The information specified in the course outline not only allows students to identify the knowledge and skills they will acquire from the course, but also reduces misunderstandings when unforeseen circumstances arise. For example, if a student requests a grade review, the course outline becomes a key source of information.

Regulation

Academic Regulation A-2.4 states that “Professors must supply a course syllabus during the first meeting with the students at the beginning of each course. This course syllabus must include:

• the course description approved by Senate
• learning outcomes
• teaching methods
• assessment methods and weighting of grades
• a list of required and recommended reading
• a calendar of activities and evaluations
• course attendance requirements
• the professor’s contact information and office hours
• a reference to the regulation on plagiarism and academic fraud
• the following paragraph from Academic Regulation A-1 on bilingualism: « Except in programs and courses for which language is a requirement, all students have the right to produce their written work and to answer examination questions in the official language of their choice, regardless of the course’s language of instruction. »”

The course outline is considered as a contractual document virtually signed between the students of a class and the professor. If you wish to make major changes to the course outline (e.g. the due date, or the format, of a take-home exam), you must obtain the consent of all the students enrolled in the course, as well as their signatures.

Course and exam schedules

Should you look for course or exam schedules, please keep in mind that the final exam schedule is not known until several weeks into the term. The exam schedule will first show up in uoCampus, alongside the information about official enrolment.

Simple Syllabus

Simple Syllabus is a cloud-based, template-driven syllabus platform designed to make course outlines easy to create and to support consistency across the university community. It provides easy-to-use, dynamic templates, which include guidance on best practices and applicable academic regulations. Syllabi are published in an accessible web format that can be added directly into Brightspace or exported as PDF files.

New syllabi created with Simple Syllabus automatically leverage templates developed by University of Ottawa and contain example content to guide usage and the communication of core policies. In addition, Faculty of Engineering outline templates meet the requirements of Regulation A-2.4 as well as accreditation requirements. As most of the text is modifiable, it is up to the professor to ensure that the final text of the syllabus is accurate for their course and reflective of their requirements.

Absence of the professor

If you already know that you will be absent for a particular lecture, you must follow the procedure for the relevant type of leave (APUO; APTPUO). The request will be considered by the Director of the Academic Unit and, possibly, by the Dean. You will need to specify the alternative arrangements you plan to make for this absence: a lecture given by one of your colleagues; a film presentation; a guest speaker, etc.

Office hours – availability of faculty

Professors must clearly indicate in their course outlines the weekly periods during which they meet with students for office hours. Office space is available to part-time professors for their office hours. The office space must be booked with the Academic Unit offering the course.

Best practices

1. When writing the course outline, professors should be aware of all the current regulations about assignments and exams and prepare for the unthinkable, and proactively offer clear answers to some of the following questions:
   • What is the professor’s participation policy? Please note that, in accordance with the Faculty Academic regulations, active participation (whether in-person or online, if available) in a minimum of 80% of the scheduled course components is required for students to be eligible for a passing grade in courses. If professors wish to apply specific attendance policies and/or use a grading scheme to encourage active participation, they must indicate so on the course syllabus distributed at the beginning of the term.
   • What will happen if a student misses the mid-term exam with valid justifications? Will the weight of the mid-term exam be transferred to the final exam or not? It is best to spell things out for transparency.
   • Are students allowed or not to record and/or take pictures of the teaching material presented in class? It is important to note that a student may need special accommodations in this regard, and that they should not be singled out as the only one allowed to take pictures for example. In such a case, the whole class must be allowed to take pictures. The use of the recorded or photographed content is implicitly limited to each student, without any rights to broadcast or share the material.
2. The course outline should be included in BrightSpace so that students have access to it at the very beginning of the term.
3. To avoid any ambiguity in interpreting course requirements and the professor’s various expectations, it is a good idea to review the course outline with the students during the first lecture and provide each student with a new corrected version of the course outline if changes must be made during the term.
4. For undergraduate courses, please submit your course outline to the Undergraduate Studies Office at operations.engineering@uottawa.ca as soon as it becomes available at the beginning of a term. Among other things, this will allow the Faculty of Engineering Mentoring Centre to organize synchronized study groups based on the information available in the syllabi.