I suppose in a way this is a variant of your reason #1 (unfamiliarity with the technology), but I really think it’s fundamentally different; it would be trivial for me to create a new weblog and post a syllabus there. Similarly, I could post it on my own webpage, or I could post it in Blackboard here on campus. So the technology for *posting* is not an obstacle, but in none of the cases I list above would a posted syllabus actually be read by anyone, because they wouldn’t find it.

Do other fields have sites for posting syllabi that have a significant number of readers? I don’t know of one in my own field (astronomy). It’s a great idea, but I’m just not familiar with a forum where it would work. Am I missing something obvious?

I’m supposed to submit my books for next semester NOW. Before I even know if I’m going to teach in the spring. My books and other materials for the fall are now locked in, and in the bookstore. If I put up a draft of my syllabus, how does it help me if people question my reading selections, or if they offer suggestions? I can’t do anything about them at this point, and the odds of my getting to teach the course next year aren’t great. So I don’t have much practical incentive at this point.

It’s also a matter of priorities. I hate to say it, but as a part-time adjunct, revising and tweaking my syllabus isn’t something that’s high on my list. I want to get it done, and not think about it too much afterward, because the last thing I need is to keep adjusting it and second-guessing it throughout the semester. I have more immediate concerns, like writing my lectures, grading, and handling the inevitable problems that crop up among the students.

But then, I’m in the process of re-credentialing myself in order to career-shift out of teaching, so perhaps I’m not a good example.

There are differences from the situation you describe: the sharing is within the department, the syllabi are not drafts, this is primarily done for intro courses, and the material tends to be less ideological so there’s little risk that David Horowitz will pitch a fit about your presentation of grammatical case in Icelandic. Still, class materials are thought of as communal resources and people are willing to share.

Of course, this makes no difference to Tim’s objection #1, but for academics who want to use the web for a broad variety of tasks but still find it technically daunting, the landscape might be becoming a lot more welcoming.

Imposter syndrome is another problem, I’m sure, and I think this is related to the comment about not wanting to be monitored: at my own institution, we have no routine way of looking in on one another’s classes, even at tenure time, though I think that would be hugely beneficial both for learning how other people manage their material and their students, and for transparency. Who among us doesn’t continue to worry about being caught out in a stupidity? I started blogging about my teaching a couple of years ago, partly because I agree that being open about what actually happens in our classrooms might actually help dispel some of the myths that have depressing currency in the culture at large. I found one of my own biggest mental hurdles (even after more than a decade of experience) was overcoming the anxiety that my classroom work would somehow not withstand public scrutiny, that I was actually doing it wrong, or should be doing it differently. (Blogging in general is certainly therapeutic for this–though I have colleagues, too, who read blogs but refuse to comment because they refuse to commit themselves in public… so more of the same.)