The Syllabus function in Canvas
The course memo is important for students before the course, during the course and even after the course, which is why we recommend that it is easily accessible for the students. That is why we recommend “Syllabus” in Canvas.
Summarise course memo and link to the full version
Information about how a course is conducted must be included in the course memo, but Canvas “Syllabus” is a good place to have a short summary of the course with a link to the course memo for the detailed plan. This is because the Syllabus is part of the course navigation menu and a course memo is too important to hide away. Students should be able to find it fast and without needing to look through the entire Canvas room.
At E-learning we recommend that you create your course memo with the standardised tool. You can read more about KTH’s standard tool for course memos on the page "About course" .
Hide the course summary for reduced confusion
By default, a list of all upcoming assignments is displayed under Syllabus in chronological order. That list is called “Course Summary”. We recommend that you as a teacher hide “Course Summary” due to multiple reasons:
- Students already have better access to this information through their “To do list”
- The list has neither the structure from “Modules” nor the information about the assignments that is shown on the index page “Assignments”
- You as a teacher can see all assignments even if they are not yet published, but the list doesn’t say if they are unpublished or published.
All of these points can cause unnecessary confusion among students and teachers. To hide the “Course Summary” follow these steps:
- On the Syllabus page, click on the “Edit” button
- Uncheck the “Show Course Summary” box that you find below the text box
- Save the choice by pressing “Update syllabus”