The time of registering for courses, the most fervent “one minute” during one’s vacation, has already past. Indeed, making one’s own special schedule is one of privileges in university life. Since students do not know which lecture is good or bad, there are lots of systems to help; class syllabus is one of them. All professors have duty to upload syllabus and let students know how their classes will go. However, there are increasing number of professors who do not fulfill the promise. 

Class syllabus defines a certain goal of a class and shows information of the lecturer’s way of academic assessment for students. Through syllabus students can take classes in which they presume. Since syllabus shows overall curriculum of a class, not a few students seriously depend on it when they register for classes.

One of the staff from the Academic Affairs Department explained the entire procedure during the phone interview with the The Granite Tower (GT). According to the staff, the procedure of uploading syllabus is this: Korea University (KU) asks all professors whether they want to make new classes in upcoming semester. Then professors who want to open classes write their syllabi and upload them in the portal web site. If syllabus is not uploaded online, each college and KU mail to professors to let students know how their classes will go. “Administrative workers also personally mail to professors if they do not upload. KU is fully understanding about the importance of syllabus to students and tries every effort to provide it to them,” is what she said.

However a few professors in KU tend to avoid uploading their syllabi. Since when they started ignoring the school’s recommendation is actually not clear. At the same time, professors’ being negligent on uploading the plan sheet can bring some problem. Primarily, syllabus let students know what grade is proper to take the class and whether the class has midterm, final exam. It also contains information about its amount of reports or other kinds of homework. Students can know what classes should be taken first before taking the class that he or she is applying for. If a professor does not upload his or her syllabus, students cannot know the exact information about upcoming class. This seriously infringes on students rights to know about classes and make their schedule.

As a credible alternative, for a majority of students, KUKLUE (Korea University Lecture Evaluation), which is KU’s class evaluating online website, is one strong source to find class information when it comes to course registration. Currently KWEB, which is the oldest student group in College of Information and Communications, runs the web page. In 2010 summer, it was founded by 43th Korea University Students Association (KUSA). The direct reason of the born of KUKLUE is connected with the problem.

   
▲ Photographed by Lee Seung Hyun

Kim Gyu Yeung (’08, Computer and Radio Engineering) who actually runs KUKLUE said that syllabus has disappointed students since a few years ago. “There have been frequent cases of syllabi that were uploaded over due and the class’s content is totally different from what the plan sheet is saying. This caused a desire for a place where students can easily access to class information and KUKLUE is born to satisfy this,” said Kim. He said professors without syllabus uploaded same content every year and printed it after during the first class. In February 2010, professors opened their evaluation of classes to public trying to give useful information. However the data dealt with simple points of each questionnaire of lectures. The data turns out to be not that useful. In the summer, as a result, the 43th student council created KUKLUE.

Kim’s opinion toward syllabus is pessimistic. “Some professors are interested in teaching and some are studying. Nevertheless I think they should at least provide how their class will go. Especially it is their full responsibility when they upload syllabi late or progress differently,” said Kim. He thinks syllabus has lost its meaning. Almost 88 percent of enrolled students (in Anam campus) have joined KUKLUE, which is the same as two third of entire students in Anam campus use the content. 30,000 class evaluations are written in every semester and it seems that everybody trusts the web page rather than syllabus.

As numerous KU members are counting on the web page, it has become an ideal model of student-center culture where people freely share their knowledge voluntarily. The bottom line is, however, that syllabus is different from KUKLUE in a point that it delivers official and direct information. Though there are lots of people favoring KUKLUE, it is a clear fact that still numerous students rely on syllabus. Also it is a tacit promise between students and professors to firstly communicate with each other through syllabus before they actually meet. Nevertheless, unfortunately a few professors seem to not give it to students.

Professor You Seok Hoon (Linguistics) thinks syllabus as a road map when a person uses during his or her travel. “Class syllabus is a kind of navigation that leads students to what the class wants them to do,” is what he said. Professor You said he got a mail from academic affairs office about writing syllabus and uploading it on EKU. Through classes, he learned that syllabus means different to each student. He said “Most KU students preview my syllabus before course registration but they more search for opinion of people who had previously taken the lectures. Even there are students who do not look at it all once the first class is started.

Professor You has currently opened a class named “Language and Culture” which is highly popular in KU. He emphasizes that syllabus plays a great role in participating in class. In his lecture, it is especially needed because of TPMS (Team Protocol Method Session). If a member of the class does not sweep it beforehand, pressure related on class would be huge. Getting high grade would not be easy task as well. However the professor’s lecture “Language and Culture” does not have syllabus. “Since the notification days of syllabus related on core general classes and other major lectures are differently notified by different department, I often become confused,” is what he explained. When he changes a text book which is not widely published he also fails to upload a syllabus on time.

Students have rights to freely look information about all classes in KU. It is a promise between the university and students. As Professor You says that KU should notify announcement of syllabus on a same day so that professors cannot be confused. However the overall responsibility goes to uploaders. Professors’ consistent avoidance of practicing their duty will only increase the number of students’ complaints. Although there are majority of students who do not even look at syllabus after a class begins, the plan sheet is still important for understanding course. As the number students asking for syllabus for their class increases, professors should quickly respond to the students' demand. 

   
▲ Korea University (KU) Main Building

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