Spruce up your syllabi for spring
Start of Term Notice: January 6, 2026
Accessibility: Help is available
By now you've probably heard about the April 2026 deadline to be compliant with digital accessibility requirements. It's a big job, and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has tons of resources to help you update your course materials.
From PDF remediation to color contrast, closed captions to alt text, CELT's got your back. You can even schedule a one-on-one consultation to get individual assistance.
GenAI in Your Class: How, where, if?
As we continue to hear feedback on Stony Brook's AI Statement of Values, please take a moment to review the document and consider its implications for yourself, your teaching, and your students. The strength of this document is the strength of our community: it allows for diverse perspectives and sets no expectation for how general artificial intelligence should be used.
Start the conversation with your class, as is appropriate for your material and student learning outcomes.
Make your syllabus work for you and your students
Revising or updating your syllabus?
Be sure to include the university's required syllabus statements.
Copy and Paste Syllabus Statements
Consider including a statement about AI
Though not required, we strongly recommend that you include a statement about AI use in your syllabus. The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has one you may consider.
Review Optional AI Syllabus Statement
Contract or Living Document: Find a balance in your syllabus
A syllabus is part contract, part living document. Faculty are encouraged to leave room to occasionally pivot their content to respond to a class' needs, while ensuring that the foundations of the course - assessments, learning outcomes, and grading scale - remain consistent from the start to the end of term.
This way, you can swap readings or discussions in and out as necessary without moving the goalposts on your students. The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching can guide and support you if you need it.
Teaching in a new classroom?
If you'll be teaching in an unfamiliar space this spring or want help integrating new audio/visual technology into the classroom, reach out to DoIT's Classroom Technology Support team. With them, you can visit the classroom, see what tech is available, and make sure you know how to use it - before the first day.
Be more than the minimum
We all work hard to support the teaching, research, and service missions of the Stony Brook community. Even though we're all deeply dedicated to what we do and to our students and colleagues, we remind you that we have expectations for instructors and students articulated in the Minimal Instructional and Student Responsibilities policy.