Whether you’re a veteran or new OM educator, Harvard Business Publishing (June 21, 2022) offers the following syllabus checklist to ensure you set clear, measurable course objectives that align with your graded assignments and instruction topics. Answer yes to the 5 questions below and you’ll have a well-designed course that will more 
effectively teach students what you want them to learn.
1. Are my course objectives clearly defined and relevant? Take a fresh perspective every semester.
2. What do your students want? Try a pre-course survey. Ask: “Where do you want to work? What do you want to do? What are your goals and aspirations for your career?” Perhaps use some of our text’s 100+ case studies that relate to specific goals.
3. What do businesses want? Try connecting with people in the field and asking, “What do you wish you’d learned when you were an undergrad or grad OM student?” Ask the same of your alumni.
4. Do your assessments adequately measure student progress? Find a way to measure whether students are grasping the material and meeting their goals. Try giving quick, ungraded assessments consisting of a few short questions. Or do entry tickets before students sit down or exit tickets at the end of class, depending on whether you want to assess how well they grasped the reading assignment or what they just learned in class.
5. Do instructional experiences align with the objectives? Students don’t like busy work. So when you’re planning out assignments, discussion topics, lectures, and guest speakers, be clear about how they all align with the course objectives. For example, if you’ve assigned a group project for a case study or a MyOMLab simulation, explain to your students how this will help them learn. Let them know this exercise is teaching them to collaborate, work in teams, and be a leader—skills they will need in their future careers.
One big complaint from students is that we can go off on tangents with topics that don’t end up on tests or graded assignments. This occurs when there’s a lack of alignment between your course objectives and your instruction, assignments, and assessments. If you use your end goals as drivers for planning, your syllabus will have purpose, structure, and transparency—and your students may be more willing and active participants in your class.