Fully Online courses must meet the following criteria, per the U.S. Department of Education’s guidelines for distance education issued in July 2021:

1. The syllabus should identify regular opportunities during the term for students to engage in two or more substantive interaction activities, initiated by instructors, drawn from this list:

Instructors may also wish to include additional content on syllabi to address emergent issues impacting the Brown classroom. These statements, which may vary term-to-term, can help set expectations for students. Inclusion of any of these statements is completely at the discretion of an individual instructor.

If a course has been approved to fulfill the writing requirement, the syllabus should indicate a statement such as the following:

Because this is a WRIT-designated course, you will be required to complete a minimum of two written assignments. You will receive substantive feedback on your writing, which you will use to help you revise your work or to complete subsequent writing assignments.

Prerequisites will vary from class to class and should be included in the syllabus as applicable.

All Brown syllabi must identify all work required or recommended of students in class (e.g., lecture, lab, discussion, studio work) and out-of-class (e.g., reading, problem sets, research project, papers, field trip, artistic or creative work), with a reasonable estimation of time needed to complete them. Time estimated to complete activities and assessments should total at least 180 hours over the term for a full-credit course.

Note: Use the course description to provide a brief introduction to the course and clarify the broad appeal of your course to students. Think about why your course might be broadly appealing or relevant to a student's future education, career, goals, or personal growth. Some instructors do this by beginning their course descriptions with major themes or big questions (Bain, 2004).