The Syllabus Bank is a public SharePoint folder containing recent syllabi for a significant number of courses at Stevens. Initially focusing on the Schaefer School of Engineering & Science (SES), the resource has expanded its coverage to include the School of Business (SSB) and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS). The Syllabus Bank began as an initiative proposed by student representatives on the 2022-2023 SES Dean’s Undergraduate Student Advisory Council (DUSAC) and has since been managed by the SES Office of Undergraduate Studies, with the late-School of Systems and Enterprises being a contributor. In September, the Stevens Honor Board joined the effort.
While the Syllabus Bank currently does not contain a syllabus for every single course, students are highly encouraged to consult it to aid their academic needs. According to the History and Expected Use of the Syllabus Bank, the Bank is meant to “assist with course registration, limit the need for add/drops, and reduce confusion when completing their study plan.” Students should utilize it as an additional resource on top of existing tools such as the Academic Catalog and Workday when determining whether a course is the right fit for them.
With this resource, “instead of relying just on the description given when they sign up for the course, students [can] gain a better understanding of course workload, any materials they may need to budget for, and what topics they expect to learn,” said Alessandro Chavez, Faculty Relations Chair of the Stevens Honor Board. For faculty and staff members, the Syllabus Bank may be used to reassess courses and learning outcomes, as well as for any other reasons they find helpful.
Although it has been over two years since the Syllabus Bank was initiated, the majority of students remain unaware of this resource. Thus, it is now a collaborative effort between the SES Office of Undergraduate Studies and the Stevens Honor Board. For the SES Office of Undergraduate Studies, this collaboration is an effort to reach a wider audience. “SES has received feedback that many students remain unaware of the resource. We expect that partnering with the Honor Board will allow us to reach a wider audience, strengthen ties between administrative offices, the Stevens Honor Board, and the general student population, and uncover a need for a more long-term solution,” said Assistant Director of Core Engineering and Science Education, Dakota Van Deursen.
For the Honor Board, the rationale behind collaborating was similar. “The Honor Board has also been looking for outreach ideas and took on the syllabus bank as a collaboration to show its commitment to helping the student body. If more students have access to the syllabus bank, they can be better informed when registering for classes, which reduces their stress since they know more about their course load and the responsibilities, which can lead to better class performance,” Chavez said.
Both parties are currently working on reaching the student body for syllabi submissions through flyers, QR codes, and e-mails. After syllabi are submitted, members of both parties will review forms for accuracy to include in the Bank for all to view. For questions and comments, students can reach out to Van Deursen at dvandeur@stevens.edu or Coordinator of SES Undergraduate Studies, Nyabwija Kanefu, at nkanefu@stevens.edu.
