Introduction As you work on your outlines, you may notice a little icon in the bottom right corner of the editing interface. It looks like a person with their arms stretched to the side. This is the Accessibility Checker. If the accessibility checker notices any issues with the accessibility of […]
Printing and Exporting Outlines
You can now print or export outlines from the Course Outline Library for sharing or your personal use. Important: Please know that the PDFs the system produces do not meet McMaster’s accessibility standards. The vendor is aware of our concerns and is working on improving their quality. In the meantime, […]
Accessibility Checker
In the bottom right corner of the outline editor, you may notice a symbol that looks like this: This is the accessibility checker. It is there to watch for accessibility features like alt text, captions, and headers for tables. If you see a number next to the little figure, you […]
Why does my dashboard suddenly look different?
Did your dashboard previous look like this? And now it looks like this? This is because Simple Syllabus has switched to a New View (pictured second). The New View, previously just an optional layout for the system, is now the only view available. The Classic View (pictured first) will be […]
Privacy Settings
The Course Outline Portal offers two sets of privacy options for instructors building their outlines. Overall Privacy In the top righthand corner of the outline editor, you will see a toggle for the overall privacy of your outline. By default, the toggle is set to “General Public.” At this level […]
First Time Logging In
If this is your first time using the Course Outline Portal, welcome! Please follow these steps to get yourself logged in and accessing the system. Go to https://mcmaster.simplesyllabus.com/en-US/ This will take you to the Course Outline Portal’s landing page, the Course Outline Library, which should look like this: Navigate to […]
I got an email saying there is an outline waiting for my approval, but when I click the link nothing is there. Where is it?
If you are designated as an approver for a department or faculty, you will get regular emails from the system whenever an outline is submitted for you to approve. Each email will include a link to the portal. Please note that this link takes you to the home page for […]
Overview Questions
What is the Course Outline Portal? McMaster is currently providing a new portal for undergraduate course outlines, called “Simple Syllabus”, to better enable students to find course information. It can be found at https://mcmaster.simplesyllabusca.com/en-US/. What is the benefit of the Course Outline Portal? Provide students with a single place to […]
Is the Portal just for undergraduate courses, or graduate ones as well?
Currently the system only has approval for use for undergraduate courses. Although we hope to expand in the future, please only use it for your undergraduate courses in the 2023-2024 school year.
Can I share my outline on Avenue?
The Course Outline Library is currently integrated with Avenue to Learn. If you build an outline for your course in the Course Outline Library, there will be a built-in link to it in your Avenue course shell. In your course shell, navigate to the “Resources” tab in the navbar. Click […]