Faculty Guidelines

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

4. Enter changes
5. Click the blue save button

6. Click the submit button to complete changes

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

UPDATE 10.11.2023 

Simple Syllabus released an accessibility checker as of Fall 2023. Below are images and steps for instructors to learn how to use the accessibility checker Simple Syllabus offers. 

1. Click on the accessibility icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen while editing documents.

• The accessibility icon will show the amount of areas to review. 

2. The accessibility window will open up.

3. Use the "prev" and "next" button to toggle through the issues. 

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. 

How to Import Content

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

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

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

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

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

6. The next tab is the map content tab
7. To import the entire document click the "finalize" button  on the map content tab (click the "advanced" slider  to import specific components rather than the whole document)
8. The third tab is the "confirm import" tab
9. Review the content to import and click "start import of the following content"

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

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

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

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

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

• Simple Syllabus Video Tutorials
• Simple Syllabus Daily Office Hours - Users must register for this site and click on the Community page tp find the daily schedule and Zoom links
• Or send your questions via email to help@simplesyllabus.com
• For DSC faculty members only, please email Alexis_Ruiz1129@DaytonaState.Edu to request access to the Simple Syllabus document repository. This resource includes various documents related to Simple Syllabus definitions and previously submitted support tickets.

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

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

3. A ticket window will open, enter concerns
4. Click the send button to submit ticket

In-Site Simple Syllabus Tickets

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

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