How To Read A College Syllabus— And Why It Matters

Forbes

2 days ago

The conversation always starts the same way. A friend corners me and says, "My kid's a freshman this fall. Any advice?" Or a colleague sighs over coffee: "I'm not sure we're preparing students for what's coming."
Here's what I tell them: This year is different. From the ferocity of the federal government to employers questioning the value of degrees, the public demanding accountability, and AI reshaping every profession, higher education is under attack.
An atmosphere of chaos and complexity may not seem like the right time for innovation. But those are exactly the right conditions for reform and reset.
Enter the lowly course syllabus—that time-honored document students usually scan for grading policy and due dates. This year, it is something much more critical. It is a diagnostic tool for institutional relevance that can reveal whether the instructor and college administration are ready to meet the changing needs of students, or whether they are still talking among themselves about a world in the rearview mirror.
A college curriculum is more than a collection of courses, and a course syllabus is much more than a table of contents. It's a contract for intellectual development -- and a reflection of 2025 realities.
With that in mind, consider these five strategies on how to read a syllabus – and why it matters.
1. The AI Literacy Litmus Test: Almost Non-Negotiable
A few years from now, no one will question the use of AI as a learning tool. But we are in a time of transition. So how should AI fit into a college syllabus?
Here's the tell: If AI appears only in the "Academic Dishonesty" section with stern warnings about cheating with ChatGPT, you're probably looking at an educator who fundamentally misunderstands the moment we're living in. Or one who chooses to ignore it. This is akin to the driving instructor who unplugs the GPS, the biology teacher who rejects the microscope, the accounting professor who bans calculators or digital spreadsheets, and the musicologist who forbids digital audio software.
Look for positive signs in the syllabus: assignments that explicitly involve working with AI rather than hiding from it, or a requirement that students document AI usage as preparation for future work, not punishment.
One practical note: At most schools, you probably can't build an entire semester around AI-savvy professors. According to Educause, over 70% of faculty have discussed generative AI in their courses, but fewer than 25% have integrated it into assignments. 78% of courses still treat AI like academic Kryptonite.
So you'll need to blend the enlightened with the skeptical. But make AI awareness your starting filter for at least some courses. If your professors treat the defining technology of your generation as contraband, what else are they getting catastrophically wrong?
2. The Team Project Imperative: Your Internship Insurance
Technology alone won't cut it -- collaboration is equally essential. Next question: Does the syllabus include group projects?
Bonus points for a syllabus that includes phrases like "team-based projects," "collaborative problem-solving," and "peer review." Individual achievement will always have its place (says the woman who wrote her PhD thesis all by herself), but learning is not just a solo sport. A course without opportunities for teamwork is designed for a world of solitary knowledge workers, while the real world runs on collaboration, cross-functional teams, and the ability to merge different skill sets.
This has always been true, but it is especially critical now as headlines warn 'AI is Wrecking an Already Fragile Job Market for College Graduates.' The AI-workplace will have fewer entry-level positions -- but they will go to those who can demonstrate the skills most prized by employers: critical thinking, communication, and yes, strong teamwork skills.
Why does this matter in a syllabus? Students must have exposure to the workplace to broaden their thinking about careers and to translating their academic skills into the workplace. This is usually the work of internships. But traditional internships have never scaled to meet demand. Only 27% of first-generation college students complete internships, according to Gallup, creating an uneven playing field on which sophisticated, networked college students and their families win and first generation college students lose.
When teams of students are deployed to address real-world problems in partnership with employers, the classroom is expanded and invigorated, with benefits to students, faculty, the college, and the employer.
Teamwork is also a way for students to test out roles and affinities: it reveals the deadline enforcer, the prompt engineer, the most skilled interviewer, the creative visionary, or the steady person who makes things work. Students learn what they love and what they are naturally good at. Most importantly, they will practice the messy, frustrating, essential work of getting things done with other humans.
3. The Skills Integration Question
Third diagnostic: Does this syllabus aspire to blend technical and human capabilities?
Scan the learning outcomes. Computational and analytical abilities mean nothing without the human skills to communicate and apply them. Does the professor expect you to present findings, not just calculate them? Are you encouraged to write for different audiences, not just academic ones?
Be wary of a syllabus that is heavy on unexplained jargon or acronyms - they may signal instructors with unrealistic expectations of what a student already knows. It may also point to faculty who expect students to be budding specialists like them—junior academics headed for graduate school.
And here's the uncomfortable truth: this is one reason higher education has lost the public trust. We've failed to connect and communicate our research and teaching to the social good. If your professors can't articulate why their work matters to the wider world, how will you?
4. The Professor Audit: Who Are You Trusting With Your Brain?
What does this syllabus reveal about the person teaching it? Learn more about the instructor. Look for signs of experience beyond their field. It could be hidden in a reference to current events and how they talk about their research. It could be a syllabus that includes readings from multiple disciplines. Is there any indication that the instructor has updated the course content or teaching style -- or does this syllabus look identical to one from 2015? If the final assignment is one more 15+ page essay, are they open to a video, a group project, a series of practitioner interviews?
Do they seem excited about what they're teaching? Enthusiasm is contagious. Boredom is. too.
Look for professors who embrace contemporary ways of learning - videos, interactive elements, simulations, exploratory formats. The best instructors understand that we don't all learn the same way. Scan for guest speakers, especially practitioners and leaders in their field who may present opposing viewpoints. Professors who bring in outside voices appreciate that their students benefit from multiple perspectives, a useful sign of humility, diversity of thought, and real-world awareness.
5. The Weird Factor: Your Competitive Advantage
How far outside your comfort zone will this syllabus take you?
The courses that seem strangest may be the most important ones to choose. Medieval Literature for the computer science major. Philosophy of Science for the pre-med student. Art History when the student headed to finance.
A syllabus should occasionally raise the alarm: "What am I getting myself into?" If every course on the schedule feels safe and predictable, the direction is wrong. College students are not there to collect credits but to build intellectual range.
The weirdest course on a college transcript might just be the best one to challenge or affirm a deep point of view….and may be the one that tantalizes a future employer.
The Bottom Line: A Syllabus Is a Contract With the Future
For those who worry most about getting a job -- which is most college students -- remember that the first step of a career is critical but it will be followed by multiple career pivots. Employers will be looking for evidence of critical thinking, teamwork, and communication skills, according to NACE, but those are the top attributes that should be baked into the college experience anyway.
A college syllabus provides an initial glimpse into whether this course will be a building block that prepares students for the future.
So when a friend asks me for advice about college, this is where I tell them to start: with the syllabus.
Further Reading: The Thinkers Shaping This Conversation
These ideas were inspired by educators and researchers and employers who are reimagining higher education and careers. They understand that we're not just reforming colleges and universities —we're preparing for the future of human learning itself.
Ethan Mollick (Wharton/One Useful Thing)
Jeff Selingo (ASU/Future U Podcast)
Susan Ambrose (Northeastern)
Michelle Kassorla (Georgia State University)
Northeastern's Experiential Network (XN)
ASU's Experiential Learning Initiatives
World Economics Forum Job Report
AAC&U, Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success (2021).Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, The Future of Good Jobs: Projections through 2031
Business Higher Education Forum report: Expanding Internships: Harnessing Employer Insights to Boost Opportunity and Enhance Learning
And for those who got this far, here are my three favorite novels about innovation and education:
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (personalized, interactive learning)
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (virtual reality, gamification, teamwork)
Ender's Game by Orsen Scott Card (simulation, project-based learning)