Overview
Early this year, we challenged the Rutgers New Brunswick teaching community to redesign one of their Spring 2026 syllabi using guidance from our newly launched Syllabus Resource Library—a toolkit co-created with Rutgers students. The results left us feeling inspired.
We would like to thank and recognize the faculty participants who brought our Syllabus Challenge to life with their submissions:
- Rasha Abadir, Mathematics, School of Arts and Sciences
- Tara Cominski, Life Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences
- Erin Comollo, Family & Community Health Sciences, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
- Kevin Dahaghi, Sociology; Criminal Justice, School of Arts and Sciences
- Selin Bengi Gümrükçü, Political Science, School of Arts and Sciences
- Amy Lewis, Learning & Teaching, Graduate School of Education
- Christine Morales, School of Social Work
- Sonal Pandey, Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
- Laura Ramírez Polo, Spanish and Portuguese & The Language Center, School of Arts and Sciences
- Randy Reagan, Industrial and Systems Engineering, School of Engineering
- Niloufer Tamboly, Information Technology and Informatics, School of Communication and Information
Why Revise a Syllabus?
The syllabus is a critical document—a hub of information that students can refer to throughout the duration of the course. A thoughtfully created syllabus helps students independently answer their own questions about upcoming assignments and deadlines, makes course guidelines clear and easy to follow, and invites students to interact with it repeatedly as a resource.
A syllabus has the potential to be so much more than a list of requirements. It is the first opportunity to connect with students. It is the first document a student lays eyes on in a new course, and in fact, it is often the very first impression a student gets of a course, before meeting the instructor or even taking their seat on the first day of class. In essence, the syllabus sets the tone for the instructor’s teaching approach and the overall course identity. A daunting thought? It doesn’t need to be! The purpose of our Syllabus Challenge was to empower instructors to re-imagine how they can use their syllabi to better represent their courses and serve their students, whether that is to relay information, connect with students, spark curiosity in the course, or all the above! Directly aligned with TIIP’s core values of innovation and student success, this initiative was sharpened through co-creation with Rutgers students, whose insights helped us bridge the gap between instructional design and the lived student experience.
How Did the Syllabus Challenge Come About?
To help instructors explore the full potential of what a syllabus can achieve—whether for informing, connecting, or engaging—TIIP teamed up with its student pedagogical partners in Fall 2025. The result was the Syllabus Resource Library, a collection designed to expand the ways we think about this foundational document.
Our student co-design team provided critical insight from the student perspective, allowing us to develop a well-rounded set of resources for creating not only traditional syllabi, but graphic-based and video-based syllabi as well. Our guiding resource, Key Indicators of an Effective Syllabus, is a framework for instructors that provides a comprehensive checklist to guide the syllabus design process across any desired format.
Other resources created with our student co-design team include templates for traditional, graphic-based, and video-based syllabi. All co-created syllabus resources can be found in our Syllabus Resource Library.
Sample Submissions
Our Spring 2026 Syllabus Challenge participants blew us away with their submissions! Below are samples of the innovative syllabi we received, shared with permission from our faculty participants:
Traditional
This traditional syllabus emphasizes clarity and consistency by laying out key course information in a logical, predictable order that students can easily navigate. The incorporation of eye-catching graphics and sections dedicated to introducing the professor makes this syllabus especially inviting and engaging. Dr. Reagan’s full syllabus submission can be viewed here.
Graphic
This graphic syllabus was designed with approachability and student engagement in mind. The sketch-notes style was used to create a welcoming, supportive tone that encourages students to see the course as an exciting intellectual journey rather than a list of requirements.
Video
Dr. Ramírez-Polo designed this video-based syllabus with the intention of helping her students “put a face to the instructor” in her asynchronous course, Computer Assisted Translation. In her video, she guides students through her course Canvas page, providing an excellent example of how video-based syllabi are an effective tool for professors seeking to establish a human connection with their students in online learning environments. Dr. Ramírez-Polo’s full video-based syllabus submission can be viewed here.
These examples vary in format, and all illustrate the many ways a syllabus can be used to authentically engage students and set the tone for a successful semester.
Honoring Our Participants
The creativity and intentionality displayed by our Spring 2026 participants highlight the incredible talent and dedication of our teaching community.
These instructors took the initiative to look at a longstanding academic staple with fresh eyes, demonstrating a deep commitment to both their own professional growth and the success of their students. By investing their time in creating engaging materials that better represent their courses, they have built a stronger bridge to their learners and set a powerful example of what it means to be an intentional, student-centered educator.
We are honored to celebrate these instructors for taking the time to innovate, to listen to student perspectives, and to transform a standard requirement into a meaningful invitation to learn.
We congratulate our Spring 2026 participants for their time and their vision, as well as their role in shaping the future of Rutgers classrooms.
Inspired to re-imagine your own syllabus? We invite you to explore the Syllabus Resource Library and join this community of Rutgers educators dedicated to student-centered design.