How Simple Is Your Syllabus Solution?

A syllabus is a key instrument for students, instructors, and administrators. For instructors and administrators, providing students with an up-to-date syllabus is a challenge due to ongoing semester changes and ever-changing program and organization requirements. In many organizations, syllabi content often does not keep up with the organizational changes.

Are your syllabi up-to date? Do they need a tune-up? Take this brief assessment to find out:

• Are you certain all syllabi across multiple sections contain correct course data: description, outcomes, credits, etc.?
• Are you certain all required organization guidelines for ADA, student conduct, DEI, etc. are included on every instructor's syllabus?
• Are you certain that threaded outcomes - organization-wide and program outcomes - are on all syllabi?
• Are you certain you can find a current, approved syllabus when you need it?

If you answered no to any of the questions above, you may need a syllabus tune-up. WIDS Software is the tune-up solution you're looking for!

Quickly create syllabi from approved course outlines

In WIDS, faculty don’t start with a blank syllabus—they start with the approved course outline information.  An organization can set up a syllabus template with the data it finds most important. WIDS populates the most current data in the appropriate syllabus fields.  Because the data has been previously approved, the course title, number, description, and learning outcomes are always correct and current. In addition, WIDS ensures that syllabi are updated automatically when program courses are edited. This means that no one has to go hunting for the right information.

Easily add and edit organization-wide guidelines

Many organizations require that standard guidelines are included on syllabi. Examples may include:

• Disability Services
• Student Responsibilities
• Acceptable Use
• DEI Information

WIDS only requires entering this information once. Once entered, guidelines automatically appear on all syllabi for the course. If organization-wide guidelines change, they need only be changed in one place as well. WIDS ensures every single syllabus will contain current information. 

Make mapped outcomes appear on syllabi

WIDS makes it easy to map outcomes and external standards to courses. Once mapped, instructors or administrators can make a variety of mapped items appear automatically on the syllabus. If the organization wants to show program outcomes but not standards, WIDS makes the choice easy. Organizations can determine the specific items that appear on the syllabus such as:

• organization-wide outcomes
• program outcomes
• external standards (accreditation or industry-required standards)

Quickly find and archive syllabi

Once a syllabus is created in WIDS, a prompt guides users to submit for archiving.  This process ensures anyone can find any syllabus for any course at any time.  In addition, WIDS allows everyone to:

• Provide hyperlinks to all syllabi for the current session
• Search the WIDS database for syllabi submitted for any time frame
• Store completed syllabi in the WIDS Documents repository
• Share links with administrators and accreditors

Create syllabi that work for all stakeholders

WIDS makes developing syllabi that work for all stakeholders easy for faculty and administrators by:

• Making it easy to add required information to syllabi
• Providing multiple opportunities for faculty to add their own details/customizations
• Providing flexibility to add course session-specific information
• Making it easy to develop syllabi for multiple modalities: WIDS can seamlessly integrate with LMSs

Are your syllabi up-to date? Do they need a tune-up? Let WIDS help your organization quickly create, edit, and archive syllabi so that all instructors and administrators can provide all students with an up-to-date syllabus.

WIDS (Worldwide Instructional Design System) is a nonprofit organization that provides curriculum design software, consulting, and training services.  Download the free WIDS Syllabus Sample.

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