Open Syllabus Project
Screenshot 501(c)(3) corporation[1] | |
Type of site | Digital database |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Headquarters | New York City, U.S.[1] |
Country of origin | United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Owner | Open Syllabus Inc.[1] |
President | Joe Karaganis |
Managing director | Joe Karaganis |
Key people | |
Industry | Educational research |
Revenue | $1,942,525 (2020)[1] |
Total assets | $1,579,393 (2020)[1] |
Employees | 5 (2020)[1] |
URL | opensyllabus |
Commercial | No |
Registration | None |
Launched | January 2016 |
Current status | Active |
OCLC number | 973953893 |
According to their 2020 Form 990.[1] |
The Open Syllabus Project (OSP) is an online
History
The OSP was formed by a group of
In January 2016, the OSP launched a
Methodology
The OSP has collected syllabi data from over 80 countries[13] dating to 2000.[4] The syllabi stem from over 4,000 worldwide institutions.[14] Most of the OSP's data originates from the United States. Canada, Australia, and the U.K also have large datasets.[10]
The OSP primarily collects syllabi by
The developers behind the OSP admit that the database is incomplete and likely contains "a fair number of errors."[20] Karaganis estimates that 80–100 million syllabi exist in the United States alone. The OSP is unable to access syllabi behind private course-management software like Blackboard.[4]
Notable findings
Anthropology
Using data from the OSP,
Economics
The database indicates Greg Mankiw is the most frequently cited author for college economics courses.[23]
English literature
The OSP found that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the most widely taught novel in college courses.[24][25][26] Additionally, the majority of novels published after 1945 taught in English classes were historical fiction.[27]
Female writers
The most read female writer on college campuses is Kate L. Turabian for her A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations .[28][29] Turabian is followed by Diana Hacker, Toni Morrison, Jane Austen, and Virginia Woolf.[30][31]
Film
The most assigned film according to the OSP is the 1929 Soviet documentary film, Man with a Movie Camera. English filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock is the most assigned director in college courses.[32]
History
Historians
Philosophy
The most assigned texts in the field of philosophy include Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, and Plato's Republic.[34][35] Plato's Republic was also the second most assigned text in universities in the English-speaking world (only behind Strunk and White's Elements of Style).[34]
Physics
David Halliday's et al. Fundamentals of Physics is the number one ranked physics textbook in the OSP's database.[36]
Political science
Data from the OSP indicates that the dominant political science texts are written almost exclusively by white men and scholars based in the West.[37] In the top 200 most-frequently assigned works, 15 are authored by at least one woman.[38]
Public administration
American president Woodrow Wilson's article "The Study of Administration" was the most frequently assigned text in public affairs and administration syllabi.[39]
Reception
According to William Germano et al., the OSP is a "fascinating resource but is also prone to misrepresenting or at least distracting us from the most important business of a syllabus: communicating with students."[40]
Historian William Caferro remarks that the OSP is a "tacit experience of sharing, but a useful one."[41]
English professor Bart Beaty writes that, "Despite the many reservations about the completeness of its data, the OSP provides a rare opportunity for scholars to move beyond the anecdotal in discussions of canon-formation in teaching."[42]
Media theorist
See also
Notes
- Chief Technologist.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Open Syllabus Inc". ProPublica. September 14, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
- ^ "People". Open Syllabus Project. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
- S2CID 213556202.
- ^ S2CID 4466400.
- ^ Herrera, Jack (April 18, 2016). "Open Syllabus Project gives empirical insight into curriculum debates". The Stanford Daily. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
- .
- ^ "The Open Syllabus Project". The American Assembly. January 30, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
- Chicago Maroon. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
- ^ Young, Jeffrey R. (July 19, 2019). "How a Database of 6 Million Syllabi Could Spawn a New Measure of Scholarly Impact". EdSurge. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
- ^ a b Schwab, Katharine (July 16, 2019). "This historic map of 6 million syllabi reveals how college is changing". Fast Company. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022.
- S2CID 109639779.
- ^ S2CID 228830827.
- Bloomberg.
- S2CID 22092987.
- S2CID 67092462.
- ^ Rikard, Andrew (August 4, 2016). "More Than a Million Syllabuses at Your Fingertips". EdSurge. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-4473-2925-1.
- S2CID 228898017.
- ^ Munguia, Hayley (February 19, 2016). "Everyone Still Reads 'To Kill A Mockingbird'". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
- S2CID 225384693.
- S2CID 233623512.
- ISBN 978-1-5292-1365-2.
- ISBN 978-1-4985-6599-8.
- ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
- ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ISSN 0163-755X.
- ^ Johnson, David (February 25, 2016). "These Are the 100 Most-Read Female Writers in College Classes". Time. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
- S2CID 210531081.
- ^ Johnson, Alex (May 8, 2018). "What are students reading at the best universities?". The Independent. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
- MPR News. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
- ^ Dam, Andrew Van (September 9, 2022). "States with the worst brain drain — and more!". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
- Quartz. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-108-56293-5.
- ISBN 978-0-691-20771-1.
- S2CID 230533709.
- S2CID 221115270.
- S2CID 159013812.
- S2CID 158882673.
- ISBN 978-0-691-19221-5.
- ISBN 978-1-119-14712-1.
- Project MUSE.
- ISBN 978-1-315-47385-7.
Further reading
- Karaganis, Joe, ed. (May 4, 2018). Shadow Libraries: Access to Knowledge in Global Higher Education. OCLC 1052851639.