Time and time again, students complain about professors who don’t put their syllabi on Penn InTouch. The issue is becoming such an ongoing gripe that it’s starting to rank up there with the quality of the dining hall food as a major frustration students have with the University. Though students have been able to access syllabi on Penn InTouch since registration for the Fall 2009 semester, materials are still unavailable for many classes in advance.
Faculty sometimes don’t post their syllabi on Penn InTouch because their course material is subject to change. This, however, is a poor excuse.
At the least, more professors could upload syllabi used in previous semesters of their classes or provide students with general outlines of the curriculum.
Courses may be modified and updated from semester to semester, but much of the content tends to be similar. And even if professors aren’t 100-percent set on the readings, lectures and exam dates, they must have at least some sense of courses’ directions ahead of time.
Given the large number of courses offered by the University, choosing which ones to take can often be difficult and daunting. Any information students can get — however vague or tentative — is better than no information.
