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Syllabus Tool - Instructor Level (Text Only Version)

CSI Staff

Staff Writer

Center for Support of Instruction

Category: » Webtycho » Syllabus-area

These Instructor Level instructions have lot of screenshot as well as detailed explanations on how to use the syllabus tool features. If you find these instructions have more detail than you would like, please take a look at the At-a-Glance or the Expanded version. 

Faculty have access to their syllabi four weeks prior to the beginning of the semester.

E-Mail Notifications:

Once the Director has published the master syllabus, the syllabus tool system will send an email indicating that your syllabus is ready for editing. If you do not receive this email or you can not access they syllabus from the "Faculty Center" link in WebTycho, please contact your director immediately.

Adding/Editing Text - You have the ability to choose from two different editors.

• TFE Applet - This is a Java applet editor. You will need to use this editor if you need to use math equations. It requires that you have Java Virtual Machine (JVM) version 1.4.2 or higher.
• PinEdit - This WYSIWYG HTML editor requires no applets, activeX or plugins.

Accessing the Faculty Level Syllabus

1. Log into your WebTycho classroom.
2. Select the Faculty Center link from the left-hand menu.
3. Select the Manage link to the right of the syllabus option.
4. After clicking the Manage link, the tool will take you directly to the syllabus view.
5. Check the Status to see if the Director has Preapproved the course. (You will want to make a mental note of the status for your syllabus as you will need to know this to publish the syllabus to your students.)
   • Status 1 : Preapproved but Not Published to Course - No further approval is needed from Director before making the syllabus available to the students.
   • Status 2: Syllabi Not Submitted for Approval - The syllabus must be returned to Director for approval before it can be made available to the students.
     
     Regardless of the status, editing of the syllabus is the same. Just remember that if the status of your syllabus is Syllabi Not Submitted for Approval, you must first submit your edited syllabus to the Director before it can be made available to the students. 

Editing the Syllabus

1. Before you begin editing the Syllabus you will want to choose which editor to use. The active editor will be displayed under the course title. If you want to change the editor, under the Actions menu select the appropriate editor link.
2. Under the Edit Sections menu you will find a list of sections that you can edit. (Note the sections listed in the image below may not be the sections you have access to).
3. To make changes or enter new data select one of the items listed under Edit Sections located on the left-hand side of the screen.
4. After making edits to a particular section of the syllabus click on the Save Changes button.
5. Click Return to Syllabus to modify additional area's of the current syllabus.
6. To make changes or enter new data select one of the items listed under Edit Sections located on the left-hand side of the screen.
7. Unless otherwise noted by your Director you have the ability to create your own schedule or select a pre-constructed schedule as listed under Course Schedules. 

Create a Schedule

You can choose to post a schedule as:

• Single Entry Schedule - With this schedule you can type directly into the editor or cut/paste text from another source (e.g., MSWord or HTML).
• Standard Schedule - The schedule is formatted into rows/columns. Weekly course information will need to be added individually to each row/column.

NOTE:  You MUST have a schedule in order to publish the students to the syllabus.

Single Entry Schedule

1. Select Create a Schedule from the Course Schedule menu.
2. Select the Single Entry radio button.
3. Fill in the name of the schedule (e.g., Fall 07, 14-wk schedule), then select the Create Schedule button.
4. Click on the Edit Schedule link to add schedule content.

Standard Schedule

1. Select Create a Schedule from the Course Schedule menu.
2. Determine the Column Titles - The schedule allows you to have up to four column titles. The first and third columns are required. Columns two and four are optional and are displayed as Do Not Show by default. 
   • Column 1: Options are: class, day, month, meeting, session, unit or week. (Note: Your choice will vary depending on whether it is an online class versus a f2f class.)
   • Column 2: Options are: modules, module/meeting date,  module/week date, meeting date, themes, topics.
   • Column 3: The only option is Reading/Assignments
   • Column 4: Options are: Due Date or Do Not Show
3. Determine Number of Rows - The number of rows needed is determined by the number of class units held during the semester. A standard semester typically runs 14-15 weeks.  (Note: You can add or delete rows at a later time if needed.)
4. Select the Create Schedule button to create the schedule table.
5. An editable blank schedule is generated.  To enter information or data into any row, click on the Edit option for that row. 
6. Fill in each column with appropriate text and click the Save Changes button.  
7. When you have completed the entire schedule click on the Return to Schedule link.
8. If you chose to do so, you can delete a particular schedule. Select Delete Schedule under the Actions menu.
9. If you want to add rows, type in the number of rows to be added and then select the position of the row (before 1, before 2, etc.), then select the Add Rows button.
10. When you have completed the updating of the course schedule click on the Syllabus link located at the top of the screen. 

Select a Pre-constructed Schedule

1. To select an existing schedule, click on the desired schedule posted under the Course Schedules list located on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. To modify the content of the existing schedule select the Edit link for the appropriate row. 
3. When you have finished editing that particular row click Save Changes button.
4. Once you have modified the entire schedule click on the Return to Schedule link.
5. If you wish to delete the entire schedule, look under the Actions menu located on the left-hand side of the screen and elect Delete Schedule.
6. If you want to add rows, type in the number of rows to be added and then select the position of the row (before 1, before 2, etc.), then select the Add Rows button.
7. When you complete the updating of the course schedule click on the the Syllabus link located at the top of the screen.

Finish the process and publish to Syllabus to Students

Once you have completed the editing of your syllabus you must make the syllabus available to the students by publishing it.

As mentioned earlier there are two statuses that the Director can impose. The steps you need to follow in order to make the syllabus available to your student's will depend on which status your Director has chosen for your syllabus.

If your syllabus was:

• Preapproved but Not Published to Course - No further approval is needed from Director before making the syllabus available to the students. Follow these steps.
• Syllabi Not Submitted for Approval - The syllabus must be returned to Director for approval before it can be made available to the students. Follow these steps.

Publishing a Syllabus with a Status of "Preapproved but Not Published to Course"

1. When you have completed all changes to the syllabus, click on the Publish to Students link. NOTE: If you do not see the Publish to Students link, make sure a course schedule is available. You will not have access to the Publish to Students link unless you have a schedule.
   
2. On the next screen entitled Publish Syllabus To Student the syllabus is displayed without a course schedule. From the Select Schedule drop-down choose the appropriate schedule. If you wish, you may view the schedule by clicking on the View Schedule button.
3. From the Publish Syllabus to Students window, select the Publish Syllabus button.
4. The following screen will appear when the syllabus has been published to the WebTycho classroom.
5. Select the Log Out link to exit the Syllabus Tool.
6. Go to your WebTycho classroom to view the syllabus.  If you want to make any changes, click Faculty Center and click the Manage link located next to the word Syllabus.  Login to the Syllabus Tool.

If you choose the wrong schedule or want to make changes to it after you have publish syllabus to the students you can go back to the Faculty Center, then Manage Syllabus to make edits to the appropriate sections. Once you have saved the changes, the option to publish to the students will be made available. 

Submitting/Publishing a Syllabus with a Status of "Syllabi Not Submitted for Approval"

1. When you have completed all changes to the syllabus click on the Submit for Approval link listed under Actions menu on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. On the next screen entitled Submit Syllabus for Approval the syllabus is displayed without a course schedule. From the Select Schedule drop-down chose the appropriate schedule. If you wish, you may view the schedule by clicking on the View Schedule button.
3. To complete the process, click the Submit Syllabus for Approval button. 
4. A message will display that The syllabus has been successfully submitted for approval. Click the Return to Syllabus link.
5. T he status will show Submitted-Not Yet Approved. The director will receive an email indicating that the syllabus has been submitted for their approval. The academic director will then review the syllabus and either approve or reject it, then republish the syllabus back to the instructor.  If the syllabus has been rejected, notes and/or suggestions from the Director will be displayed along with the syllabus.  The director will NOT make any editing changes to the syllabus.
6. If the syllabus has been rejected, it will need to be modified and resubmitted to the Director for approval before it can be made visible to the students.
   • Select the course link.
   • Read Director's comments and edit the syllabus accordingly
7. When the syllabus has been approved by the Director the instructor will need to review the approved syllabus and then publish it to the students. 
8. When you have completed all changes to the syllabus, click on the Publish to Students link.
9. From the Publish Syllabus to Students window, select the Publish Syllabus button.
10. The following screen will appear when the syllabus has been published to the WebTycho classroom.
11. Select the Log Out link to exit the Syllabus Tool.
12. Go to your WebTycho classroom to view the syllabus.  If you want to make any changes, click Faculty Center and click the Manage link located next to the word Syllabus.  Login to the Syllabus Tool.