2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The purpose of this WIP research paper is to demonstrate the ways that instructors can turn an under-utilized element of their course, the syllabus, into a novel pedagogical tool. Instructors regularly bemoan the fact that students rarely "read the syllabus", which is usually a text-heavy technical document which students only engage with on Day One of the course. In this paper, I describe how I take inspiration from Dr. Carmen Kynard's concept of a zine syllabus to engage students throughout an undergraduate engineering course.

Zines are small-batch, self-published “magazines”, usually made by hand and then photocopied by an individual or small group. They have their roots in fanzines, self-published comics made in the pre-Internet days, but they’re also rooted in queer, punk, and feminist knowledge-sharing practices. Zines are a medium that deliberately subverts traditional publishing with DIY aesthetics and information not typically found in traditional news outlets, such as survival strategies for marginalized peoples. With this medium, we can subvert the typical academic text and provide course information that is most valuable to students, particularly to those with diverse learning styles.

Here, I discuss the use of zines (aka "STEAM Zines") as the course syllabi in my undergraduate Process Dynamics and Control course. In addition to the usual information found in a syllabus (the course description, lecture times, statements on Title IX, etc.), students can find tips on how to succeed in the course, resources for mental health or other basic necessities, affirmations that they're doing a great job in the course, space to doodle, and so much more. As prior research on graphic syllabi shows, the use of colorful visual aids in the syllabus fosters a more creative and dynamic learning environment, serves as an accessibility feature, and adds a necessary personal touch to what is often a very dry document. For example, the university-mandated statement on academic dishonesty is accompanied with personal messages from the instructor about what academic honesty means to them, and the statement on academic accommodations sits beside a visualization of engineers with disability aids to remind students that their disabilities are not only tolerated but embraced. The syllabus also contains a complete equation sheet, including tables of Laplace transforms and other useful correlations, which students use on their homework or quizzes. Thus, the syllabus zine is an engaging document that serves as a "field guide" to the course that they keep returning to all semester, a resource made with love that students can literally keep in their back pocket to reference when they're in need of critical resources.