The syllabus of every class appears on the 'registration guide' of our university's website before students register for classes each new semester. Students decide on each class with considerable weight given to expectations based on the syllabus. It is a tool of communication between professors and students before registration. Syllabuses play a key role in students' study plans, which are quite dependent on them even after registration. However, one student was upset about one class in 2010, as the professor brought a syllabus from the old days when they had 16 weeks of lectures a semester and the professor happened to discuss with students about modifying the syllabus on the first day of class.
Dankook University (DKU) announces through the registration guide that the maximum number of students will be changed randomly based on classroom availability. However, there were more lectures that did not follow the syllabus than lecturers that followed the syllabus. In 'Spanish Conversation 1,' for example, students were separated randomly, and the professor was changed. Auxiliary textbooks were required due to these changes, which made students have to spend extra money. For 'Chinese Conversation 1,' the professor changed from the beginning of the class. Fortunately, it did not cause too much chaos as the substitute professor decided to use the same textbook and follow the syllabus in general. Students also could cancel their classes if they wanted to, as they had one more change period left to fix their schedule.
However, there was a class in which the professor was changed after the class revision period. This ended up bringing notable losses to the students. He was supposed to conduct the classes 'Global Leadership and Self-Innovation' and 'Understanding & Utilization of Social Networks,' both in Jukjeon and Cheonan Campus. However, he resigned in order to run in the general election. He registered as a candidate for the election before the semester began, but he promised to give the lectures until the end of the semester. Students planned for studying in the courses following the syllabus of each class. There were delays of classes because the professor was busy, but after the class revision period passed, he had to let go of the lectures and passed them to another professor. As soon as the new professor was appointed to take over the class, students got confused by his different way of teaching and they even had to buy new textbooks. Furthermore, there were students who were already preparing for the group project the former professor had assigned to students, and their work ended up being of no use. Along with the change in lecturer, the difficulty of the classes changed, but students had to just take the lectures since the class revision period had ended.
The Dankook Herald (DKH) interviewed the head of the Educational Support Department for Liberal Arts (ESDL) about certain changes of professor or syllabus.
DKH: We wonder how ESDL deals with inaccurate syllabuses. What do you think about professors who give up lectures to run in the general election?
Manager: He is obliged to give up his lectures. Each course's syllabus has been changed as the new professor has taken over, and the new syllabuses were uploaded right away. He suddenly decided to give up two lectures both in Jukjeon Campus and Cheonan Campus, and he asked for his classes to be taken care of by other professors. We figured that the professor had registered as a candidate when we saw two classes had been canceled and two supplementary lessons were planned in a row.
DKH: Do you know the sudden changes of professors drags students' compliants out?
Manager: We understand the inconvenience. It can be a problem when new professors do not meet students' expectations, however, new professors try to give lectures diligently. We cannot judge the lectures yet, as evaluation of each lecture won't be shown until the end of this semester. We are thinking hard about how to deal with this sort of problem when it occurs next time.
In short, it seems that they do not have any standard alternatives when some irresponsible professors give up their lectures. Professors need to show their responsibility and respect their students, and the university should prepare countermeasures to prevent this kind of embarrassing happening at our university.
We heard from some students who went through similar situations.
DKH: Is there any class that you are currently attending that has a big difference between the syllabus and the actual lecture?
Park (sophomore, Business Administration): One was 'Philosophy with Themes.' According to the syllabus, its grading system was divided into 30% each for the final and midterm exam, 20% for quizzes and 20% for attendance. However, I had to write two reports instead of taking quizzes. It was a disaster, as I prefer quizzes to reports. Another example is 'Celebrity Invitation Seminar.' The syllabus stated, "Final exams 30%, midterm 30%, report 20%, quiz 0%, attendance 20%," whereas  attendance turned out to affect the grade most at 40%. There were no final and midterm exams, and we had to take a quiz every class. I was so confused because that class was introduced completely different on orientation day.
Lee (junior, English Language and Literature): I did a double major in Business Administration. On the syllabus for 'International Financial Management' class, it said we had to hand in reports during class, but it turned out that there was no report to write. 'Marketing' class is a similar case. The syllabus did not mention anything about presentations, but I eventually had to give a presentation during the class.
Lee (junior, Environmental and Resource Economics): 'Choice and Concentration' is a lecture that includes discussion sessions every class according to the syllabus. First, class begins with taking vocational aptitude tests, and you discuss issues after reading books about employment, visit a job center and Private Occupational Conference, visit the employment office and write a report. It also says that you hand out your resume and letter of self-introduction. However, the resume and letter of self-introduction were the only two that were done within the semester. Honestly, I had very high expectations when I registered for this class. As I mentioned, the class did not meet my expectations at all, and I was really disappointed about the class.
As expressed through the interviews, certain lectures do not meet students' expectations, and the university is still not producing a clear explanation about cases, such as a professor dropping a class due to the general election. Syllabuses are provided for students' convenience, however, if they only serve to add to students' dissatisfaction and develop distrust towards professors, they will degenerate into rubbish. Figuratively speaking, registrating for a class by scanning through the syllabus is the same as a voter taking a ballot in an election by one's pledge. In other words, a professor who provides an inaccurate syllabus should accept students' complaints just like those politicians get denounced by the public when they beg for a vote with false pledges. This has to be improved as soon as possible, since our university belongs to its students.