The professor at the conference handed around a copy of his class syllabus to illustrate how he had implemented his teaching innovation. He seemed a gentle, polite, and concerned teacher, someone who would be well liked by his students. And yet, viewed through the lens of his syllabus, he appeared a tyrant. The arrogant tone of the document was all too familiar. Instructions to the students read like imperial commands: "You will submit three projects ...," "You will make a five-minute report ...," "You will submit a written version ...," "I will expect regular participation ...," "You must attend class...." His institution's policy on electronic submission of assignments, quoted in the syllabus, was even sterner: "Students bear sole responsibility for ensuring that papers or assignments submitted electronically to a professor are received in a timely manner" and are "obliged to have their e-mail client issue a receipt verifying that the document has been received." Indeed, they should "retain a copy of the dated submission on a separate disk," presumably as proof of having met the deadline.