This page explains the Syllabus feature in Canvas. It is extremely important that your syllabus include all the information required by your College or Department as well as any information pertinent to your particular course.

ETL has created a syllabus template that can serve as a guide for instructors. You can download the template and edit it to meet your needs. View a downloadable version of the UAH Template for Creating an Accessible Syllabus.

To learn more about this topic, visit the Canvas Guides at guides.canvaslms.com.

To access the syllabus, click the Syllabus link in course navigation. The Syllabus makes it easy to communicate with your students precisely what will be required of them throughout the course. It will even show them, in chronological order, all assignments and events that you have added into Canvas.

There are three main parts to the Syllabus page:

The syllabus description, where you can post your course description, a brief introduction, class guidelines, weekly reminders, and any other important information. This content is all added and editable via the Rich Content Editor.
On the sidebar, you will see the Calendar and assignment group weights, if the assignments are weighted for this course. The calendar highlights all events and assignments which have an associated due date, shown in a dark gray color. Hovering over that date will highlight the corresponding assignment or event in the syllabus list. Similarly, when you mouse over a title in the syllabus list, it will be highlighted in the calendar.
The last part of the Syllabus page is the Course Summary, which you can see below the description. Changes to these dated events can be made in both the Assignments or Calendar area and will automatically be updated in the Syllabus tool. You can click any assignment or event to view more details and modify settings for these items.

To begin editing your syllabus, click the Edit button.

Note: You can copy and paste, or create original content inside the Rich Content Editor. This powerful tool allows you to embed images, videos, buttons and even
input or modify the HTML for your Syllabus.

You might be interested in adding links to files within your Syllabus description. For example, it can be very useful to add a link to a Word or PDF version of your syllabus for your students to download. To do this:

Type and then highlight the words you would like to be displayed as the link to your document.
Click the Files tab within the Content Selector on the right.

If you have already uploaded your syllabus document to your course files, locate and select your syllabus document.

Note: For more information on uploading files, watch the Files - Add Course Content video.

If you haven’t already uploaded your document, click the Upload a new file link.
Click Choose File and find the document on your computer.
Select the folder in which you would like to save your document.
Last of all, click the Upload button. A yellow box will form around the new link in the Rich Content Editor, and the highlighted words will turn blue to indicate that the link has been created.
Once you have finished modifying your Syllabus Description, click the Update Syllabus button. You will then see all of the content and links you have added.

This syllabus page can also be set as the home page for your course. To do this:

Visit your course home page
Click the Choose Home Page button and select Syllabus.

You can make your syllabus public so that people who are not enrolled in your course can view more information about it.

Open your course settings.
On the Course Details tab next to Visibility, check the Customize option and select Public to make the syllabus for this course publicly visible.
Then click the Update Course Details button.

Please note that in order to make your syllabus publicly visible, your Syllabus link must not be hidden from your course navigation. Now you can post or share the Syllabus URL with anyone.

For additional information on this or any other topic about Canvas, just visit guides.canvaslms.com. You can also ask questions and engage with other Canvas users by visiting community.canvaslms.com.

Learn more about the Canvas Syllabus tool.