Dear UHD Instructors,
We are soft launching Simple Syllabus this Fall 2025 Term.
What I mean by “soft launch” is that you will have two options for posting your syllabi, per PS 03A29 §3.2, within the Canvas LMS:
- OPTION (1) at the top of the Canvas left-hand menu bar you will see a link to the old style “Syllabus.”
or
- OPTION (2) at the bottom of the Canvas left-hand menu bar you will see a link to “Simple Syllabus.”
Note: if you select OPTION (1), you will also be required by HB 2504 to post your syllabus a second time (in addition to Canvas) in UHD’s “eSyllabus system. Directions regarding public posting are found on UHD’s HB2504 page.
If you select OPTION (2), the Canvas-Posted Simple Syllabus is automatically publicly posted on the uhd.simplesyllabus.com website, thereby fulfilling HB 2504. Therefore, under OPTION (2), you will not be required to use the UHD eSyllabus system. Further, OPTION (2) has the advantage of pre-populating required information, including Subject Code, Catalog Number, CRN, Title, Description, Prerequisites, Number of SCHs, Meeting Time, Meeting Place, Instructor’s Name, Instructor Office and Email, and Standard Syllabus Language, on topics such as Religious Holidays, Roster Certification, etc.
If you make your way to the Simple Syllabus page inside Canvas, you will see that some of the subhead content areas, referred to as “components,” pre-populate with text that is editable, such as the “Technology” component. You will also see, on the right-hand side of the instructor view, that there is text that describes what is expected within each editable component. Note that the “AI” component, on the far-right-hand side, provides wording options. Further, you will note that your course learning outcomes may or may not prepopulate (you will be able to edit this component, but if there is a problem with the prepopulated CLOs, please reach out to your program coordinator to let them know about the issue. Please ignore text that looks like “PLO1,” “PLO2,” etc.: these are Course Learning Outcome field names that are not viewable to the user, when published).
I will be hosting the first virtual office meeting, on Simple Syllabus, tomorrow (7/25) at 2:30 p.m., for those of you who are interested in learning more. A Microsoft Outlook invite will be sent out to everyone, with a zoom link.
In addition to the Virtual Office meetings on Simple Syllabus, we will be developing training videos. Stay tuned.
Very best,
David
