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Faculty Guidelines

Welcome to Simple Syllabus!

As of May 2023, faculty can access Simple Syllabus: a digital syllabus application. Simple Syllabus is a template-driven platform that automatically archives all syllabi and provides a repository for public access as stated in Florida SB 7044. As with our previous syllabus template, some content areas are prepopulated with text that should be included verbatim. Sections containing this required content are locked from editing. Other content areas should be personalized to your course and may contain help notes with content examples. Syllabi will automatically link to Falcon Online.

To understand the basic structure of documents in Simple Syllabus, please refer to the definitions below. Instructors can edit section syllabi. Simple Syllabus Designers, typically DSC department chairs, edit Course Syllabi/Foundation Course documents.


Simple Syllabus Definitions
Course Syllabus/Foundation Course A document that lives at the course level and whose content propagates down to syllabi for all course sections. Sections in this document are locked from instructor editing.
Section Syllabi Documents instructors edit and personalize for their corresponding sections. 

For more information regarding Simple Syllabus processes, please refer to the video below:

Simple Syllabus Access

There are two ways to access Simple Syllabus: Falcon Online and/or Falcon Self-Service. When using Falcon Online or Falcon Self-Service, instructors should not have to log in more than once if already logged into PeopleSoft.

 

To access Simple Syllabus using Falcon Self-Service please follow these steps.

  1. Open a Web Browser and navigate to www.daytonastate.edu.
  2. Then select “MYDAYTONASTATE”.
  3. When the page loads, “Falcon Self Service” from the tiles
  4. Then log in with your normal college credentials firstname_lastname@daytonastate.edu.
  5. If you have Multifactor authentication, make sure to pass the challenge to log in.
  6. A new page will load
  7. Next, select “Syllabus” from the tiles.
  8. This will load the "Simple Syllabus" home page. 

 

To access Simple Syllabus using Falcon Online please follow these steps.

  1. Open a Web Browser and navigate to www.daytonastate.edu.
  2. Then select “MYDAYTONASTATE".
  3. When the page loads, select “Falcon Online" from the tiles
  4. Then log in with your college credentials firstname_lastname@daytonastate.edu.
  5. If you have Multifactor authentication, make sure to pass the challenge to log in.
  6. A new page will load
  7. Next, scroll down to the "My Courses" section and click on a course shell.
  8. The course page will load, now select “Syllabus” from the navigation bar.
  9. This will load "Simple Syllabus" directly within Falcon Online.

FAQs

Simple Syllabus Dashboard

The instructor dashboard has two view modes: column and list view. For details related to the dashboard and its different functions, please refer to the screenshots below. (NOTE: All screenshots reflect the Instructor Role views, but the overall functionality remains the same despite different roles)

 

Column View

  1. "To Do" column: Contains all tasks in need of editing. 
  2. "Completed" Column: The instructor no longer has outstanding tasks related to the syllabus

List View

Image displays a screenshot of the dashboard list view.

Editing Syllabi

Content in Simple Syllabus rolls from term to term (like the course schedule). This means instructors only need to enter information once UNLESS there are changes to their courses. Please refer to the below steps and images to learn the basics of editing in Simple Syllabus. 

 

  1. To edit syllabi, locate a To-Do task and click on the Edit Button

Image shows a close-up of an  individual to-do task with the edit button outlined in red.

  1. Locate areas with orange boxes once the document opens
  2. Click on a blue pencil icon

Image shows a document open for edits. Number 2 correlates to step 2 and indicates that there is a component in need of content. Number 3 correlates to step 3 and draws attention to the blue edit pencil icon.

  1. Enter changes
  2. Click the blue save button

Example screenshot of content entered into and edit field by the user (number 4). The blue save button (number 5) is outlined in red to show users what button  step 5 refers to.

  1. Click the submit button to complete changes

Close-up screenshot of the submit button.

  1. A confetti animation and pop-up containing links will appear showing a successful submission

Close-up screenshot of the successful submission animation.

 

Duplicating Content

Simple Syllabus uses multiple phrases (sharing, replacing, importing) to describe different ways instructors can copy content from one section to another, or from one instructor to another. To be understand what each term means within Simple Syllabus, please refer to the brief definition table below. 


Simple Syllabus Duplicating Definitions
Sharing Refers to creating a link to view content, but the content is not editable. Instructors can share direct links with each other and their students via copy and paste. Instructors can also share links in Falcon Online. 
Importing Allows instructors to duplicate previous syllabi, or to duplicate content from a different instructor's syllabi. 
Replacing Allows instructors to duplicate across syllabi they are assigned to only. 

 

How to Import Content

  1. Locate a To-Do task and click on the edit button

Image shows a close-up of an  individual to-do task with the edit button outlined in red.

  1. Click the import icon on the left-hand side of the content window

Screenshot shows the edit syllabus content window with the import icon outlined in red on the lefthand side.

  1. A pop-up window with three tabs will appear

  2. The first tab is the "select source" tab

  3. Select a term to source from and fill in any related field

Screenshot shows the Select Source window (Step 1) of the import content processes.

  1. The next tab is the map content tab
  2. To import the entire document click the "finalize" button Close-up view of the finalize button for the import content processes. on the map content tab (click the "advanced" slider Close-up view of "Advanced" slider. Toggling this slider allows users to import parts of a document rather than the whole thing. to import specific components rather than the whole document)
  3. The third tab is the "confirm import" tab
  4. Review the content to import and click "start import of the following content"

Close-up of the confirm import window. Outlined in red is the "start import of the following content" button

 

How to Replace Content

  1. When editing a document, look for the "Replace with a different syllabus?" prompt at the top of the document window

Close-up view of the "replace with a different syllabus?" button outlined in red.

  1. A pop-up window will open showing all documents an instructor can work on
  2. Select the correct course

Close-up screenshot of available syllabi to import/copy. Available syllabi are outlined in red.

Sharing Simple Syllabus Links

Simple Syllabus uses the word "sharing" to refer to copying and pasting a link to viewable content. Please follow the steps below to complete this process:

  1. From Falcon Online, go to the relevant module
  2. Select the Existing Activities button
  3. Select External Learning Tools then select Syllabus from the pop-up list

Close-ups of steps 1-3, when sharing syllabi. Illustrates selecting the relevant module, existing activities, and external learning tools.

  1. Select the placeholder text to edit or delete the topic description

Close-up of step 4 when sharing syllabi. Illustrates selecting placeholder text.

Simple Syllabus Resources/Support

There are many resources to help users learn about Simple Syllabus. Please refer to the list below to access these resources:


There are two ways to submit support tickets to Simple Syllabus: via Falcon Online or the Simple Syllabus site. Each process is outlined below. 

 

Falcon Online Simple Syllabus Tickets

  1. Log on to Falcon Online (also shown as Bright Space below), navigate to the Syllabus section

Falcon Online header image. Outlined in read is the Syllabus link.

  1. Then, click on the question mark icon in the upper-right corner of the Simple Syllabus window inside Falcon Online

Falcon Online header image. Outlined in read is the Syllabus link.

  1. A ticket window will open, enter concerns
  2. Click the send button to submit ticket

Screenshot shows Simple Syllabus help ticket window on the right-hand corner of the screen. Outlined in red are the ticket window and the send button.

 

In-Site Simple Syllabus Tickets

  1. Log into Simple Syllabus with DSC email & password
  2. Locate the orange question mark Close-up of the orange question mark on the lower-left corner of the Simple Syllabus web page. on the lower-left corner of the screen

Screenshot of the Simple Syllabus main page. Outlined in red is the location of the orange help question mark.

  1. A ticket window will open, type in concerns
  2. Click the send button to submit the ticket

Screenshot shows Simple Syllabus help ticket window on the right-hand corner of the screen. Outlined in red are the ticket window and the send button.