What is Course Leaf SYL and what are common faculty concerns?

Course Leaf SYL is the  university’s online system for creating, editing, and publishing course syllabi. It allows faculty to build standardized, up-to-date syllabi that include required institutional content, course details, learning outcomes, policies, and schedules.

This FAQ provides answers to common questions about using SYL.

Course Leaf SYL: Frequently Asked Questions

1. How does the SYL system indicate which information is required, and which information is optional? For example, some information, such as professional qualifications, is required, while other information, such as a photo, seems to be optional. 

In SYL editing mode, section notes indicate whether content is required, suggested, or optional, but they may not list all mandatory fields. To publish a syllabus, the following fields must be completed:

• Public Instructor Information Section must include:
  • Instructor’s Professional Qualifications: Degrees, Institutions and Dates (e.g., Ph. D., English Literature, The Ohio State University, 2005)
  • Instructor’s Office Phone Number
  • Instructor’s Office Location
• Course Readings
• Schedule of Topics
• Assignments and Assessments
• Course Learning Objectives and outcomes

2. I already have completed the syllabus from previous courses. Can I upload them into SYL rather than create them from scratch? 

SYL does not support uploading complete syllabus documents. Instead, you can build the syllabus within SYL by copying and pasting content from a previous syllabus into each section using the Paste as Plain Text or Paste from Word feature.

3. Can we leave attendance expectation blank for an online asynchronous course? 

Yes, you can leave it blank, however we suggest that you type in the text box “No scheduled course times” for clarity. 

4.  Can I add,remove or move topic sections from the SYL system?

No, sections cannot be removed, added or reordered. All syllabus sections must remain in their original order to meet Senate Bill 1 compliance requirements.

However, you may edit certain section headings and content such as the Additional Course Material, Course Learning Outcomes, Additional Course Expectations, Schedule of Topics & Additional Information sections to make them more specific or relevant to your course.

You may also hide sections that you do not wish to use. If a section can be hidden, an eyeball icon will appear in the upper-right corner of that section. Clicking this icon will hide the section from the syllabus.

5. What do I do if courses I am assigned to are not appearing? 

Make sure you are searching by your last name and the correct term. If this is correct, you may need to check back again in a day or so, as courses are added daily. It can take time for the Chairperson to add your assigned course, so you may want to check with them if you still do not see it.
If an assigned course is still missing from CourseLeaf SYL, faculty should contact the designated CourseLeaf SYL support team for assistance. When requesting assistance, please provide the course subject, course number, section, and CRN, if available. 

6. Do I need to submit a syllabus for every course or section I teach?

Yes. Faculty are required to submit a syllabus through CourseLeaf SYL for all assigned undergraduate and graduate course sections. College Credit Plus (CCP) courses taught by high school instructors at secondary school locations do not need to be posted through CourseLeaf SYL.

7. Can I view, print, save or download a PDF version of my syllabus? 

Yes, you can do all three task by clicking on both versions of the syllabus, the Everyone PDF and the Anyone Logged in PDF. The Everyone PDF is for the public side and the Anyone Logged in PDF is for users with a YSU account, such as students, staff and faculty. 

•  Select the Download icon - to download the file to your computer
• Select the Printer icon-This will give you the option to print and save the file by clicking on the drop-down

8.  Do I have to put it in the ISBN for reading material?

The ISBN is not required for reading materials, additionally if you do not have any readings at all that are required, type in "No readings required" in the Title box under course reading section.

9. Will I be able to copy the syllabus to the next semester, or will we have to start from scratch each term? 

No, you do not have to start from scratch each term. You will create one polished syllabus, and then you can copy it from a previous semester using the “Copy Syllabus From” button on the
syllabus repository page. There will be a list of syllabi from other instructors, we encourage you to only copy your syllabi. The list of available syllabi to copy will be long, so be sure to use the CTRL + F function on your keyboard to search for your course syllabi to copy from. 

10. How can I add my co-instructor or graduate assistant teacher to the work flow to be able to make edits to the syllabi?  

You can add them in the Instructor section, you may need their ID (beginning of their YSU email)

11. How do I complete the Blackboard Integration?

Note:  If you only have a parent course, please request the Blackboard ID of one of the child courses from the (IDDC), Instructional Design Development Center,  iddc@ysu.edu

• Open a standalone course in Blackboard (do not select the parent course)
• Copy the 6-digit Course ID from the URL of the Blackboard course, It is typically an underscore followed numbers then underscore “1”  (example: _123456_1)
• Paste the ID into the Blackboard ID field in SYL
• Click the Save icon and allow the process to run
• Refresh the page

After integrating, Blackboard materials will automatically populate the following sections only:

• Schedule of Topics (This only fills in the "Due to/prepare for class" column)
• Assignments and assessments (Due dates, point values, and weighting information)

Note: If assignment changes need to be made after the integration has been completed, make the updates in Blackboard first. Then, open SYL and select the Refresh icon to synchronize and update the assignment information in the SYL system.

11a. Can the same be done from a master shell course?

No, for a master course shell/parent course you will need to start in Course Leaf and create a solid syllabus that you can copy for the rest of the course