On the first meeting of class you should provide a course syllabus for your students. Your course syllabus should indicate what is expected of your students, including your grading policy, attendance policy, and a plan of course activities.

A good syllabus should include:

• name, number and description of course (may use description in class schedule)

• prerequisites, corequisites and/or advisories

• a summary of course content and objectives based on approved course outlines

• required and recommended textbooks and other materials (handout packets, calculators, safety glasses, etc.)

• your name, how to contact you through campus mail, and the location of the mail room (room LA 102)

• days, times and rooms for class meetings

• tentative schedule of topics to be addressed in the course

• schedule of lab experiments and lab policies, if you teach a lab course

• tentative dates of tests, quizzes, papers, and other course assignments

• date of the final exam as assigned by the college

• description of the grading system, including the number of points allotted to tests, quizzes, papers, lab reports attendance, etc.

• guidelines for papers and other assignments

• instructors policy on late assignments and make-up tests

• instructors policy on attendance and tardiness (Title 5 regulations specify that students will attend class regularly, and that instructors will have a method of monitoring attendance on a regular basis to determine whether a student is still actively pursuing the completion of the course)

• instructors policy on academic honesty (cheating), referring to the SMC Code of Academic Conduct (a statement such as "the academic honesty policy of Santa Monica College will be strictly enforced" is sufficient)

• a statement that you will make accommodation for disability related needs if students have or disabled student center verification and let you know of these needs (The disabled student center requires that a disabled student "self identify" and also provide appropriate documentation in order to establish the existence of the disability and the need for accommodation.)

• a statement that students with medical problems which might interfere with your class  should let you know the nature of their problem, the action they want you to take if the problem occurs during class, the name and telephone number of their physician  and/or names and numbers of people who can be called to take them home or to a place designated for their care.

You should give a copy of your syllabus to your department chair (and lab techs, if appropriate) at the beginning of each semester.