Your Chair or Program Director may be able to give you a pre-approved syllabus for the course. Please talk with them about which changes may/may not be acceptable within your unit.

You must post your final syllabus to Brightspace in order to allow the Registrar to collect them for accreditation purposes (see below uploading instructions).

As you begin to plan your course for the semester, you should access the University’s master schedule. This schedule will list the start and end dates for the semester, scheduled holidays and breaks, dates for midterm grading and add/drop periods, and the final exam week.

Each syllabus should include the following:

-       University name

-       Title; course number; section number; semester & academic year

-        Department offering the course

-       Instructor’s name & contact information

-       Description of course – should match the description in the University’s Course Catalog

-       Credit hours that students earn by completing the course

-       Student Learning Outcomes ((objectives stated in terms of what the students will be able to do or demonstrate upon successful completion of the course).  You should also include the university learning goals and general education competencies, as appropriate; however, our general University learning goals are not a substitute for specific student learning outcomes. Note that student learning outcomes for your course should be available from your department Chair or Program Director and are unable to be modified.

-       Classroom format

-Traditional face-to-face

- Hybrid

- Online

-       Course schedule (lecture or lab dates & when each assignment, quiz, test, & paper is due)

-       Course requirements and/or assessments

- Required readings

- Written papers

- Field work

- Laboratory work 

- Other requirements as appropriate & specific to the course

-       Reading assignment schedule (include library assignments)

- Method of grading- indicate what percentage of the student’s grade will be based on each course assignment or assessment, including measures of in-class participation.

- A statement on absenteeism & tardiness:  make a clear statement about your and the University’s policy regarding absenteeism and the effect of absenteeism and tardiness on the student’s final grade.  At UIndy, students who miss more than the equivalent of two weeks of classes (not necessarily consecutively) may be administratively withdrawn. Please contact the Director of Global Education prior to withdrawing an international student since their course load impacts their residency status.

- You may include the following suggested ADA statement: “If you have a disability that may have some impact on your work in this class and for which you may require accommodations, please inform me immediately so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. Students with a disability must register with the Services for Students with Disabilities office (SSD) in Schwitzer Center 001 (317-788-3536 / www.uindy.edu/ssd) for disability verification and for determination of reasonable academic accommodations. You are responsible for initiating arrangements for accommodations for tests and other assignments in collaboration with the SSD and the faculty.

-       Turnitin.com Statement (if using): “The University of Indianapolis maintains a University license agreement for an online text matching service called Turnitin.com. At my discretion, I will use this web-based plagiarism detection service and/or require students to submit work to this service to determine the originality of student papers.”

-    You may include the following Turnitin.com statement, if appropriate: “The University of Indianapolis maintains a University license agreement for an online text matching service called Turnitin.com. At my discretion, I will use this web-based plagiarism detection service and/or require students to submit work to this service to determine the originality of student papers.”

-       Bibliography/Reference list (if appropriate)

Creating a Syllabus Video guidance

Please check with your Chair or Program Director to see if a textbook has already been ordered for your class. If not, you can place your book orders online at the bookstore here by scrolling to the bottom of the page and selecting “Online Adoptions” then following the prompts. 

Alternatively, you can visit the Follett Bookstore on the first floor of the Schwitzer Student Center and speak with the Manager.  If you need a desk (Instructor’s) copy of a book, please ask your Chair or Program Director to help you get one; otherwise, many publishers have a request process on their websites.

Some faculty or departments choose to use third party publisher materials within their courses, such as products provided by Pearson or Sage. Please consult with your department chair prior to choosing such a product. For help loading these materials into your course Brightspace page, please contact the publisher’s representative. 

Once you have your UIndy account, you will have access to our intranet,  My.Uindy.edu. Simply click on the “Faculty” link on the top right hand corner of the page, then “Faculty Schedule” in the “Shortcuts” underneath the search bar. This will allow you to select the school term (such as Semester 1, 2025) and specific course section. Doing so will show you the class days, times, room, and enrollment. If you’re curious about the technology used in your classroom, check out what technology is available in UIndy Spaces. You can also review additional information on utilizing technology in our classrooms.

You may access your class roster in multiple ways.

-       within My.Uindy.edu click on the “Faculty” link on the top right hand corner of the page, then “Classlist” should appear as an option in a large box beneath the “Shortcuts.”

-      within your class Brightspace page follow these directions to access your classlist. Note that you can also email one or more of your students via this “Classlist” feature.

All UIndy courses will have a Brightspace Learning Management System (LMS) site. To learn more about utilizing Brightspace, this excellent training site is available to you. Please note: you will need to create an account at this site, but you do not have to use your UIndy email address unless you prefer to.

You must post your syllabus on Brightspace using the directions provided above. You must also keep at least some of your course grades on Brightspace; we recommend that you upload all grades so that students are able to keep track of their performance.  The Grades: Start Here slide deck walks you through what you need to do to set up your gradebook for the semester. If you prefer to follow a video, the Grades: Start Here video (5:12) walks you through the same process.