Course Syllabus (Simple Syllabus): FAQs

• When and How do I access my Course Syllabus (Simple Syllabus)?

  Your syllabus is available to edit about 133 days before the start date of a term. There are two ways to access your course's syllabus in Simple Syllabus.

  1. Directly in Canvas: If you do not see Course Syllabus in the left-hand course navigation links, then you can add it through the Course Navigation tab in Course Settings. Review the following guide for more instructions: How Do I Manage My Course Navigation Links?

  2. You can access your syllabi directly in the Simple Syllabus site.

• Where can I find the FSCJ Public Syllabus Library?

  You can access FSCJ's public syllabus library at fscj.syllabus.edu. The library allows you to search for published syllabi using various filters, including instructor, term, and course information. If you want to access the full version of a syllabus, then you MUST be logged in. To log into the Simple Syllabus site, you will select the profile icon in the upper right and select log in.

• Will students be notified if I make a change to my syllabus?

  Yes, all students enrolled in an active course will be notified when there are updates to a syllabus via their student email account. However, note that the notification only says that changes have been made; it will not explain what the changes were. If you make significant changes, then you may want to send an announcement detailing the changes to the syllabus.

• Why is Simple Syllabus not loading in either Canvas or the Syllabus website?

  If you encounter a gray error screen in Canvas or the Simple Syllabus site fails to load, the issue is likely browser-related. Try clearing your browser’s cache and cookies, then update and restart your device. You may also find this article helpful: Simple Syllabus Browser Support & Troubleshooting.

• How does the syllabus Course Calendar work with Canvas?

  The Course Calendar component syncs with your published Canvas assignments, giving students a view of the what they will be expected to do in the class. However, there are a few nuances that you should be aware of:

  • If you need to make any changes to an assignment, you need to make the change in Canvas and not in this syllabus component. If you manually edit a cell in the Course Calendar table in Simple Syllabus, it will lose its connection with Canvas and will no longer sync. You can use the Reset feature, selecting only this component, to remove all manual edits and resync the component back with your Canvas course. Resyncing will update the syllabus with changes you made to the assignment.

  • Unpublished assignments will not show in the syllabus. If you publish assignments after publishing your syllabus, you would need to open your syllabus to edit, and then click submit for students to see the updated changes in the syllabus.

  • If you delete an assignment in Canvas, it does not automatically delete in the syllabus. To remove an assignment in the syllabus, click the trash can icon.

  • If the assignments are not in chronological order, you can either: 1. manually drag and drop the assignments to the correct place, or 2. Reset the Course Calendar component by using the Reset button on the left-hand menu and choosing Course Calendar to reset.

• Why are some components public or private?

  To meet state requirements, some areas of your course syllabus must be available publicly. Simple Syllabus allows instructors to meet this requirement while also keeping certain parts of your syllabus viewable only to you, your students, or FSCJ admins. The areas that are not required to be public are marked as private. The following is an overview of the differences:

  • If public, that component will be visible in the published syllabus within the public syllabus library. This means anyone may view this part of the syllabus whether or not they are an FSCJ student or employee.

  • If private, that component will only be visible to those with an FSCJ credential (students in your course, course administrators, or system administrators).

• How do I clear text formatting?

  If you copy/paste text and it looks weird, or if you applied a bunch of formatting that you would like to clear back to the original, unformatted text, highlight the text and click the “clear formatting” button in the editor (looks like an A with a slash). Review this short video to see how!

• How does Canvas's Student View work with Simple Syllabus?

  Please note that “Student View” in Canvas will not view the full syllabus in Canvas because that view is not through a registered student. This means that “student view” in Canvas will only open the public version of the syllabus and not the full version that you and your students see. If you would like to view the syllabus as a student would, you only need to click “preview” while in the editing screen, or open it within Canvas after publishing.

• Why am I seeing a grey/blank box?

  Not often, but sometimes when text is copy-and-pasted into the Simple Syllabus editor, the original formatting will be incompatible to the point that the pasted formatting breaks the editor! But do not worry. There are a few things to try:

  1. Reset the component by using the Reset option on the left menu and resetting that one component. From there you can try editing again.

  2. See if you can select the text and clear the formatting. You can clear formatting by clicking the A with the slash in the editor.

  If you are still having issues, then please submit a ticket at help.fscj.edu in the Canvas tile, choose Syllabus.

• Why can't students (or myself) see the full version of the syllabus?

  Keep in mind that only you, your students, and FSCJ administrators can see the full version of your syllabus that includes private components. To see the full version of the syllabus, you and your students will need to be logged into the system with FSCJ credentials, either within Canvas or in the Simple Syllabus site.

  However, if you cannot view the full syllabus even though you ARE logged into Canvas, then the issue can likely be resolved by enabling third-party cookies in the web browser.

  The following guide gives detailed instructions on how to enable third-party cookies for the supported browsers: Simple Syllabus Browser Support & Troubleshooting

For more information about using Simple Syllabus, view the IT Services List. For support using the tool, submit a ticket at help.fscj.edu.