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Course Outline
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Hi . We recommend that you include the headings below in your course outline. Including them will help students navigate and engage with your course without confusion or the need to ask multiple clarifying questions about Duly-Performed requirements, assignment due dates and administrative details. Your course outline does not need to follow the order of headings presented here; nor do you need to include each heading. More important is that the key information is available to your students in a clear and concise form.
There are many ways you can represent this information. For instance, you may already have most or all of this information already in a PDF document, in which case uploading it to Vula and linking in the course outline is recommended, or you might want to write it on a Google Doc and embed it here instead of typing it directly into Vula.
Course administration
In this section, provide details of any staffing and administrative support made available to students, such as the names and contact details of the lecturing team, departmental managers, secretaries, head tutors, course coaches, or other support staff that students can contact for administrative help.
| Example Programme and course convener:Dr Ann Lecturer (convenor of [Course]): Office 105.3 (021) 651 9999 email: ann.lecturer@uct.ac.za, virtual office hours: 1-2pm, MS teams Other lecturers:Bee Lecturer: Office 624 (021) 652 9999 email: bee.lecturer@uct.ac.za Postgraduate Admin Officer:Mister Administrator Office 445 (021) 653 9999 email: m.administrator@uct.ac.za Postgraduate Admin Assistant:Thee Assistant: Office 450 (021) 654 9999 email: thee.assistant@uct.ac.za Class Representative:Class Representative: email: bee.lecturer@uct.ac.za |
Course communications
In this section, outline how you will communicate with your students and how they can communicate most effectively with you. Indicate which tools (such as email, WhatsApp, or the communication tools in Vula such as Chatrooms, Messages, Forums and Announcements) you will be using, and how often you would like students to check these tools for new messages (or use them themselves, where appropriate).
| Example Each week on Monday I will release an Announcement introducing the week's content and alerting you of any upcoming project or assignment work, or any test dates. If you have any questions, please first check the Q&A tool on the left to see if I have answered that question already; if not, please feel free to ask it. The Chatroom is for more casual conversations about the course, and I'll be checking it twice a week and responding if there's anything that needs my input as the lecturer. If you are not getting any responses from the Q&A or the chatroom, then (and only then!) please email me or the administrative assistant your query. |
Course structure
In this section, you should outline the basic pattern of the course, indicating the major themes or conceptual areas to be taught, how weeks (or modules, or units) will be structured, and a brief description of the formative and summative assessment methods you will be using.
| Example The course will run the entire second semester. It is divided into four modules, each of which covers either three or four weeks of content. Each week, at 08:00 on Monday, a new page will be made available containing the relevant learning material and tasks you'll be required to complete, which will consist of a combination of required readings and videos, a discussion forum, and a fortnightly quiz. The discussion forums and quizzes will not be marked, but are required for receiving a Duly-Performed Certificate. There are two marked tests and two marked project assignments which will together constitute the majority of your marks for the course. |
Prescribed Readings/Textbooks
If your course will be drawing on core readings, such as a textbook that students are required to access or purchase themselves, please include the relevant details (title, authors, publisher, price, and retailer)here.
| Example The prescribed textbook for this course is the 2019 edition of Clever & Smart's Engaging with Academic Texts, published by Juta. You can purchase a physical copy from the Juta bookstore (they deliver to any location in the major cities) or download the e-book from their website. Make sure you get the 2019 copy, as previous editions have different chaptering and you could easily get confused. The full reference is below: - Clever, A. & Smart, B. (2019). Engaging with Academic Texts. Johannesburg: Predatory Publishers Incorporated. |
Tests and Assignments
Include relevant details about the major summative tests and assignments that students will be expected to complete, with approximate (or precise) dates and mark allocations if possible.
| Example To complete this course, you will be required to submit three long assignments, take two tests, and sit one final exam. The tests will occur in the middle of each termand the exam will be scheduled during the examinations period by the examinations office. The dates for the assignments are still being finalised, but you can expect one assignment in the first term and one in the second term. |
Duly-performed requirements and calculation of final course mark
Include as much detail as possible about how the final course mark will be calculated.
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Example Year Mark - 50% | Includes:
Note: you must submit at least 75%0f the quizzes and objective tests in order to receive your DP certificate! Final Examination - (3 hours) - 50% |
Late submissions, penalties & procedures
| Example If you are unable to meet an assignment deadline, please notify your head tutor. Valid medical certificates may excuse you from not writing a test/exam due to illness. If not submitted, you are at the risk of being awarded 0% for the assignment It is therefore important that the procedures detailed below are followed. [Details of procedure] Late submission of assignments will be penalised as follows:
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Course dates
Add in as much detail as you can about the schedule of the course. Some key information to include are module, unit or topic titles and descriptions, assignment due dates, test dates, and (if your course has multiple lecturers) the names of who will be responsible for each section.
Example
| Week | Module/Lesson/Week/Topic title | Lecturer | Test dates | Assignment due dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-9 August | Module 1 Week 1 - Paleontology | Ann Lecturer | ||
| 10-16 August | Module 1 Week 2 - Human archaeology | Ann Lecturer | Project milestone 1 - Design Brief | |
| 17-23 August | Module 1 Week 3 - Archaeo-botany | Ann Lecturer | Test 1 - 21 August | |
| 24-30 August | Module 2 Week 1 - Oral histories | Bee Lecturer | ||
| 31 August - 6 September | Module 2 Week 2 - Early writing systems | Bee Lecturer | Project milestone 2 - Literature review | |
| 7-13 September | Module 2 Week 3 - The spread of literacy | Bee Lecturer | Test 2 - 9 September |