materials.)
   
   
2. Grading - A clear and transparent explanation about how grading works in your course. 
   
   
3. Policies: This page includes your campus policies that are expected to be included in all course syllabi. Often, the language used in our institutional policies often informed by a deficit-based mindset about our students. Read your campus policies critically and ask yourself if they use deficient, intimidating, unwelcoming messages. If you identify these phrases, adapt them with equity-minded language. For example:
   
   • Instead of "Mandatory," begin with, "To be successful ..."
   • Instead of "You will be dropped from the course"..., begin with "I will check in on you if you forget to participate."
   • Instead of "Rigorous exceptions", begin with, “You really want to look out for X, and here’s a strategy so that it doesn’t happen.”
   • Instead of "Requirements," begin with, "Tips for success"
   • Instead of "No Excuses," begin with, "Search for solutions and keep an open line of communication with me"
   • Instead of "It is your responsibility to," begin with "Confusion is normal. Contact me if you have questions.
     
     
4. Resources. A list of institutional resources available for your students online to support their academic success, and mental/physical well being. This list includes links to each resource webpage so students can easily get more information.