Info on Publishing Syllabi, Textbooks, and Course Instructor Surveys
Creating and Publishing Your Class Syllabus
The School of Information makes all of our class syllabi available online with links posted to our online Class Schedule. For any given semester, it is recommended that syllabi be posted to our website before registration begins to better aid in students' course selection process. Otherwise, they must be posted by the first day of classes.
Additionally, the State of Texas, under House Bill 2504, has mandated that the University must maintain a centralized public search site compiling syllabi and instructor CVs for all courses offered at the Undergraduate level. Further details can be found below, and official instructions for complying with this requirement are available here.
Creating An Effective Syllabus
The UT Faculty Innovation Center provides a wealth of guidance for new faculty to assist with course planning, instructional strategies, and implementing classroom technologies.
Among those resources is this very useful instructional page specifically on how to build an effective course syllabus:
https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/instructional-strategies/effective-syllabus
Using Canvas
Course Syllabi are typically generated within Canvas.
- Once the syllabus has been published on Canvas, you must take additional steps to make sure the syllabus is publicly visible regardless of login credentials. Instructions for this process can be found at http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/55577-what-is-the-syllabus
- Once the syllabus has been made public, your final step is to connect it to your class entry on the iSchool class schedule page. This is a fairly automatic process which simply involves entering the syllabus URL into the online form at https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/upload_course_syllabus and matching it to your class schedule entry using the pull down menu provided.
Using File Upload
You may also simply create your syllabus the old fashioned way and save it as any one of these standard document formats (doc, docx, pdf, rtf, txt). We will still need to publish it online and make it findable via our online class schedule, so...
- Once you have a completed your syllabus document, just upload it to our server using the form at https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/upload_course_syllabus and match it to your class entry on our schedule using the provided pull down menu. Your syllabus will then be saved to our server and the link will be posted to our online class schedule.
- Should you revise or update your syllabus at any time after publishing it online, you'll need to repeat this process so the most current and accurate version is always publicly available.
House Bill 2504 Undergraduate Syllabus Requirements
In 2011, The State of Texas passed House Bill 2504 requiring that syllabi for all undergraduate courses as well as each instructor's Curriculum Vitae (CV) be made publicly available and searchable via the University's main web page before the first day of classes each semester. It is required that each individual faculty member provide these documents in searchable PDF format following a specific file naming convention. Failure to comply with this rule may result in corrective action by state authorities and the Provost's Office.
- Instructions regarding the mandatory criteria of your syllabus and CV can be found here.
- Once your documents are ready to go, you may upload them to the online document management system located here.
- To verify that your documents have been correctly uploaded and are visible to the Provost's Office and the public, please use the public syllabus and cv search site located here.
Further information regarding this legislation may be found here
Questions about this process may be directed to the iSchool's Course Scheduler, Aaron Ulmer.
All feedback regarding the uploading system and its instructions, should be directed to regops-course-docs@utlists.utexas.edu.
Textbooks Adoptions
Prior to each semester, faculty may submit orders for their students' required textbooks to the University Co-op Bookstore on Guadalupe Street. The Co-op staff will research each textbook and place the appropriate orders for the upcoming semester. It is highly encouraged that faculty turn in their orders by the priority deadline. Doing so will help ensure your textbooks are available before classes begin, as well as increase the likelihood of offering a cheaper used book option.
For the most up-to-date information on the Co-op's textbook requisition procedures and to link to their new online request system, please consult the textbook adoptions portion of the Co-op website at http://www.universitycoop.com/info/textbook-adoptions.
If at any time your students should have difficulty obtaining their textbooks or if additional books are needed after classes have begun, please contact the Co-op at 512-322-7003 or 800 555-2414 as soon as possible.
Course Instructor Surveys
At the end of each semester, faculty are required to solicit student feedback for each of their classes via the Course Instructor Survey. This survey is generally conducted online in students' own time, but instructors have the option of administering a manual paper survey during class time if they prefer. The deadline to submit our survey preferences typically occurs around the midpoint of each semester and the survey administration period occurs in the last 2 weeks of class.
Instructors typically have a consistent preference between the two available surveys which carries over from semester to semester and class to class. So for convenience, our designated Course Scheduler maintains a spreadsheet of instructor survey preferences which will be applied to our official survey request each semester.
Be advised that any course that is exclusively web-based will automatically receive an electronic survey.
At any time, you may add your preference to this list or update it by completing this survey.
Conducting an Electronic Course Instructor Survey (eCIS)
- Make sure the CIS Preferences List has you marked for "electronic" within the first month of classes. If necessary, submit an update here.
- Inform students prior to the survey period when the eCIS will be conducted and explain to them how you use the results.
- You will receive an email the day the eCIS system opens informing you that your course will be surveyed electronically and providing a link to the survey. This link will not show you how many or which students have responded, it is provided so that you can send it on to your students as an additional reminder to complete the survey.
- Your students will automatically receive an email notification the first day the survey period is open with a link to the eCIS homepage. A second reminder email will automatically go out to students two days prior to the close of the survey period.During the survey period you are also encouraged to remind students to complete the eCIS.
- Survey results are available two days after official grade submission deadline. They can be accessed via MyCIS.
Conducting a Paper Course Instructor Survey
- Make sure the CIS Preferences List has you marked for "paper" within the first month of classes. If necessary, submit an update here.
- The Course Scheduler will let you know when the surveys are available for student administrators to collect.
- Schedule a date during the survey period to conduct the CIS and allow 20-30 minutes of class time.
- Inform students prior to the survey day when the CIS will be conducted and explain to them how you use the results. Students will need a #2 pencil in order to complete the survey.
- It is university policy that Course Instructor Surveys remain anonymous. To ensure anonymity:
- Select a student from the class to retrieve and administer the CIS packet. Neither the instructor nor the TA should be present while the CIS is being administered.
- Instruct the student administrator to collect the CIS packet from the iSchool's 5th floor reception desk before your chosen administration date. Instructions will be inside the packet.
- Instruct the student administrator to follow the directions included in the CIS packet and return the completed survey forms to the iSchool's 5th floor reception desk no later than the last class day. Neither the instructor nor the TA should see or have access to the completed surveys until results are returned the following semester. Survey results will be sent to you before the first class day of the following semester.
Teaching Assistants
Unlike faculty, TAs are not required to solicit student feedback via the CIS. However, many do find it useful in building their teaching skills as well as building a portfolio for future employment. Therefore, please make sure your TAs are always aware of this option, and have them complete Survey Request Form as needed.
TA surveys will follow the same format as that of their associated class. In other words, if the instructor has selected a paper survey, the TA will also receive paper.
Additional Information
See The Center for Teaching & Learning's Course Instructor Survey Website for additional information, including the most current survey administration/results calendar.