Your syllabus serves as a blueprint for your course and as a “contract” between you and your students, summarizing how they can succeed while protecting you and them.
*Tip: When challenges occur, they are often due to instructors not following the syllabus or due to students not fully understanding the policies outlined in the syllabus. Following a clear syllabus increases the probability that you and your students will have a successful class experience.
- All syllabi must include:
- A copy of our BSW standard grading scale
- The withdrawal date (see the Key Dates tab)
- A late assignment policy
- An attendance policy
- A copy of your course schedule
- The provost statements
- A list of assignments and summary of assignments
- A distribution of the points for the course
- The current CSWE competencies for the course
- Our commitment to social justice statement
- For more details, please see the Syllabus Resources from Faculty Affairs.
If you are a teaching a core B.S.W. course (a course required for social work majors to earn the B.S.W. degree):
- Your course lead or the BSW program coordinator will provide you with a Primary Syllabus Template specific to your course. You should make a copy of this and make your edits as part of your course preparation. You will need to log into your VCU email account with your eID for access.
- *Note: Current instructors should review the primary syllabus template for their course when updating their course syllabus for a new term to ensure compliance with CSWE and VCU policy.
- You should not make any changes to the Key Assessment Assignment for your course, as it is crucial for our program evaluation. Read more about the Key Assessment Assignment under Grade Policies.
Guide to Writing Your Syllabus: Resource from the VCU Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE)