Alamo Colleges District

Simple Syllabus Overview

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Simple Syllabus is the web-based syllabus tool used by the five Alamo Colleges to comply with Texas House Bill 2504 which requires all public institutions of higher education to post information about courses, faculty, and other relevant information on the web. Specifically, "each institution of higher education, other than a medical and dental unit, shall make available to the public on the institution's Internet website certain undergraduate course information."

Simple Syllabus will replace Concourse in Spring 2023, and all academic course syllabi will be available through this system. Instructors and students can access their syllabi from the college website and the "Course Syllabus" link in the Canvas course navigation menu.

Additionally, users can access their Simple Syllabus dashboard from the portlet displayed in the Faculty, Employee, and Student tabs in ACES.

What is included in every Syllabus?

A syllabus must be available on the college's website no later than the seventh day after the first day of classes for the part of term during which the course is offered. However, instructors and departmental editors are strongly encouraged to fill in their details and publish the syllabus before this deadline.

What's Added by the District, College, and Department Administrators

Certain required information found on the syllabus will be auto-populated into your syllabus from the course schedule in Banner. These include:

  • Course identifiers:
    • College
    • Course title
    • Course subject, number, and section; CRN
    • Credits
    • Term
  • Meeting days/times and location as well as the delivery method (face-to-face, online, hybrid, remote, etc.)
  • Course description
  • Pre-/Co-requisites
  • Learning outcomes (if available at the system or college level)

The college will designate the Academic Chair, Program Coordinator, or Faculty Lead for the subject/course to enter Department Information for their area as well as any course-wide policies or requirements under Program Policies.

District Academic Success will provide Institutional Policies on every syllabus, and your college's Academic Success office (or designee) will add the College Policies and College Priorities for each term.

What's Added by the Instructors

Instructors will enter the following information into each syllabus:

  • Instructor information, including their name, email, office hours, preferred method of communication, and faculty profile [see Curriculum Vitae (CV) below]
  • Course materials with complete details such as the textbook title, author, publisher, edition, ISBN, and purchasing options
  • The evaluation (or grading policy) showing how grades will be determined
  • Course policies set by the instructor
  • A schedule of topics, activities, and assignments which include:
    • The subject matter for each lecture or discussion
    • Required and recommended readings
    • A list of major course requirements, including assignments and examinations

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Additionally, a curriculum vitae (CV) which summarizes the instructor's career and qualifications must be completed by the primary instructor or co-instructors of a course who are responsible for the course content and the assignment of final grades. 

At minimum, a CV should include:

  1. All institutions of higher education attended with degree(s) earned;
  2. All previous teaching positions including the names of the institutions, the position(s), beginning and ending dates; and
  3. A list of significant professional publications relevant to the academic positions held.

For more information on how to locate or access your course syllabi, view the following guides:

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