tcc syllabus builder development guide v2.0 syllabus schedules and course policies page will re-open...

TCC Syllabus Builder 2.0: Development Guide

2 | L e a r n i n g T e c h n o l o g i e s

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Sign In to the Syllabus Builder 4

Select a Term 5

Select a Course 6

Course Menu Navigation: Required and Optional Content 7

Text Boxes and Other Content Entry Fields 8

System Notifications 9

Edit Instructor Name and Credentials 9

Page Layout: Instructions, TCC, and Unique Content 10

Optional Information 11

Produce a Syllabus 12

Export a Microsoft Word Document 14

Export a Syllabus Template 15

Export HTML 16

Post HTML Syllabus in Blackboard 17

Copy Content from one Syllabus into Another 21

Copy a Complete Syllabus into a New Course 25



TCC Syllabus Builder 2.0 – Development Guide

The TCC Syllabus Builder 2.0 is a web-based application that supports the creation, maintenance, and publication of dynamic syllabi. This Development Guide will assist you while producing Tidewater Community College course syllabi. Content entered by an instructor is maintained by the Syllabus Builder for three years so that information you add to a syllabus can be copied into a new course and quickly modified. College required syllabus information such as policies, procedures, services, and general course information is imported with your unique course information each time you produce a course syllabus to ensure your students have access to up-to-date information.



Sign-In To access the TCC Syllabus Builder click on the Syllabus Builder tab within i-INCURR, which will take you to the Syllabus Builder login prompt. Here you will use your TCC Network credentials (the same ones you use to access your tcc.edu e-mail address). Do NOT to include the @tcc.edu)



Select a Term The first thing you will see is a listing of all the terms currently available for selection, from this pulldown menu you will click on the semester you wish to create a syllabus for.



Selecting a Course from the Course List Now that a term is selected you can see that the Builder Tool populates a listing of the courses that an instructor is scheduled to teach, this information is populated directly from SIS and newly scheduled courses will populate to this list within 24 hours of your being scheduled to teach them. If the course you are scheduled to teach is cancelled, it will display with two asterisks (**) before the course section number. Any syllabus content you created for that section will remain in the builder should you need to copy this content into another syllabus at a later date. Clicking the magnifier icon located before the Course and Section Number will open up a menu which shows you all the content areas you will need in your course syllabus.



Course Menu Navigation: Required and Optional Content We have now entered the Create/Modify Course Syllabus section. This section includes a menu to the left that is titled Syllabus Required and Optional Sections. The instructor uses this menu to compose and edit syllabi. Select any line item to add content into that section of the course syllabus. The course instructor must add additional course specific content to each required menu item. However: optional sections, while automatically adding required college content into the syllabus leave it to the discretion of the course instructor if any clarifying or supplemental information should also be included. Click on any of the content area links to begin entering course information.



Text Boxes and other Content Entry Fields Each content area presents as a form with fillable fields such as fill in the blank, check boxes and text boxes. Simply click into the field that is required and type in your content. You will notice that all text boxes within the Builder feature robust design options that will allow you to format your text in any way that best suits your course content and needs. Additionally, it is possible to cut and paste content from an external document such as a Word document, table or an Excel spreadsheet. Pasted content retains original formatting, and can be edited in the text box.

When all required fields are filled, click on the save button to complete your content submission in this content area.



System Notifications If you leave a required field blank you will see a notification when attempting to save the page. Click the “Go to error” link in the message window to place your cursor in the required entry field. Once you have entered all of the information you will again click save to complete your content submission.

Editing Instructor Name and Credentials An instructor can manage how his or her name, title, or credentials display in a produced syllabus by making a change to their preferred name within SIS. Changes are reflected in the Syllabus Builder within 24 hours of SIS submission, the steps necessary to make changes to this information are as follows:

1. Access the MyTCC Portal and login with your MyTCC login and password. 2. Once logged into the MyTCC Portal select the SIS, Student Information

System icon. 3. Select Self Service, if that screen is not already displayed. 4. Under the “Campus Personal Information” section, select Names. 5. Select the Edit button next to the Preferred name type. 6. Enter your desired name changes and select any applicable prefix from the

pull down before clicking Save to effect your changes. For example, a nickname may be entered as your first name and additional credentials (i.e. PH.D, CPA, MPA, etc) may be added as part of your last name. You may also specify future effective date if desired. The prefix, first name and last names are the fields used by the Syllabus Builder.



Page Layout: Instructions, TCC and Unique Content A gray dialogue box on a menu page provides a preview of mandatory content that will be included by TCC in the produced syllabus. Additionally, there are explanatory notes below many of the gray boxes that guide the course instructor in adding supplemental information. Type any information you wish to add to the required statement in the provided text box and then click “Save” to submit.



Optional Information Optional content areas are where you can add content that is relevant to your course but not required to be in all TCC syllabi. If you elect not to use the optional content areas, their headings will not be published in your syllabus when the builder tool generates it. The Optional Course Content area on the menu provides you with a location to add any content into your syllabus that does not have a designated location.



Produce a Syllabus The main page will reflect the work you have done within a syllabus, any course where you have begun entering content through the Builder will be listed as “Started” in the status column.

To change the status of a Syllabus to “Completed” you have to click the “Mark Syllabus as Complete” button.

You will be taken to a page where you will be asked to verify that you have entered content in all of the Required Sections of the syllabus. After clicking “Yes” to affirm that all sections are complete, you may now click “Save.”



Your syllabus is now listed as “Completed,” which means that all content has been entered into the builder – you will still need to export the syllabus for your students to view it. You can also see on the main page that each completed syllabus has three icons on the right hand side. One is a link to generate a Microsoft Word document of your syllabus, the second is a link to generate an HTML copy of your syllabus, and the third is the link to generate a blank template that features only the TCC required content.



Export as a Microsoft Office Document

Clicking on the Microsoft Word export link creates a document that you can save on your computer and edit within Microsoft Word. You can print this document out to distribute to students in your face to face course, or include it as a resource link in your Blackboard course that your students can download.



Export the Syllabus Template Clicking on the Syllabus Template icon allows you course instructor to download a Word document that includes only the course’s TCC, SIS and i-INCURR content. Beyond this content, the template document is otherwise blank so that you can edit it offline without having to interact with the Builder Tool. The Syllabus Template includes instructions for each required section of the TCC Syllabus to guide you during offline completion.



Export as HTML for Blackboard Clicking on the HTML export link gives you a preview of what your students will see in the HTML version, once it is opened you will click on the red “Download Syllabus Source” button at the top left of the preview.



Post HTML Syllabus in Blackboard To load the HTML into a Blackboard Course or a web page directly, click on the red “Download Syllabus Source” button at the top left of the preview.

A text (.txt) file that includes the HTML code will download (1). Click on the text file to open document and then minimize the window. You will later copy this information and paste it into a Blackboard content area.



Open the Blackboard course that the syllabus will be entered into. Click “Course Information” (1) on the TCC Blackboard Template menu. When the Course Information page opens click on the “Syllabus Schedules and Course Policies” (2) link.

Click the drop down arrow next to the word Syllabus (1) and then click Edit (2) on the pop-up window.



When the Edit page opens, delete any content in the text box (1), then click the HTML button (2) in the text editor window. A floating HTML code view Window will open (3).

Click to re-open the text file “Syllabus.txt” (1). Click on the Edit (2) > Select All (3), and then Edit (2) > Copy (4) in order to paste the dynamic syllabus into a Blackboard Course.



Return to the Blackboard course window, right click inside the HTML code view window, and then click Paste.

With the HTML code now visible in the window, click the Update button (1) in order to add the syllabus content into the text editor window and then the Submit button (2).



The Syllabus Schedules and Course Policies page will re-open in the Blackboard course with the added syllabus displaying in the page. Click “Enter Student Preview” to confirm students can access the syllabus as intended.



Copy Content from one Syllabus into Another You can also use the Builder to add content created in one syllabus into a new syllabus. For example, if you have created content in the “Specific Course Policies” content section of one syllabus you do not need to enter that exact same information in a second syllabus. To add unique content from a syllabus previously created in the Builder, select the term from the drop down menu and click on the magnifier icon for the course syllabus that you wish to copy the content into.



Once you have opened the syllabus you wish to work within, click on the content area you wish to duplicate from the earlier syllabus.

As you can see here there is a pull down menu next to the words “Copy From Syllabus” and when you click on this pull down menu you see a listing of the other course syllabi for which you have generated content.



Click on the link for the course section you wish to import the content from. The text from the other course will now appear in the text box.

Once you have verified that this is the text you wish to use you may now click “Save.”

You will see a notification that says “Data successfully saved.”



Copy A Complete Syllabus to a New Course In addition to copying content areas of one syllabus into another you can copy a syllabus completely, this is useful if you teach multiple sections of the same course or if you wish to copy you’re the syllabus you created in the Fall for your Spring course. To do this we first select the term we wish to copy the course to and then we select the course with the blank status column.

You will notice that there is a “pages” icon that appears under the heading “Copy All Content from Another Syllabus.” This icon only appears next to courses that have not been started.



Clicking on the “pages” icon opens a pop up window called “Copy Syllabus content” which has an “Existing Syllabus” pull down menu that shows you any Syllabi you have already created.

Click on the syllabus you wish to copy completely and then click the red “Copy Syllabus Content” button to import all of the content from the selected syllabus into a new course.

All of the unique content has now been copied from the first syllabus into the second, along with all of the information that the College requires appear in your syllabus.



The “Instructor Information” content area is the only content that is not directly imported when you copy a complete syllabus, this is done for cases where course programs allow multiple instructors to use an identical syllabus – if you are such an instructor you would be given access to a shared syllabus by your supervisor. Make sure to enter your Instructor Information into your copied syllabus following the same steps you used originally to create this content.

If you wish to edit any of your imported content you can do that by clicking on the content area and making any changes you wish in the text box, just as you did when you created content the first time.

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