Simple Syllabus is a relatively inexpensive platform that integrates with Brightspace and makes our syllabi more accessible and consistent, while still preserving the ability for instructors to develop customized syllabi.
Federal policy requires that our syllabi and all materials meet certain Accessibility Standards. Simple Syllabus has a built in Accessibility-checker to make finding and fixing accessibility issues easier.
Increased consistency will help students better understand expectations across all of their courses and reduce cognitive load so students can focus on achieving the learning outcomes we set forth for them.
Simple Syllabus will save faculty and staff time and energy by providing a common platform to create syllabi and manage the processes and communications needed to update and publish syllabi effectively.
Lastly, Simple Syllabus also creates Syllabus Repositories that can be shared with students, staff, faculty, administrators, accreditors, and even the general public if we choose. Currently each department is responsible for mantaining copies of all of their syllabi and granting access to those who need it. SS will automate this process and save academic staff and faculty tons of time!
We know how many things are changing at Antioch right now. We hope implementing Simple Syllabus now will:
help students improve learning outcomes, by making requirements accessible, clear and consistent,
reduce employee workload so they have more time for other important work, and
help Antioch meet upcoming federal accessibility requirements.
Yes, all courses with syllabi will need to use Simple Syllabus, so that those syllabi are a part of the AU Syllabus Repository, and to gain the ther benefits of using Simple Syllabus listed above. VPAA Sandy Madar has prescribed that all courses (even 0-credit courses) that students register for in Colleague will need a syllabus in Simple Syllabus. If you have questions about unusual circumstances like Prior Learning Courses, Continuing Ed courses or other contract-based courses, please email Sandy at smadar@antioch.edu and cc SimpleSyllabus@antioch.edu.
We expect that all syllabi for courses that begin on or after June 1, 2026. Effectively this means syllabi for Fall Semester and Fall Quarter programs will be created and approved in Simple Syllabus.
*If your programs does not fall in one of the terms above (i.e. MFA and PhDLC) they will start the first day of the term on/after July 1, 2026.
The Antioch University Simple Syllabus template is based on the Faculty Senate's University Curriculum Committee Syllabus Requirements.
If you think these requirements need updating or clarification, please speak to your representative on the Faculty Senate or email the University Curriculum Committee
Your department may have additional requirements or suggested components. If you have questions about department language, please speak to your program leadership.
This absolutely will not compromise academic freedom, though we should be on the same page about the meaning of that phrase. The Simple Syllabus tool will comply with Antioch's Academic Freedom Policy as well as the academic freedom clause stipulated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Simple Syllabus is predicated on enacting the existing policies and requirements we already require for the syllabi templates we use that are vetted and approved by faculty via the University Curriculum Committee. Nothing about Simple Syllabus dictates that we have certain statements or policies. It just enables us to embed what we have already required in all syllabi so none slip through the cracks. And it helps reduce work for faculty and staff in the future when it comes to updating and compiling a repository of their syllabi.
We will also ensure that this new system has an embedded versioning and review process in place such that we can be responsive to these concerns and others and make the necessary changes along the way.
No. Antioch is in charge of who can see which syllabi. The syllabus repository is only open to people Who can log in to AU direct and to outside accreditors with a need to view them for accreditation purposes. In addition, there are also settings in each syllabus that allow sections of a syllabus to be hidden from public view if desired.
Every syllabus has to be approved by a person in your department as a built-in requirement of Simple Syllabus. However "approval" can be as simple as someone in your department pressing the approve button after they've looked at the syllabus (or not.) Approval can also be divided among any number of people in a department.
The submission deadline procedure is determined your department. Publishing two weeks before the class/term starts is ideal, but each department has it's own considerations, so consult your chair or program director to get a submission deadline.
Yes. Changes can be made on a syllabus until the last day of the term for that class, at which point it is frozen and archived in the syllabus library. Edits made after it has been approved will need to be re-submitted using the submit button at the bottom of simple syllabus and reapproved before the students see the changes. The originally approved syllabus will stay visible to students until the new one is approved.
We recommend you email your students if your syllabus is changed in any substantive way after it is first released.
If you have a Brightspace course, yes. We encourage MOST courses to use a Brightspace site to support students learning regardless of whether you meet in-person, on Zoom, only at residencies and for asynchronous online courses. For instructors who teach independent study courses, dissertation, internship & practicum courses; and other courses for which a Brightspace site is not generated by Colleague, there will be an alternate way for students to access the syllabus through the Simple Syllabus repository. We are working on guidance for this type of course and will include that information as soon as we have it.
Starting in August 2026, students will have access to the Simple Syllabus icon in AUDirect. This will allow them to access all syllabi that have been published for courses they are registered for, even if the Brightspace course hasn't been activated. This allows you to share your syllabus in time for course registration without having to activate your Brightspace site that early.
Once your Brightspace course is activated and your Simple Syllabus is approved, students will also be able to see it in their Brightspace course by selecting the word "Syllabus" in the navbar at the top of the course.
Syllabi will be stored in Simple Syllabus from here forward and will be accessible to people with an Antioch.edu login. There is a Syllabus Library that can be accessed using the Simple Syllabus icon in AUDirect. Once a syllabus is published, it will appear in the library.