Course Syllabus (Simple Syllabus): FAQs

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

  Your syllabus is available to edit 145 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 (please note that Canvas courses are not available until 90 days before the start of a term). 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 at https://syllabus.fscj.edu.

• When should I begin using Simple Syllabus?

  Now! Or, in Spring 2025 when the Simple Syllabus tool will be the default syllabus option in Canvas as a navigation link called Course Syllabus.

  Moving forward, syllabi will be available about 100 days before the start of term in the Simple Syllabus site (syllabus.fscj.edu). Keep in mind that Canvas courses are not available until 90 days before the start of term, so to access a syllabus before 90 days, you would need to go to the Simple Syllabus site instead of your Canvas shell.

• When will the FSCJ Online Syllabus Builder no longer be accessible?

  Starting with the Spring 2025 semester, the Online Syllabus Builder /Blue Wave Syllabus Builder should no longer be used to create or upload syllabi. Simple Syllabus will be the syllabus building tool that instructors should use to create, store, and share syllabi. This will be the system that supervisors review, students will be directed to view, and will enable FSCJ to meet state requirements.

• 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.

• 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.

• Is the syllabus required to be made public?

  Yes, to meet state requirements, your course syllabus must be available publicly. Adopting Simple Syllabus allows instructors to meet this requirement, while providing flexibility for parts of their syllabi that are viewable only to students and administrators.

  When syllabi are created and submitted through Simple Syllabus, they are available on the FSCJ Syllabus Library. However, each component provides a toggle to empower instructors to customize their syllabus.

  Each editable component within the syllabus template has help text to guide you through the creation process. Within the help text, you will learn whether the component is required to remain public, required in the syllabus but may be marked as private, or if the component is optional (meaning instructors can choose to leave this out of their syllabus entirely).

  • If public, that component will be visible within the public syllabus library when the syllabus is submitted. This means anyone may view this version of the document 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).

  To comply with state requirements, some components must remain in a public state. Those components are:

  • Header

  • Course Information

  • Course Location

  • Required Materials

  • Course Outline

  • Course Learning Outcomes

  • Grade Breakdown

  Instructors have the ability to edit Required Materials, Course Outline, Course Learning Outcomes, and the Grade Breakdown, but please ensure they remain in a public state. You can confirm that through the Public toggle above the components. 

• 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 is a component I added not automatically importing to my other syllabus?

  As you may know, you are able to add additional components in your syllabus using the + Add feature. However, we have found that these components are not automatically copying to other syllabi UNLESS you keep the component public. This means that if you want an additional component copied to another syllabus, you will need to make sure that component is set to “public” first (which is the default and you can see the toggle at the top where you edit the component). Once you are finished copying your syllabi, you can go back and set the component to private if you wish and then re-submit the 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: syllabus.fscj.edu.

  However, there are times when a user may not see the full version of the syllabus that includes the private components (like Instructor Information) even though they ARE logged into Canvas. Why is that? The most likely reason for the issue is that third-party cookies need to be enabled 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

• How do I remove extra instructors on the syllabus?

  If an instructor was encoded for the class before you, then you may still see the previously encoded instructor on your syllabus and in Canvas. If so, then please email Syllabus@fscj.edu so that we can manually remove them.

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