Canvas Syllabus Tool

Owned by
Christine Sandella
Last updated: Sept 29, 2023
3 min read

The Syllabus tool in Canvas makes it easy to communicate to your students the chronological order of exactly what will be required of them throughout the course. You can use the syllabus tool as an organizational tool by creating an interactive syllabus which links to other course components, such as readings, videos, modules, and assignments.

Why Use the Canvas Syllabus tool? 

  • The Canvas Syllabus provides an overview of the course, structure, requirements, and expectations and students can easily locate the page to reference it.  

  • Provides a “Course Summary" feed that automatically lists assignments/event titles and due dates in chronological order for the course.

Using the Canvas Syllabus Tool

There are three parts to the syllabus:

Description

You can post your course description, a brief introduction, class guidelines, weekly reminders, and other important information in the Syllabus Description. You can copy content from Word documents directly into the Rich Content Editor or create original content inside of the Rich Content Editor. You can also use the Rich Content Editor to embed videos and input HTML.

The about section of the course syllabus in Canvas.

Course Summary

The Course Summary is enabled by default. It is automatically generated based on course assignments and course calendar events. Items within the Course Summary can only be changed by editing or deleting the assignments or events. All assignments (unpublished and published) are listed in the syllabus for instructors.

The course summary list in the Canvas Syllabus tool.

You can add content to the syllabus by copying and pasting content, creating links, or uploading a new file. For an in-depth look at how to use the Canvas Syllabus Tool, view the video tutorial.

Copy and Paste Content into Your Syllabus Description

  1. In the course navigation menu, click Syllabus.

  2. Click the Edit button. 

     

  3. Copy content from Word documents directly into the Rich Content Editor or create original content inside of the Rich Content Editor. 

  4. Click Update Syllabus. 

If you have already uploaded the syllabus file to the Files section of Canvas, then follow the steps below to insert the link.

  1. In the course navigation menu, click Syllabus.

  2. Click the Edit button. 

  3. In the rich content editor, highlight the text where you want to apply the file link.

  4. Click the File icon in the rich content editor menu and choose Course Documents from the drop-down menu.

  5. From the right-hand sidebar, find your syllabus file and click it in order for it to be added to the syllabus page as a link. In the Rich Content Editor, the text will turn blue noting the link is downloadable.

  6. Click Update Syllabus.

Upload Your Syllabus File or Other Course Document

To insert a link to a Syllabus document that is not already uploaded into your Files, follow the steps below:

  1. In the course navigation menu, click Syllabus.

  2. Click the Edit button. 

  3. Click the File icon in the rich content editor menu and choose Upload Documents from the drop-down menu.

  4. You can either drag and drop your syllabus file, or browse your computer to select your document.

  5. Once you have selected your file, click the Submit button to see the file appear in the editor.

Additional Resources