FAQs

Simple Syllabus makes the creation of syllabi convenient and efficient for instructors by providing a template with fields for all required and optional elements (eliminating the need to consult syllabus guidelines); accessing and updating of previous syllabi is easy, as are tools generating visually interesting syllabi that include images, audio, and video; much of the necessary information will be centralized and automatically pre-populated into syllabi templates.

While the use of Simple Syllabus itself is not required, the following three current requirements can be fulfilled by using Simple Syllabus in one single 10-minute session. For this reason, we encourage faculty to try out this tool as a way to reduce their administrative burden, because the Simple Syllabus tool makes these three tasks obsolete:

1. Copy-and-pasting updated SMU syllabus statements each term for each syllabus. Instead of faculty having to locate/copy/paste the updates of these statements every term, Simple Syllabus pre-populates the statements automatically with no time or effort required by faculty.
2. Meeting disability accessibility standards for all syllabi. All syllabi must be in a format that meets disability accessibility standards. Simple Syllabus formats all syllabi to these standards in a digital format, and it exports to Word in appropriate formats. Simple Syllabus also meets mobile usage accessibility standards.
3. Uploading every syllabus each term to the SMU Syllabus Library. In the past, faculty and staff have had to upload a copy of each of their syllabi every single term to the SMU Syllabus Library. Simple Syllabus automatically loads to the Syllabus Library, and faculty can easily select to upload only partial elements of their syllabus, if they choose. Faculty can also, with one click, roll their syllabi over from term to term. This reduces the burden on both faculty and, in many units on campus, staff who have been tasked with this work.

If you have questions or concerns, you may contact facultysuccess@smu.edu.

Simple Syllabus is designed for you to copy and paste any information from a current syllabus document you have or type directly into the different component boxes. It accepts images, hyperlinks, and other rich content. If you need more sections than the preset components, you can simply add more by selecting "+Add" and then "Reorder" to arrange them in the order that makes sense for your course. 

If you are teaching courses that are cross-listed, you will need to go directly to the Simple Syllabus portal and login. From there, you can edit the syllabus for each course section. You can also preview the syllabus to see exactly what the students would see. Students will view the syllabus for their appropriate section directly from the Simple Syllabus navigation link in Canvas.

As the instructor or TA, you will see an error message in Canvas when trying to view Simple Syllabus in a cross-listed course. This is because you are enrolled in more than one course section and the Simple Syllabus view only pulls one section for a user. As long as each syllabus for each course section is complete, the students will see the syllabus that corresponds with their course section. 

The content from your most recently submitted syllabus will automatically populate onto your current syllabus. If you prefer to start from a different syllabus than the one that auto-imported, you can click 'Replace with a different syllabus' at the top of the publisher to search for and import the syllabus of your choosing.

When you edit a syllabus, your changes will only apply to the specific syllabus that you that make the changes in, regardless of whether or not you are teaching other sections of the same course.

Simple Syllabus has the ability to sync items that would appear on the Canvas course summary into the Simple Syllabus component titled Canvas Course Schedule. This section lists (with hyperlinks) all published assignments, discussions, and quizzes within the course and includes due dates and point totals, much like the course summary on the Canvas Syllabus tool. As assignments are updated in Canvas, they will be updated on Simple Syllabus (you may need to refresh the component using the circular arrows). A very important note: any changes to due dates, points, assignment name, etc. must be done in Canvas first and then synced to Simple Syllabus. If you make the change in Simple Syllabus first, it will break the synchronization.

For single section courses, you can use Student View to see the Simple Syllabus.

Student View does not work for viewing Simple Syllabus in cross-listed courses. You will see an error message instead of the syllabus when viewing in Student View. Instead, click “Preview” on the syllabus if you would like to see a finalized version of it. The student’s view is the same as the preview (and the instructor view minus the “Edit syllabus” button & the analytics bar).

Yes! Once all the changes are saved, you can submit it again, and the most recent version will appear for your students and in the Simple Syllabus Library. All syllabi will display the "last updated" date.

You can see your previous syllabi in Simple Syllabus by logging in directly to the portal at smu.simplesyllabus.com and selecting "Published". This also provides ways for you to share your syllabus as well.

Yes, Simple Syllabus allows instructors to track student engagement with syllabi using the student engagement feature. If you are working directly in Simple Syllabus, you can view the web version by navigating to the ‘Published’ tab, searching for your syllabus, and clicking ‘View’. If you are working in your LMS environment, you can simply navigate to the published syllabus in your LMS. The blue horizontal indicates the number of students that have viewed the syllabus (dark blue) and the number of students that have not viewed the syllabus (light blue).

Public means that SMU faculty and staff can see this information displayed in the Simple Syllabus Library when the syllabus is published. Private means that only the instructor and students in that particular course section can see the information when the syllabus is published.

Visible means that this component appears on the finalized version of the syllabus. Invisible means that the component is not displayed on the published version of the document. Note: Leaving a component blank will also render it invisible on the syllabus.

The SMU syllabus repository is archived. The Simple Syllabus library is the university syllabus management system. All SMU faculty, staff, and students have access to the Simple Syllabus library by logging directly into the Simple Syllabus portal at smu.simplesyllabus.com.