General Compliance Questions
Which components are required
for compliance, and which are
optional?
The base syllabus template,
before anybody adds content, is
designed to show faculty which components
are required, and which are merely
recommended. Instructors won’t even be
able to submit their syllabus if they do
not fill out the required components, and
that’s how we are making it easier for
them to know what is required and what is
optional. The required components
are:
- Instructor Information
- Brief Description of
Assignments/Exams
- Grading Scale
- Engagement Plan *
- Required Text or Materials *
*Note that the Engagement Plan is
filled out already and
just requires instructors to finish up
some of the highlighted sections. Also,
Required Text or Materials is set to
optional only because the component type
doesn’t fit all situations. Even though it
is optional, that is one of the main
key requirements, and I’ve tried to
indicate that in the help text.
Besides those, there are plenty
of components that are required, but also
automatically populated, such as Course
Description and Course Student Learning
Outcomes. Faculty do not have the ability
to remove these components, but they also
don't have to fill them out.
We also highly recommend adding
information to Additional
Policies, since that will help round out
all of the key requirements set by the
legislature.
These requirements are:
- Required or recommended reading
assignments
- General description of subject matter
of each
unit of study
- A brief description of each major
course
requirement, including each major
assignment and examination
Do you have any more information about
specifically how each of these
requirements need to be met?
In general you have a lot of
flexibility to use your own judgement to
fulfill the key requirements as well as
fill out the required components listed
above. It is very likely that most or all
of the content in the syllabus you created
before we adopted Simple Syllabus is
comprehensive and compliant.
However, we have two different
sample syllabi and one generalized
template that can show you some examples
of compliant and non-compliant
components.
Why is my syllabus due on December
1st?
December 1st has been chosen
because it is before faculty are
contractually finished for the semester,
before finals week begins, and allows you
some time to work on your syllabus before
support staff are out of office for the
holiday break.
Master Syllabus Questions
How do you get access to a
Master Syllabus?
The same as you would get access to
things in Canvas. Someone from the
department, like an AD or admin assistant,
reaches out to elearningsupport@slcc.edu and requests it.
How long does someone keep
access to the Master
Syllabus?
Once you are assigned a Master
Syllabus, you will have access to it
throughout the rest of the
semester. We keep a running list of
people who work on them, so when a new
semester is open, the same folks will have
access to the new list of Master
Syllabi.
Is it possible to break the
connection between a regular syllabus
and a Master Syllabus?
Yes, it is possible. When a
Master Syllabus populates a regular
section syllabus, there is a connection
between all of the components. This allows
you to update a component in the Master
Syllabus and automatically "push" that
change to the live syllabus.
That connection is broken when an
instructor edits the component. For
example, if the Master Syllabus has
content in the Additional Policies and
Grading Scale components, and an
instructor swaps in a different grading
scale in the live syllabus, the Master
Syllabus Grading Scale component is no
longer connected no matter what changes
are made. But, the Additional Policies
will continue to be connected to the
Master Syllabus. You can lock a component
to stop that from happening.
How do I get help?
Additional help can be found by visiting
the following guides: