Frequently Asked Questions about the Syllabus Tool


Deborah Schroeder
Senior Instructional Support Specialist
Center for Support of Instruction
Published: July-August 2011

Category: » Webtycho » Syllabus-area

Each semester the Center for Support of Instruction receive a variety of questions from instructors and program directors regarding the Syllabus Tool. Below are a few of those questions along with their answers.

Questions from Instructors

Q - The syllabus does not appear in my classroom.

A - At the start of each semester, program directors need to publish the course syllabus to each course section before the instructor has access to it. If you click the Faculty Center link in your classroom, then Manage next to Syllabus and you do not see the syllabus for your course or get a message stating "The syllabus has not been published," you will need to contact your program director and ask him/her to publish the syllabus to your classroom.

Q - The "Publish To Students" link is missing from the Syllabus Tool menu.

A - The Publish to Students link will be visible when there is a course schedule. This schedule can be one that you create or a schedule that your department has created for you to use. You cannot publish a syllabus to students without a course schedule.

Q - Students are seeing "The syllabus has not been published" when they click the Syllabus link in the classroom.

A - As the instructor, you need to publish the syllabus to your students so that they can view it. To do this, click the Faculty Center link in your classroom, then click Manage next to Syllabus. Once the Syllabus Tool opens, click the Publish to Students link on the left menu to publish the syllabus.

Q - I made changes to my syllabus, but they are not showing up in the classroom.

A - Each time you make changes to the syllabus, you must republish the syllabus so that your students can see the changes. To do this, click the Faculty Center link in your classroom, then click Manage next to Syllabus. Once the Syllabus Tool opens, click the Re-Publish to Students link on the left menu to republish the syllabus.


Questions from Program Directors

Q - I do not see one of the course sections listed in the Syllabus Tool and cannot publish to the instructor.

A - Two requirements must be met for a course section to appear in the Syllabus Tool: (1) A WebTycho classroom for the course section must have been created and (2) the classroom must have an instructor listed in WebTycho. If a WebTycho classroom has been created but no instructor is listed, the course section will not show up in the Syllabus Tool. It currently takes about 24–48 hours from the time the faculty member has been staffed in PeopleSoft to show up in the WebTycho classroom, and for the course section show up in the Syllabus Tool. 

Q - I needed to make a few changes to a syllabus after I published it to the course sections. However, when I tried to republish it, the changes did not appear in the WebTycho classrooms.

A - Syllabus sections must be in Read-Only mode for any changes you make to them to show up in the WebTycho classroom when you republish the syllabus. (Only those sections that are marked read only can be republished.) This is a safety feature to prevent you from accidentally overwriting any updates an instructor may have already made to his/her syllabus. If you decide that your changes must be visible in the instructor's WebTycho classroom, you can set the appropriate syllabus section settings to read-only, then you can republish the syllabus and the changes will appear in the WebTycho classroom. If you have previously published the syllabus, use the read-only feature with care because you may be overwriting changes the instructors have already made to their syllabi.

To change syllabus section settings to "read only":

  1. In the Syllabus Tool, click the Edit Section Settings link.


  2. Select the checkboxes next to the syllabus sections you want to make read-only, then click the Submit Changes button.


  3. Click the Re-Publish to Sections link.


  4. Choose the appropriate classroom sections to republish the updated syllabus to, then click the Re-Publish Syllabus button.


Q - I received a time-out message when republishing the syllabus.

A - Sometimes the server experiences an interruption and you will receive a time-out message. Wait a few moments and try again. If you continue to experience time-out issues, please contact UMUC 360 Support. 

Q - I do not see one of the course sections listed in the Syllabus Tool and cannot publish to the instructor.

A - If an instructor has not been staffed in Peoplesoft or is not listed in the WebTycho classroom the section will not appear in the syllabus tool.  It does take a few hours for the section to show up in the syllabus tool once the instructor has been staffed in Peoplesoft.  Contact your CSI specialist for futher assistance if the instructor is showing in WebTycho but the section is not listed in the syllabus tool.

About the Author(s)

I have been with UMUC for over 22 years. I spent four years in Undergraduate Admissions prior to moving to the Graduate School. While working in General Management Programs, I became fascinated with technology and pursued an education in computer science. Upon completing her degree in Management Information Systems, I became a Distance Education Coordinator in 1999. I now resides in the Center for Support of Instruction (CSI) as a Senior Instructional Support Specialist and am the Site Manager for the DE Oracle.

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