Simple Syllabus is a centralized, template-driven platform that enables instructors to quickly personalize and publish interactive class syllabi—saving your entire campus time, budget, and frustration. This unique approach pulls together established institutional data such as policies, learning objectives, and course section content so faculty don’t have to.
NOTE: Simple Syllabus will be required for all undergraduate courses in Fall 2024.
Simple Syllabus is now available in Canvas! Located in the course menu, simply click “Simple Syllabus” to be brought to your interactive syllabus. Once inside, you’ll find many of the universities required policies, statements, and course information has already been populated for you.
Please login with your myUTSAID to view the video tutorials.
Easy import allows you to copy content from one syllabus to another without formatting issues. Simple Syllabus will notice when you’ve taught a course before and import your last syllabus.
Focus on your content. Any necessary university policies or required statements will automatically be populated in your Simple Syllabus. Colleges and departments can reach out to our team to add additional information that will automatically be included across all course sections.
Track student engagement by showing you which students have viewed your syllabi, how much was read, and how many visits have been made.
Simple Syllabus is available in all Canvas courses via the “Simple Syllabus” link located in the course menu.
This is part of our testing. Rearranging content is currently limited and may not be enabled for your specific program.
Course Copy will not impact Simple Syllabus. When the link is clicked, Simple Syllabus recognizes which course the link is in and directs the faculty to the correct syllabi. A Canvas course copy will not copy your Simple Syllabus to another course. To copy your Simple Syllabus, use the import function inside Simple Syllabus.
Yes! Once your Simple Syllabus is published, you can find a print button at the top. Use this button to get a PDF copy or print your Simple Syllabus.
Watch our tutorial video above titled, Download a PDF copy and upload to Bluebook.
Upload to Bluebook is still required until Simple Syllabus replaces Bluebook in Fall 2024.
Watch our tutorial video above titled, Download a PDF copy and upload to Bluebook.
Available Now, Required for
Undergraduate Courses Fall 2024
Simple Syllabus is a centralized platform integrated into Canvas that allows instructors to quickly and easily create, duplicate, and deploy syllabi. Leveraging institutional data, including university policies and course details, it auto-populates content for faculty, significantly reducing their workload and streamlining syllabus preparation. Additionally, the platform features advanced analytics, enabling faculty to monitor student engagement with the syllabus.
The Design Star Award recognizes an institution that has developed and implemented both a professional and appealing design for their syllabi. Recipients of this award have implemented best practices associated with web design to make sure their content looks good and is easily usable by their students and campus community.
Academic Innovation is happy to announce several enhancements to Simple Syllabus for the Summer 2024 semester. These updates reflect our ongoing commitment to improving both the faculty and student experience:
We appreciate your feedback and are eager to hear any suggestions you may have as we continue to enhance our tools.
Instructor Name: Academic Innovation
Office Location: Academic Innovation Center (MS) 240
Support Hours: M-F 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Phone Number: (210) 458-4520
Email Address: academicinnovation@utsa.edu
Preferred Method of Communication:
Simple Syllabus is available via Canvas! Located in the course menu, simply click “Simple Syllabus” to access your interactive syllabus. Once inside, you’ll find many items already pre-populated for you, such as university policies, course information, and a course schedule of Canvas activities.
Enhance the accessibility of your syllabi with the dedicated features available in Simple Syllabus. The built-in accessibility checker assists faculty in identifying and addressing potential barriers, ensuring content is inclusive and compliant from the start. For additional guidance on creating accessible syllabi, the Simple Syllabus accessibility tips page offers detailed advice and best practices.
Have additional accessibility questions? Email DigitalAccessibility@utsa.edu
Please login to Panopto with your myUTSAID to view the video tutorials.
Last Updated: 4/18/2024
As of Fall 2024, all undergraduate lecture, lab, and seminar courses will be required to use Simple Syllabus to ensure UTSA is in compliance with House Bill 2504. All other undergraduate and graduate courses are not required to use Simple Syllabus, but it is highly encouraged.
Yes, uploading to Bluebook will be required through Summer 2024. Once UTSA fully transitions to Simple Syllabus in Fall 2024, it will no longer be required.
Bluebook will continue to serve as a syllabus repository for courses prior to Fall 2024 and will continue to house faculty vitas and course evaluation results.
As part of UTSA’s Open Access pilot, Simple Syllabus was only enabled in certain Lecture, Lab, and Seminar courses. This limitation will be removed for the Fall 2024 semester, and Simple Syllabus will be automatically available for all courses. To request Simple Syllabus be enabled for your course, please contact Academic Innovation with your course subject, number, and section (MAT 1023 001).
At this time, syllabus components cannot be rearranged. This was intentionally designed to provide consistency across courses, making it easier for students to locate and understand essential information quickly.
Canvas course copies will not impact Simple Syllabus. When the link is clicked, Simple Syllabus recognizes which course the link is in and directs the faculty to the correct syllabi. A Canvas course copy will not copy your Simple Syllabus to another course. To copy your Simple Syllabus, use the import function inside Simple Syllabus.
Yes! Once your Simple Syllabus is published, you can find a print button at the top of the page. Use this button to get a PDF copy or print your Simple Syllabus.