Getting Started with Simple Syllabus
- Erin Warner
Simple Syllabus is UA’s new online syllabus platform. This article will guide instructors through the process of accessing, editing, and publishing their syllabus to the platform.
This is a guide for instructor users only.
Accessing your syllabus
There are three ways an instructor may access syllabi to complete and submit:
Through myBama on the Faculty and Advisors page.
Through UAs’ Simple Syllabus site at http://ua.simplesyllabus.com . All assigned syllabi would be on the Dashboard under 'Open Items'. To access the publisher from the open items' dashboard, simply click the pencil icon on the left-hand side of the listed item and begin editing the syllabus.
Through the instructors' course in Blackboard.
Add the Simple Syllabus link to your Blackboard Course
In your course menu, add a tool link to Simple Syllabus. Click on the + icon at the top of the side menu bar and click 'Tool Link'.
Select 'Simple Syllabus' from the drop-down list. Select the check box if you wish to make the syllabus 'Available to Users'. This can be changed later, if desired.
Click Submit. Then click the Syllabus link you just created to begin reviewing and editing the syllabus.
Editing syllabus components
Once in the publisher, you will see your syllabus broken down into components, or groups of information. You may have the ability to edit certain components within the syllabus while other elements may be locked - these are settings defined by the institution. Of the editable components, some might be required while others are optional.
Required components will be outlined in orange and say ‘required’ in the bottom left corner, and they must have content input into them before the syllabus can be submitted.
Syllabus component types
Components that you can edit will have one of the following input boxes for you to work with:
Content Component — The content component allows you to add or edit rich text within the document through a web-based word processing software. With Simple Syllabus, you can create your content from scratch or copy and paste from a desktop application such as Microsoft Word. Within a content component you will have the ability to take advantage of several key features:
Styling - The online editing tool gives users the ability to style components in a variety of ways including justification, highlights such as bold, italics, or underline, style tags such as heading, paragraph, or preformatted, and indentation.
Lists - The online editing tool supports both bulleted and numbered lists within the syllabus.
Tables - Users can quickly create complex tables within Simple Syllabus using the table feature. Like features in Microsoft Word, users can apply shading, merge cells, modify borders, determine length, and more.
Images and video - Users can add images and videos to content components by uploading from their device or providing a URL.
Dynamic Blocks - Dynamic blocks automatically populate variable data into your syllabus from Banner without manual intervention from a user. You might use dynamic blocks to inject the course title, day/time and location of your class, or any other data point that is being imported into Simple Syllabus from Banner.
Instructor Component — Instructor components populate with instructor information for each instructor assigned to the section. The fields that make up an instructor component (Name, Email, Phone, etc.) are predefined by your administrators at the template level. Some information might be pre-populated if it is coming from Banner or if you have manually input it onto your user profile, but others might be empty. To edit the fields, click the pencil icon to the left of the instructor information, and when you are done inputting information click Save.
Importing content from another syllabus
Once you have built one or more syllabi in Simple, you may choose to import content from any of your previously submitted syllabi by clicking on the 'Replace with a different syllabus?' button at the top of the publisher. After clicking, you will then be able to filter syllabi by term or by a general keyword search. Simply click on the syllabus you would like to copy to begin your import.
Save and Submit
All changes made to your syllabus will be automatically saved, but not published. After all required components have been completed, you can submit and publish the syllabus by clicking ‘Submit’ at the bottom of the syllabus. If the Submit button is greyed out, review the syllabus to ensure all required fields have been completed, otherwise, you will be unable to submit.