Writing a syllabus for multiple formats



I find it generally preferable to keep information I use for teaching in a format that allows for different styles of presentation. I’ve written before about how one might keep a CV in a yaml document that outputs to a variety of different possible formats using pandoc. I also use a similar system for syllabi.

The basic idea is to keep your syllabus in a yaml file and export it to html, pdf, or rtf using a makefile. The nice thing about this is that you can, e.g., hand out a nicely formatted PDF (or printout) of your syllabus at the beginning of the semester, and then keep a continually updated version on your course website as HTML, all without having to have multiple documents that you’re editing. You can find the basic template on Github and an example from my PHIL 101 class, also on Github.

The html and latex templates are pretty basic, but serviceable. You should be able to easily modify them to fit your particular needs.