Around an image of Yoda’s face, block letters urge, “Read the syllabus you must.” This meme represents a common complaint among college instructors, particularly those who teach online classes: that students do not follow syllabus instructions. In many on-campus classes, instructors devote at least several minutes of the first class to reviewing the syllabus. Such a review, however, is much less common in online courses. The instructor may encourage students to read the syllabus in an introductory message, but most of the time the course plunges directly into teaching content rather than devoting time up front to orientation and logistics.
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