Simple Syllabus is a centralized, template-driven platform that enables instructors to quickly personalize and publish interactive class syllabi directly within Canvas. All Syllabi are automatically stored in a campus-wide repository.

Simple Syllabus is a template-based product that automatically imports course information from Tarleton’s course catalog and class schedule. Templates can be created at the university, college, department, and course level to ensure consistency and compliance with policies. By default, the university template includes all required university policies.

Simple Syllabus can be accessed either through your course shell on Canvas or via the Simple Syllabus website.

To view your syllabus on Canvas you will need to unhide the link by opening your course page and selecting “Settings” from the lefthand bar. Under the “Navigation” tab is a list of available tools. Drag “Simple Syllabus” from the list of disabled pages to the top or click the three dots and select “Enable.”

You can also view your syllabus on the Simple Syllabus site by logging in using your Tarleton credentials.

To unhide the link in Canvas, open your course page and select “Settings” from the lefthand navigation bar. Under the “Navigation” tab is a list of available tools. Simple Syllabus is located under the disabled pages. Enable the tool by dragging “Simple Syllabus” from the disabled pages to the enable tools box or by clicking the three dots to the right of the name and selecting “Enable.”

After unhiding Simple Syllabus within your Canvas course, select the “Simple Syllabus” link from the lefthand navigation bar.

This will open the syllabus for your course. From here you can fill out the fields as appropriate. Fields highlighted in yellow or orange are required. Simple Syllabus automatically saves as you edit the document. Once you have completed your syllabus, you can preview the syllabus and/or submit.

To edit within Simple Syllabus you can either select “View My Dashboard” from within the Simple Syllabus tool in Canvas or log in to the Simple Syllabus site using your Tarleton credentials. This will take you to your dashboard where you can select your course(s) and begin editing.

This will open the syllabus for your course. From here you can fill out the fields as appropriate. Fields highlighted in yellow or orange are required. Simple Syllabus automatically saves as you edit the document. Once you have completed your syllabus, you can preview the syllabus and/or submit.

To use the Simple Syllabus tool within your course you first need to enable it using the instructions above (see: How do I unhide Simple Syllabus in Canvas?). Once the tool in enabled, you can make your edits. Once your syllabus has been submitted it will be available for students to view within Canvas and on the Simple Syllabus site. For more information on access levels, refer to the “Who can see my Syllabus?” question below.

Certain fields on the Simple Syllabus template are set at the university, college, department, or course level and cannot be edited. By default, the following information is established on the university template and cannot be edited by faculty:

• Course Information: Course Prefix and Number, Course Title, Section Number, College, Department
• Course Meeting Information: Term, Credit Hours, Modality, Class Meeting Days and Times
• Assigned Instructor of Record and Email
• Course Catalog Description
• Course Learning Outcomes
• University-wide Policies

Additional components may be set by your college or department.

If you are unable to submit your syllabus, please verify that all required components have been completed. Required fields are highlighted in yellow/orange.

Most commonly, users may encounter an error if they are not listed as the instructor for the course or if they are accessing a syllabus for an unpublished future term.

If you are receiving an error that states “Sorry, we could not locate this section in Simple Syllabus” you will need to give the system more time to update. This can sometimes take up to 24 hours. You will also receive this same error if you are not the instructor of record listed for the course in Banner.

For help with these errors, please contact syllabus@tarleton.edu with a screenshot and brief description of your error.

Components, or fields on your syllabus can be made hidden or visible by toggling the option at the top of each component. Fields that are visible are displayed on the published syllabi while fields that are unselected will not appear on the published document.

Components on your syllabus can be made private or public by toggling the option at the top of each component. Fields that are “public” are displayed to anyone who has access to the published syllabus through the repository. Fields that are private are displayed only to the instructor and students enrolled in the course.

Your teaching assistants should be able to view the syllabus for your courses if you have used the “Campus Community” access option. TAs are not enrolled in your course as a student and may be unable to see the syllabus if you have selected “My Students” as the access level.

TAs will not be able to edit the syllabus for your course as they are not listed as instructors of record. Only instructors of record and Tarleton support staff have editor access to syllabi.

Simple Syllabus has separate access rights than Canvas and does not have an option for faculty to access the syllabi when acting as a student. To see what your completed syllabi will look like, select “Preview” at the bottom of the page.

On the bottom of the editing page in Simple Syllabus, click publish. You will then be presented with two links, one is to a webpage of the syllabus, and the other is a link to the .pdf of the syllabus. If you copy the .pdf link and paste it into the browser it will load the .pdf, then at the top of the page, you will see an option to save the .pdf.

Yes. Simple Syllabus works like Google Docs or Microsoft Office 365 Docs in that it saves in the background as you type. The Publish button publishes the syllabus. After a syllabus is published, it can still be edited and republished.

Simple Syllabus works with most browsers, but Safari can sometimes be problematic. We recommend using the Chrome browser.

If the class has labs or other required meetings that are not reflected in Banner (other sections), a temporary fix is to enter the other meeting times in the Meeting Information. Example: Math class meets MWF and has lab time on Tuesday and Thursday.

You can update how your name is displayed by updating your name in your Canvas profile settings. This field feeds into Simple Syllabus from Banner.

No, the Course Learning Outcomes will be prefilled for you based on the curriculum management system. You will not be able to submit your syllabus if you delete the prefilled outcomes.

No. If the Simple Syllabus is being used for the entire semester, you can disable “Syllabus”. In the Fall, we will disable that navigation item for everyone.

Yes, there are options at the top of the page that allow you to add Simple Syllabus to a module.

Once you have created a Simple Syllabus, you can import it into another class or semester so you don’t have to do the work again. You can even pick and choose which content transfers over for different courses.

You can add a comment in the required textbooks section as to where you can find the textbooks at a lower cost.

If the textbook section is populating the wrong photo of your book, you can find the appropriate photo and upload it to your syllabus.